US Stock Futures Edge Higher; Amazon Profit Beats Views

US stock futures traded slightly higher in early pre-market trade. The PMI manufacturing index (flash) for July will be released at 9:45 a.m. ET, while new home sales data for June will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 10 points to 17,686.0, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 1.65 points to 2,100.15. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index jumped 6.40 points to 4,626.40.

European markets were mostly higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.31 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index rising 0.23 percent and German DAX 30 index gaining 0.02 percent. French CAC 40 Index climbed 0.41 percent and London's FTSE 100 Index rose 0.08 percent. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average declined 0.67 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 1.06 percent, China's Shanghai Composite Index dropped 1.29 percent and India's BSE Sensex slipped 0.91 percent.

Analysts at Barclays upgraded

from Equal-weight to Overweight. The price target for Amazon.com has been raised from $412 to $700. Amazon.com shares jumped 20.08 percent to $579.00 in pre-market trading.