US Stock Futures Up As Investors Await Economic Data, Earnings Reports; Pfizer Results In Focus

US stock futures are higher this morning, as investors are awaiting earnings from Pfizer Inc PFE and other major companies. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 43 points to 11,883.00 and S&P 500 futures gained 6.60 points to 1,289.00. Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 14.50 points to 2,294.50. US stocks closed higher, with the blue-chip Dow industrials gaining 68.23 points or 0.58%. The Institute for Supply Management's report on manufacturing activity for January and data on construction spending for December will be released at 10 a.m. ET. Pfizer is projected to report its Q4 EPS at $0.46 on revenue of $16.99 billion. United Parcel Service Inc UPS is expected to report its Q4 earnings at $1.05 per share on revenue of $13.41 billion. Archer Daniels Midland ADM is expected to post its FQ2 EPS at $0.78 on revenue of $17.48 billion. McGraw-Hill MHP is projected to report its Q4 earnings at $0.53 per share on revenue of $1.51 billion. Electronic Arts ERTS is projected to post its FQ3 EPS at $0.57 on revenue of $1.43 billion. Boston Scientific BSX is expected to report its Q4 earnings at $0.10 per share on revenue of $1.99 billion. US car makers are scheduled to report January sales. Covidien Plc COV reported its Q1 adjusted EPS at $0.95, beating the consensus of $0.81. COV reported its Q1 revenue at $2.77 billion, versus the consensus of $2.73 billion. Shares of BP Plc BP dropped 2.5% in pre-market trading after the company reported weaker-than-expected Q4 adjusted profit. Shares of Baidu Inc BIDU surged about 7.4% in pre-market trading after the firm reported upbeat Q4 results. Positive sentiment ruled the European markets today. While STOXX Europe 600 Index has gained 0.80%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved up 0.81%. Asian markets ended higher, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average gaining 0.36%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rising 0.04% and China's Shanghai Composite rising 0.30%. Crude-oil futures dropped $0.62 to $91.57 a barrel in electronic trading on Globex. Read more from Benzinga's Markets.