US Stock Futures Up Ahead of NAHB Housing Market Index

Pre-open moversUS stock futures rose in early pre-market trade. The NAHB housing market index and E-commerce retail sales will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 52 points to 15,965.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 2.80 points to 1,796.30. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 3.50 points to 3,420.00. A Peek Into Global Markets European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.85%, London's FTSE 100 index gaining 0.29% and STOXX Europe 600 Index gaining 0.37%. German DAX 30 index rose 0.46% and French CAC 40 Index surged 0.44%. Euro-zone current-account surplus narrowed to 13.7 billion euros ($18.5 billion) in September, versus a revised EUR17.9 billion surplus in August.Asian markets ended mostly higher today. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average dropped 0.01%, China's Shanghai Composite gained 2.87%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 2.73% and India's BSE Sensex jumped 2.21%.Broker RecommendationAnalysts at Bank of America downgraded Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) from “neutral” to “underperform.” The target price for Microsoft is set to $36. Microsoft's shares dropped 1.19% to $37.39 in pre-market trading. Breaking news

• RCS Capital (NYSE: RCAP) announced today that on November 16, 2013, RCAP and a newly formed wholly-owned subsidiary of RCAP entered into an agreement and plan of merger with Summit Financial Services Group (OTC: SFNS) by which RCAP will acquire Summit for $49.0 million, or approximately $1.43 per share. To read the full news, click here.
• Pacific Premier Bancorp (NASDAQ: PPBI) announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire privately held Infinity Franchise Holdings, LLC (IFH) and its wholly owned operating subsidiary Infinity Franchise Capital, LLC (IFC), a national lender to franchisees in the quick service restaurant (QSR) industry, and other direct and indirect subsidiaries of IFH utilized in its business. To read the full news, click here.
• The Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) and Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) Javelin Joint Venture received a $176 million contract for the production and delivery of 842 Block I Javelin missile rounds and 120 command launch units (CLUs). To read the full news, click here.
• Boeing (NYSE: BA) and Mubadala Development Company today announced a new strategic agreement that will increase the long-term role of Mubadala as a Tier 1 supplier to Boeing. To read the full news, click here.