US Stock Futures Up; Fed Meeting In Focus

US stock futures are slightly higher this morning. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 20 points to 12,706.00 and S&P 500 index futures rose 2.30 points to 1,343.20. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 9.25 points to 2,596.75. US stocks closed mixed on Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 0.20% to 12,741.82, the S&P 500 index surging 0.14% to 1,344.78 and the Nasdaq 100 index gaining 0.78% to 2,895.33. Data on housing starts for May will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Federal Reserve policy makers will start a 2-day meeting today. Barnes & Noble BKS is projected to post a Q4 loss at $0.93 per share on revenue of $1.48 billion. Adobe Systems ADBE is expected to post its Q2 earnings at $0.59 per share on revenue of $1.11 billion. Discover Financial Services DFS is estimated to post its Q2 EPS at $0.99 on revenue of $1.86 billion. FedEx FDX is expected to post its Q4 EPS at $1.94 on revenue of $11.13 billion. Jabil Circuit JBL is expected to post its Q3 EPS at $0.64 on revenue of $4.29 billion. Jefferies Group JEF is estimated to post its Q2 EPS at $0.28 on revenue of $681.33 million. Oracle ORCL reported better-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter earnings. IHS IHS reported a rise in its fiscal second-quarter net income and lifted its full-year earnings forecast. European markets were mostly higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 0.39%, London's FTSE 100 Index gained 0.91%, French CAC 40 index fell 0.13% and German DAX 30 index surged 0.46%. Asian markets ended mostly lower, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average dropping 0.75%, Chinese Shanghai Composite falling 0.66% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dropping 0.39%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index declined 0.66% and India's Sensex gained 1.02%. The euro gained 0.42% versus the dollar to trade at $1.2628. up from $1.2572 yesterday. Gold for August delivery surged $4.70 to $1,631.60 an ounce. However, oil for July delivery dropped $0.25 to $83.02 a barrel.