US Stock Futures Up; Crude Oil Slides Below $45

US stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. Crude oil futures slipped 2.84% to trade at $44.76 a barrel. The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index for December will be released at 7:30 a.m. ET, while the U.S. Treasury monthly budget report for December will be released at 2:00 p.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 77 points to 17,648.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 8.50 points to 2,030.90. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index climbed 20.50 points to 4,187.00.

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 1.17%, STOXX Europe 600 Index gaining 1.03% and German DAX 30 index gaining 1.11%. French CAC 40 Index jumped 1.09% and London's FTSE 100 Index rose 0.59%. Italy's industrial production gained 0.3% on the month in November. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.64%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed 0.79%, China's Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.19% and India's Sensex slipped 0.58%. China's exports climbed 9.7 % y/y in December, while imports declined 2.4% y/y in the month.

Analysts at Credit Suisse upgraded

from undefined to Outperform. Apple's shares rose 1.42% to $110.80 in pre-market trading.