US Stock Futures Up; Alcoa Earnings In Focus

US stock futures are higher this morning, as investors are awaiting earnings from Alcoa (NYSE: AA). Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 32 points to 14,515.00 and S&P 500 index futures rose 4.30 points to 1,550.20. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 6 points to 2,769.50.All major indices fell on Friday, with the Dow down 0.28%, the S&P 500 losing 0.43% and the NASDAQ sliding 0.66%.The Conference Board is scheduled to release its employment trend index for March at 1400 GMT. The Investor Move Index (IMX) by TD Ameritrade will be released at 12:30 PM ET.Wall Street expects Alcoa to report its Q1 earnings at $0.10 per share on revenue of $5.89 billion. Central European Distribution (NASDAQ: CEDC) received a green signal from creditors on proposed restructuring plan. Analysts expect A. Schulman (NASDAQ: SHLM) to report its Q2 earnings at $0.40 per share on revenue of $526.40 million. European markets were higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 0.49%, London's FTSE 100 Index gained 0.34%, French CAC 40 Index climbed 0.64% and German DAX 30 index rose 0.41%.Asian markets ended mostly lower, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rising 2.80%, China's Shanghai Composite dropping 0.62% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rising 0.28%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.04% and India's Sensex dipped 0.07%.