US Stock Futures Rise Ahead Of Jobless Claims, Wholesale Inventories Data

US stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. Data on weekly jobless claims and import price index for August will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Data on wholesale trade for July will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 39 points to 16,309.0, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 5.70 points to 1,948.45. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index surged 13.30 points to 4,268.30.

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 1.02 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index declining 0.63 percent and German DAX 30 index dropping 0.29 percent. French CAC 40 Index slipped 0.50 percent and London's FTSE 100 Index fell 0.64 percent. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average declined 2.51 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slipped 2.57 percent, China's Composite Index Index dropped 1.39 percent and India's BSE Sensex declined 0.38 percent.

Analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded

from Buy to Hold and announced a price target of $27.00. eBay shares fell 0.92 percent to $25.96 in pre-market trading.