US Stock Futures Up Ahead Of Economic Data

Pre-open moversUS stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade, ahead of economic data. The producer price index for July and the Empire State manufacturing index for August will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Data on industrial production for July will be released at 9:15 a.m. ET, while The Reuters/University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index for August will be released at 9:55 a.m. ET. Data on e-commerce sales for the second quarter will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 45 points to 16,727.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 4.50 points to 1,958.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 12 points to 3,980.00.A Peek Into Global Markets European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index gaining 0.79%, STOXX Europe 600 Index rising 0.72%. German DAX 30 index surged 1.00%, French CAC 40 Index climbed 0.97% and London's FTSE 100 Index gained 0.64%.In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average jumped 0.02%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index surged 0.62% and China's Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.92%.Broker RecommendationAnalysts at Baird upgraded Alcentra Capital (NASDAQ: ABDC) from Neutral to Outperform. The target price for Alcentra Capital is set to $15.Alcentra Capital's shares surged 3.61% to close at $13.20 yesterday. Breaking news

• Acacia Research Corporation (NASDAQ: ACTG) announced today that its Progressive Semiconductor Solutions LLC subsidiary has entered into a settlement and patent license agreement with Marvell International Limited. To read the full news, click here.
• China Green Agriculture (NYSE: CGA) today announced that, on August 12, 2014, the United States District Court for the State of Nevada had given its final approval to the settlement of the securities class action pending against the Company and certain of its current and former officers and directors since October 15, 2010. To read the full news, click here.
• SUPERVALU (NYSE: SVU) today is announcing that it experienced a criminal intrusion into the portion of its computer network that processes payment card transactions for some of its retail food stores, including some of its associated stand-alone liquor stores. To read the full news, click here.
• Isis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ISIS) announced today that it has earned a $2 million milestone payment from Biogen Idec related to the advancement of the ongoing open-label extension study of ISIS-SMNRx in children with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). To read the full news, click here.