US Stock Futures Up; All Eyes On Economic Data, ECB Meeting

US stock futures are higher this morning, as investors are awaiting an ECB meeting. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 51 points to 12,439.00 and S&P 500 index futures rose 5.80 points to 1,294.00. Nasdaq 100 futures surged 13.75 points to 2,380.75. US stocks closed mostly flat on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 0.10% to 12,449.45, the S&P 500 index gaining 0.03% to 1,292.48 and the Nasdaq 100 index gaining 0.31% to 2,710.76. Data on weekly jobless claims and December retail sales will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Data on November inventories will be released at 10 a.m. ET. Shaw Communications Inc

is expected to report its Q1 EPS at $0.46 on revenue of $1.29 billion. Material Sciences Corporation

is projected to report its Q3 EPS at $0.23 on revenue of $34.70 million. Shares of Infosys Ltd

dipped about 10.5% in pre-market trading after the company reported a 33% surge in its Q3 consolidated net profit, but lowered its dollar revenue outlook for this fiscal year. Regions Financial Corp

announced its plans to sell Morgan Keegan & Co and its affiliates to Raymond James Financial Inc

for $930 million. PVH Corp

lifted its earnings view for the fourth quarter by $0.05 per share. Williams-Sonoma Inc

is projected to report its December sales figures today. Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC

announced its plans to cut 3,500 jobs in and outside the UK over three years. European markets were higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 0.61%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved up 0.30%, French CAC 40 index rose 0.93% and German DAX 30 index surged 1.33%. Asian markets ended lower, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average dropping 0.7373%, China's Shanghai Composite declining 0.47% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving down 0.11%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.2953% and India's Sensex dipped 0.86%. Chinese consumer prices climbed 4.1% y/y in December, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. India's industrial output climbed 5.9% y/y in November. Gold for February delivery gained $14.10 to $1,653.50 an ounce. Crude-oil futures for February delivery rose $1.15 to $102 a barrel. The dollar index dropped 0.27% to 81.04, versus 81.313 in late North American trade Wednesday.