US Stock Futures Signal Higher Start On Wall Street

US stock futures are higher this morning. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 30 points to 12,249.00 and futures on the S&P 500 stock index rose 3.30 points to 1,263.50. Nasdaq 100 futures surged 5.75 points to 2,290.25.

US stocks closed mixed on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones industrial average dropping 0.02% to 12,291.35, the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index rising 0.01% to 1,265.43 and the NASDAQ composite index rising 0.25% to 2,625.20.

Piedmont Natural Gas Co Inc (NYSE: PNY) is expected to report its Q1 earnings at $1.18 per share.

Cavium Inc (NASDAQ: CAVM) lowered its revenue forecast for the fourth quarter.

New York Times Co (NYSE: NYT) announced its plans to sell its regional news group to Halifax Media Holdings LLC for $143 million.

Emcore Corp (NASDAQ: EMKR) reported a wider fiscal fourth-quarter loss.

Japanese industrial production dropped 2.6% in November, versus a 2.4% rise in the earlier month, the government reported.

Asian markets ended mostly lower, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average dropping 0.2007%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index declining 1.20% and China's Shanghai Composite gaining 0.18%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 0.5932% and India's Sensex dropped 0.92%.

European markets were higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index has gained 0.57%, London's FTSE 100 index rose 0.56%, German DAX 30 index rose 0.08% and France CAC 40 index surged 0.76%.

Nymex crude-oil futures fell $0.56 to $100.78 a barrel in electronic trade.

The US dollar declined 0.3% against the Japanese yen to trade at 77.84 yen.