US Stock Futures Signal Higher Start On Wall Street

US stock futures are higher this morning, as investors are awaiting July personal-income and consumer-spending data and July pending home sales. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 87 points to 11,366.00 and S&P 500 index futures rose 12.70 points to 1,187.20. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 18.50 points to 2,182.50. US stocks closed higher on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average surging 1.21% to 11,284.54, the S&P 500 index rising 1.51% to 1,176.80 and the Nasdaq 100 index jumping 2.49% to 2,479.85. Winn-Dixie Stores Inc WINN is projected to report its Q4 EPS at $0.12 on revenue of $1.60 billion. LDK Solar Co Inc LDK is projected to report a Q2 loss at $0.17 per share on revenue of $$556.3 million. Donaldson Company Inc DCI is estimated to report its FQ4 earnings at $0.79 per share on revenue of $622.4 million. Hurricane Irene caused less damage than feared in New York city. European markets were higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index gained 0.94%, French CAC 40 index rose 1.77% and German DAX 30 index gained 1.51%. Asian markets ended mostly higher, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rising 0.61%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving up 1.47% and China's Shanghai Composite dropping 1.37%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 1.4412% and India's Sensex jumped 3.58%. The dollar dropped versus a basket of major currencies.