US Stock Futures Up As Investors Await Economic Data, All Eyes On ECB Meeting

US stock futures are higher, this morning rose as investors awaited economic data. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 28 points to 11,261.00, while S&P 500 index futures gained 3.80 points to 1,208.30. Nasdaq 100 futures surged 8.50 points to 2,167.00. US stock markets surged yesterday, with the blue-chip Dow index advancing 249.76 points or 2.27%. Data on weekly jobless claims will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET and the report on pending home sales for October is due at 10 a.m. ET. Novell NOVL is projected to post its FQ4 EPS at $0.07 on revenue of $204.08 million. Kroger Co KR is expected to report its Q3 EPS at $0.32 on revenue of $18.51 billion. PepsiCo Inc PEP announced its plans to buy majority stake in Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods WBD for $3.8 billion. All eyes are on the ECB's governing council meeting. Investors are anticipating the ECB to announce measures to stem the region's debt turmoil. Positive sentiments ruled the European markets today. While STOXX Europe 600 Index has advanced 0.38%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved up 0.56%. Asian markets ended in the positive territory, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average adding 1.81%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving up 1.82% and China's Shanghai Composite gaining 0.71%. Oil futures traded at $86.77 per barrel in electronic trading on Globex. However, Gold futures rose $3.50 to $1,390.80 an ounce. Read more from Benzinga's Markets.