US Stock Futures Up Ahead Of Earnings Reports

US stock futures are higher this morning. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 40 points to 12,969.00 and S&P 500 index futures rose 3.10 points to 1,362.80. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 1.75 points to 2,583.75.US stocks closed mixed on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining 0.35% to 12,949.87, the S&P 500 index rising 0.23% to 1,361.23 and the Nasdaq 100 index dropping 0.27% to 2,951.78. The Chicago Fed's national activity index for January will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET.Macy's Inc (NYSE: M) is estimated to post its Q4 EPS at $1.65 on revenue of $8.72 billion. Home Depot Inc (The) (NYSE: HD) is expected to post its Q4 EPS at $0.42 on revenue of $15.50 billion. Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE: WMT) is estimated to post its Q4 earnings at $1.46 per share on sales of $123.92 billion. Kraft Foods Inc (NYSE: KFT) is projected to post its Q4 earnings at $0.57 per share on revenue of $14.8 billion. Radioshack Corporation (NYSE: RSH) is projected to post its Q4 EPS at $0.12 on revenue of $1.39 billion. Medtronic Inc (NYSE: MDT) is projected to post its Q3 EPS at $0.84 on revenue of $3.99 billion.Barnes & Noble Inc (NYSE: BKS) is estimated to post its Q3 EPS at $0.92 on revenue of $2.53 billion. Boyd Gaming Corp (NYSE: BYD) is projected to post a Q4 loss at $0.01 per share on revenue of $595.9 million. Nabors Industries Ltd (NYSE: NBR) is expected to post its Q4 EPS at $0.50 on revenue of $1.72 billion.Nordstrom Inc (NYSE: JWN) lifted the quarterly dividend by 17% to $0.27 per share. The company' board authorized an $800 million share buyback program. The Blackstone Group LP (NYSE: BX) has reportedly ended talks to buy Brocade Communication Systems Inc (NASDAQ: BRCD).European markets were lower today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index dropped 0.48%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved down 0.27%, French CAC 40 index fell 0.54% and German DAX 30 index dropped 0.48%.Asian markets ended mostly higher, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average dropping 0.23%, China's Shanghai Composite rising 0.75% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving up 0.82%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 0.25% and India's Sensex surged 0.76%.Nymex oil futures gained $1.33 a barrel to $104.57 in electronic trade. The euro gained 0.2% versus the US dollar to trade at $1.3234. The dollar gained 0.2% versus the Japanese yen to trade at 79.79 yen.