US Stock Futures Edge Higher Ahead Of Earnings, Economic Data

US stock futures traded slightly higher in early pre-market trade after strong Chinese manufacturing data. Data on weekly jobless claims and the Chicago Fed National Activity Index will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. The Markit PMI manufacturing index (flash) for May will be released at 9:45 a.m. ET, while existing home sales data and the Conference Board's index of leading indicators for April will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. The Kansas City Fed manufacturing index for May will be released at 11:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 16 points to 16,515.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 1.10 points to 1,886.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 2.50 points to 3,636.00.

European markets were mixed today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.13%, STOXX Europe 600 Index gaining 0.04%. German DAX 30 index surged 0.20%, French CAC 40 Index fell 0.18% and London's FTSE 100 Index gained 0.05%. The flash reading of euro-zone composite output PMI fell to 53.9 in May versus 54.0 in April, while the manufacuturing PMI declined to 52.5 versus 53.4 in April. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average jumped 2.11%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.51%, China's Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.18% and India's BSE Sensex gained 0.31%. The preliminary reading of HSBC China manufacturing PMI surged to 49.7 in May, versus a final reading of 48.1 in April.

Analysts at Evercore Partners upgraded Facebook

from “equal-weight” to “overweight.” The target price for Facebook has been lowered from $69 to $75. Facebook's shares closed at $60.49 yesterday.