US Stock Futures Signal Higher Start On Wall Street

US stock futures are higher this morning. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 53 points to 11,831.00 and S&P 500 index futures rose 6.70 points to 1,217.60. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 15.50 points to 2,248.25. US stocks closed mostly higher on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipping 0.02% to 11,866.39, the S&P 500 index gaining 0.32% to 1,219.66 and the Nasdaq 100 index rising 0.56% to 2,555.33. The home builders' index for December will be released at 10 a.m. ET. Red Hat Inc RHT is expected to post its Q3 EPS at $0.26 on revenue of $289.62 million. Shiloh Industries Inc SHLO is estimated to post its Q4 EPS at $0.21 on revenue of $139.80 million. Shares of Zynga ZNGA dropped 1.1% in after-hours trading. The company's stock fell 5% to close at $9.50 in regular trading hours on Friday, down from its initial public offering price of $10. Shares of Research In Motion Limited RIMM dipped 11% on Friday after the company issued a downbeat forecast for sales and profit. Shares of RSC Holdings Inc RRR jumped 57.87% on Friday after United Rentals Inc URI agreed to acquire RSC Holdings for around $1.9 billion in cash and stock. European markets were higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index gained 0.71%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved up 0.40%, French CAC 40 index rose 0.74% and German DAX 30 index gained 0.81%. Asian markets ended lower, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average dropping 1.2074%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving down 2.49% and China's Shanghai Composite declining 0.30%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 1.1768% and India's Sensex dropped 0.72%. Futures for January crude gained $0.56 to $94.09 a barrel. However, gold futures for February delivery dropped $2.20 to $1,595.60. The dollar index (DXY) gained 0.18% to trade at 80.28, up from 80.216 in late North American trading on Friday.