US Stock Futures Up As Investors Await Economic Data

US stock futures are slightly higher this morning, as investors are awaiting economic data on retail sales and manufacturing activity in the New York area. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 11 points to 12,235 and S&P 500 futures gained 0.80 point to 1,328.50. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 2 points to 2,383.75. Data on retail sales for January and the Empire State manufacturing survey for February are due at 8:30 a.m. ET. Business inventories for December and the NAHB housing market index for February will be released at 10 a.m. ET. Analog Devices ADI is estimated to post its earnings at $0.65 per share on revenue of $728.16 million in the fiscal first quarter. Qwest Communications International Inc Q is expected to report its Q4 EPS at $0.10 on revenue of $2.90 billion. Dell DELL is projected to report its Q4 EPS at $0.37 on revenue of $15.72 billion. Shares of Barclays PLC BCS gained about 3.5% in pre-market trading after the company reported upbeat earnings. Shares of Nokia Corp NOK rose about 2.2% in pre-market trading. The company's shares have fallen sharply in the previous two sessions after the company announced a partnership with Microsoft Corp MSFT. Germany's ZEW indicator of economic sentiment rose higher in February. UK's data depicted that annual consumer price inflation increased to 4% in January. Gross domestic product (GDP) in the euro zone increased by 0.3% in the Q4 of 2010, versus the preceding three months. Chinese consumer inflation increased slower-than-expected in January. Positive sentiment ruled the European markets today. While STOXX Europe 600 Index has gained 0.07%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved up 0.09%. Asian markets ended mixed, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average gaining 0.20% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving down 0.08%. The dollar index (DXY) fell 0.21% to 78.45. Gold futures gained $7.70 to $1,372.80 an ounce in electronic trading on Globex. Read more from Benzinga's Markets.