US Stock Futures Up Ahead Of Ford Earnings, Jobless Claims Data

Pre-open movers US stock futures gained in early pre-market trade, ahead of earnings from Ford Motor Co F and Microsoft MSFT. Data on jobless claims and international trade will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. The Markit PMI manufacturing index (flash) for October will be released at 8:58 a.m. ET, while the Kansas City Fed manufacturing index will be released at 11:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 66 points to 15,417.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 7.80 points to 1,749.60. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 14.75 points to 3,354.75. A Peek Into Global Markets European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index gaining 0.48%, London's FTSE 100 index rising 0.53% and STOXX Europe 600 Index climbing 0.34%. German DAX 30 index rose 0.72% and French CAC 40 Index surged 0.33%. French services PMI declined to 50.2 in October from 51.0 in September, while the manufacturing PMI dropped to 49.4 from 49.8. Germany preliminary composite PMI dropped to 52.6 in October from 53.2 in September. Euro-zone composite PMI declined to 51.5 in October from 52.2. Asian markets ended mixed today. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average gained 0.42%, China's Shanghai Composite fell 0.86% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index declined 0.71%. Australia's ASX/S&P500 rose 0.32% and India's Sensex declined 0.20%. The flash reading of China's manufacturing PMI surged to 50.9 in October from 50.2 in September. Broker Recommendation Analysts at JP Morgan downgraded Caterpillar CAT from “overweight” to “neutral.” The target price for Caterpillar has been lowered from $105 to $90. Caterpillar's shares closed at $83.76 yesterday. Breaking news

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