US Stock Futures Rise Ahead Of Housing Data

US stock futures rose in early pre-market trading, ahead of economic data. The FHFA house price index and the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index for January will be released at 9:00 a.m. ET. The Conference Board's consumer confidence index for March, the Richmond Fed manufacturing index for March and new home sales data for February will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 35 points to 16,237.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 3.70 points to 1,853.10. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 7.25 points to 3,618.25.

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.24%, London's FTSE 100 index gaining 1.06% and STOXX Europe 600 Index jumping 0.85%. German DAX 30 index climbed 1.09% and French CAC 40 Index surged 1.04%. UK inflation declined to 1.7% in February versus 1.9% in January. Asian markets ended mostly lower today. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.36%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index declined 0.52% and China's Shanghai Composite Index surged 0.05% and India's BSE Sensex dropped 0.02%.

Analysts at UBS downgraded Navistar International

from “buy” to “neutral.” The target price for Navistar has been lowered from $44 to $36. Navistar's shares closed at $33.26 yesterday.