US Stock Futures Up Ahead Of Consumer Sentiment Data

US stock futures gained in early pre-market trade, after a strong decline in the prior-day session. Data on housing starts for July and nonfarm business productivity for the second quarter will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, while the Reuter's/University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index for August will be released at 9:55 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 18 points to 15,088.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 4.10 points to 1,659.80. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 7 points to 3,078.00.

European markets were mostly lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.34%, London's FTSE 100 index dropping 0.04% and STOXX Europe 600 Index declining 0.12%. German DAX 30 index fell 0.17% and French CAC 40 Index gained 0.04%. The euro-zone current account surplus fell to 16.9 billion euros ($22.45 billion), versus a downwardly revised surplus of EUR19.5 billion in May. The euro-zone exports increased 3.0% in June from May, while imports rose 2.5%. Asian markets ended lower today. China's Shanghai Composite declined 0.64%, while Japan's Nikkei Stock Average tumbled 0.75%. Australia's ASX/S&P500 dropped 0.71% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.10% and India's Sensex tumbled 3.97%.

Analysts at Sterne Agee downgraded Nordstrom

from “buy” to “neutral.” The target price for Nordstrom has been lowered from $70 to $62. Nordstrom's shares closed at $59.33 yesterday.