US Stock Futures Point To Higher Open Ahead Of ISM Manufacturing PMI, Buoyed By Europe PMI Data

U.S. stock futures points to a significantly strong opening to markets on Tuesday and ahead of the release of ISM’s Purchasing Managers’ Index, or PMI, as a host of positive data released from the euro zone on Monday -- when U.S. markets were closed for the Labor Day holiday -- signaled a strong recovery in the region’s economies.

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.68 percent, while futures on the Standard & Poor's 500 Index were up 0.85 percent and those on the Nasdaq 100 Index were up 0.68 percent.

Investors are expected to focus on the ISM’s PMI for the month of August, to be released at 10 a.m. EDT. Analysts expect manufacturing PMI, which measures the relative level of business conditions, including employment, production, new orders, prices, supplier deliveries and inventories, to post a reading of 54.0 in August, down from 55.4 in July. A level above 50 represents an expansion in the industry.

Investors will also await unemployment data due to be released on Sept. 6, for clues to the sustainability of the country's economic recovery, as the data could be a decisive factor in the U.S. Federal Reserve's discussions on winding down its massive bond-buying program.

In Europe, markets were trading down on Tuesday, following media reports of a strike on Syria, and after a rally on Monday driven by strong manufacturing PMI data from the 17-nation euro zone.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index was trading down 0.2 percent, London’s FTSE 100 was down 0.37 percent, Germany's DAX-30 was down 0.62 percent and France's CAC-40 was trading down 0.63 percent.

Shares of Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) soared more than 41 percent in intraday trade after reports said that Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) will buy a significant portion of the former’s mobile-phone business for 5.4 billion euros ($7.2 billion).

In Asia, most markets traded higher with Japanese shares ending higher as the yen weakened against the dollar. Japan’s Nikkei ended up 2.99 percent, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.16 percent. In China, the Shanghai Composite index ended up 1.18 percent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.99 percent. South Korea’s KOSPI Composite index added 0.46 percent.

In India, the BSE Sensex was trading down 3.45 percent, or more than 650 points, while the Indian rupee lost more than 3 percent during the day to trade at 68.12 against the dollar, in late-afternoon trade.