US Stock Futures Gain Ahead Of GDP Data

US stock futures rose in early pre-market trade. An update on Q3 GDP growth will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. The Atlanta Fed's Business Inflation Expectations for December will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET, while the Kansas City Fed manufacturing index for December will be released at 11:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 27 points to 16,142.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures gained 3.30 points to 1,805.40. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index rose 7.25 points to 3,500.00.

European markets were mostly higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index dropping 0.09%, London's FTSE 100 index gaining 0.17% and STOXX Europe 600 Index surging 0.28%. German DAX 30 index climbed 0.42% and French CAC 40 Index declined 0.10%. The UK's gross domestic product climbed by 1.9% in the third quarter versus the year-ago period. Asian markets ended mixed today. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average surged 0.07%, China's Shanghai Composite dropped 2.02%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.33% and India's BSE Sensex jumped 1.79%.

Analysts at Credit Suisse upgraded Carnival Corporation

from “neutral” to “outperform.” The target price for Carnival has been raised from $30 to $43. Carnival's shares closed at $38.05 yesterday.