US Stock Futures Signal Higher Start On Wall Street

US stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. The Treasury Budget for May will be released at 2:00 p.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 55.50 points to 17,822.50, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 7.65 points to 2,087.65. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index climbed 15.30 points to 4,446.80.

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.45 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index surging 0.76 percent and German DAX 30 index gaining 0.83 percent. French CAC 40 Index surged 0.70 percent and London's FTSE 100 Index rose 0.42 percent. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.25 percent, China's Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.15 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index declined 1.12 percent and India's BSE Sensex jumped 1.36 percent.

Analysts at Credit Suisse downgraded

from Outperform to Neutral and lowered the price target from $37.00 to $35.00. H&R Block shares rose 2.26 percent to close at $31.95 yesterday.