US Stock Futures Rise Ahead Of Economic Data

US stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. Data on retail sales and import price index for April will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Data on business inventories for March will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 40.50 points to 18,069.50, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 5.45 points to 2,100.45. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 15.45 points to 4,436.20.

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.59 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index surging 0.71 percent and German DAX 30 index gaining 0.57 percent. French CAC 40 Index jumped 1.12 percent and London's FTSE 100 Index rose 0.48 percent. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.71 percent, China's Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.58 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index declined 0.58 percent and India's BSE Sensex jumped 1.39 percent.

Analysts at Deutsche Bank upgraded

from Hold to Buy and raises the price target from $44.00 to $55.00. Microsoft shares rose 1.39 percent to $48.01 in pre-market trading.