US Stock Futures Rise Ahead Of ADP Data, Beige Book

US stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. The ADP employment report for August will be released at 8:15 a.m. ET, while nonfarm productivity data for the second quarter will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Data on factory orders for July will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET, while the Federal Reserve will release its Beige Book report at 2:00 p.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 99.5 points to 16,186.5, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 10.45 points to 1,926.45. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index surged 22.55 points to 4,180.80.

European markets were mostly higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.19 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index gaining 0.01 percent and German DAX 30 index rising 0.25 percent. French CAC 40 Index climbed 0.28 percent and London's FTSE 100 Index gained 0.34 percent. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.39 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dropped 1.18 percent, China's Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.20 percent and India's BSE Sensex declined 0.95 percent.

Analysts at Morgan Stanley upgraded

from Underweight to Equal-weight and raised the price target from $53.00 to $56.00. General Mills shares rose 0.86 percent to $56.04 in after-hours trading.