US Stock Futures Jump; China Lowers Interest Rates

US stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. China's Shanghai Composite Index again tumbled 7.63 percent today. China's central bank cut its benchmark lending and deposit rates by 0.25 percentage point. The FHFA house price index for June and the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index for June will be released at 9:00 a.m. ET. Data on new home sales for July, the Conference Board's Consumer confidence index for August and the Richmond Fed manufacturing index for August will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 518 points to 16,227.0, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 62.20 points to 1,933.45. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index surged 159.05 points to 4,162.30.

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 3.55 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index surging 4.42 percent and German DAX 30 index surging 4.41 percent. French CAC 40 Index jumped 4.60 percent and London's FTSE 100 Index climbed 2.30 percent. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 3.96 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.72 percent, China's Shanghai Composite Index dipped 7.63 percent and India's BSE Sensex climbed 1.13 percent.

Analysts at Bernstein upgraded

from undefined to Outperform and maintained the price target of $19.00. Bank of America shares gained 4.91 percent to $16.04 in pre-market trading.