Europe Drives U.S. Markets Higher

Stock futures pointed to solid gains Thursday as positive earnings out of Europe helped lift stocks overnight. As of 7 a.m. in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 62 points, or 0.55%, to 11239.00, the S&P 500 index futures were up 7.7 points to 1205.00 and the Nasdaq 100 futures were up 12.25 points to 2176.50. Europe's major indices were all up more than 1.5% in mid-day trading across the continent as European investors reacted to yesterday's Federal Reserve announcement and strong earnings from conglomerates such as Uniliver UN and BNP Paribas (BNP). Shares of Unilever, one of the world's largest consumer products makers, rose nearly 5% in Europe after the company reported a 19% rise in profits from a year ago and operating margins widened by 0.2% percentage points. Wall Street will get closely-watched initial jobless claims data at 8:30 a.m. ET today ahead of tomorrow's big October jobs report. Economists are looking for initial jobless claims to rise to 445,000 after last week's claims day declined much more sharply than anticipated. Read the rest here.