US Stock Futures Jump Ahead Of GDP Report

Pre-open movers US stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. Data on GDP growth for the second quarter will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. The Flash Services PMI for September will be released at 9:45 a.m. ET, while the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index for September will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 203 points to 16,302.0, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 21 points to 1,939.75. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index surged 42.25 points to 4,288.25. A Peek Into Global Markets European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index gaining 2.44 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index surging 2.92 percent and German DAX 30 index surging 2.52 percent. French CAC 40 Index jumped 3.17 percent and London's FTSE 100 Index rose 2.38 percent. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rose 1.76 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 0.43 percent, China's Composite Index Index fell 1.60 percent. Broker Recommendation Analysts at Goldman Sachs upgraded ACE Limited ACE from Neutral to Buy and raised the price target from $112.00 to $116.00. ACE shares rose 0.21 percent to close at $101.55 yesterday. Breaking news

• Acacia Research Corp ACTG announced today that its Bonutti Skeletal Innovations LLC subsidiary has entered into a settlement and patent license agreement with Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc. To read the full news, click here.
• Genmab A/S GNMSF announced today that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has granted accelerated assessment to the Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) for daratumumab. To read the full news, click here.
• Mercer has entered into a strategic alliance with Transamerica whereby Transamerica will acquire Mercer's US defined contribution (DC) administration book of business. To read the full news, click here.
• Nike Inc NKE reported stronger-than-expected results for its fiscal first quarter on Thursday. To read the full news, click here.