US Stock Futures Up; All Eyes On Employment Data, Retailers, ECB

US stock futures are higher this morning, as investors are awaiting same-store sales from retailers, employment data and an interest-rate decision from the ECB. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 30 points to 12,599.00 and futures on the S&P 500 stock index rose 4.00 points to 1,339.80. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 7.25 points to 2,382.50. US stocks closed higher on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones industrial average gaining 0.45% to 12,626.02, the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index rising 0.10% to 1,339.22 and the NASDAQ composite index surging 0.29% to 2,834.02. The ADP employment report for June will be released at 8:15 a.m. ET and weekly jobless claims will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Helen of Troy Limited HELE is expected to report its Q1 EPS at $0.76 on revenue of $260.20 million. WD-40 Company WDFC is projected to report its FQ3 EPS at $0.53 on revenue of $87.55 million. Zumiez Inc ZUMZ reported a 9.8% rise in its June sales at stores open at least one year. Analysts were expecting same-store sales to increase 5.6%. Its total net sales for the five weeks ended July 2 surged 16.8% y/y to $43.5 million. Visa Inc V projects its earnings-per-share growth to slow to the mid-to-high teens and revenue growth to slow to the high-single-digit to low-double-digit range in 2012. However, analysts were expecting 11% revenue growth and 16% earnings growth for 2012. The company affirmed its forecast for current fiscal year. Asian markets ended mixed, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average dropping 0.1125%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving up 0.05% and China's Shanghai Composite dipping 0.58%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.0561% and India's Sensex surged 1.88%. European markets were higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index has gained 0.36%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved up 0.37%, German DAX 30 index rose 0.42% and France CAC 40 index surged 0.45%. The ECB is expected to announce its decision at 7:45 a.m. ET. August crude futures gained $0.82 to $97.47 a barrel. However, gold futures for August delivery fell $2 to $1,527.20 an ounce. The dollar index (DXY) gained 0.12% to 75.10. The dollar gained 0.2% against the euro to trade at $1.4305.