US Stock Futures Surge; Goldman Sachs, Citigroup Earnings In Focus

US stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade.

and

are scheduled to report their quarterly earnings today. The Consumer Price Index for September, weekly jobless claims and the Empire State manufacturing index for October will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. The Philadelphia Fed report for October will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 72.5 points to 16,894.5, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 13 points to 1,997.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index climbed 35.38 points to 4,361.88.

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.52 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index gaining 1.20 percent and German DAX 30 index climbing 1.48 percent. French CAC 40 Index gained 1.32 percent and London's FTSE 100 Index rose 1.09 percent. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rose 1.15 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 2 percent, China's Shanghai Composite Index jumped 2.32 percent and India's BSE Sensex surged 0.86 percent.

Analysts at Bank of America downgraded

from Buy to Neutral and lowered the price target from $85.00 to $65.00. Wal-Mart shares fell 10.04 percent to close at $60.03 yesterday.