US Stock Futures Up Ahead Of Economic Data

US stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. Data on import prices for March will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, while the U.S. Treasury monthly budget report for March will be released at 2:00 p.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 37 points to 17,924.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 3.70 points to 2,089.45. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 1.65 points to 4,400.90.

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.29%, STOXX Europe 600 Index surging 0.65% and German DAX 30 index gaining 1.39%. French CAC 40 Index jumped 0.59% and London's FTSE 100 Index rose 0.40%. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.15%, China's Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.93%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed 1.22% and India's BSE Sensex fell 0.02%.

Analysts at Wunderlich downgraded

from Buy to Hold and lowered the price target from $6.00 to $2.80. Extreme Networks shares rose 0.31% to close at $3.24 yesterday.