US Stock Futures Signal Higher Start On Wall Street

US stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. Data on consumer spending for September and the employment cost index for the third quarter will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. The Chicago PMI for October will be released at 9:45 a.m. ET, while the Reuter's/University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index for October will be released at 9:55 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 184 points to 17,298.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 21.70 points to 2,010.30. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index climbed 59.50 points to 4,149.00.

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 1.73%, STOXX Europe 600 Index gaining 1.35%. German DAX 30 index climbed 1.80%, French CAC 40 Index surged 2.03% and London's FTSE 100 Index gained 1.12%. French producer price index gained 0.5% in September versus August, while consumer spending declined 0.8% in September versus August. German retail sales dropped 3.2% in September from August. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average jumped 4.83%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 1.25%, China's Shanghai Composite Index jumped 1.22% and India's Sensex rose 1.90%. Japan's unemployment rate climbed to 3.6% in September versus 3.5% in the prior month, while household spending declined 5.6% y/y in September. The country's core consumer-price index also gained 1.0% y/y in September.

Analysts at BMO Capital upgraded Intrepid Potash

from Underperform to Market Perform and lowered the price target from $14.00 to $13.00. Intrepid Potash's shares fell 8.98% to close at $12.87 yesterday.