U.S. stock futures trade higher ahead of data

MARKETWATCH FRONT PAGE

U.S. stock futures trade higher on Thursday, with investors awaiting weekly jobless claims and producer-price data, along with a trickling of earnings, including Google, after the close. See full story.

Stocks to watch Thursday: Apogee, Lear, Google

A pair of impending IPOs stand out among the corporate headlines of interest to investors early Thursday. See full story.

Miners lift Europe stocks; Shell, Portugal weigh

Europe stock markets turn higher in choppy action on Thursday, as gains for miners support sentiment, while Royal Dutch Shell drops on oil slick reports and peripheral banks are under pressure after a heavily discounted rights issue from Banco Espirito Santo See full story.

Most Asia markets rise, China stocks jump

Chinese stocks lead an advance for most Asia markets on Thursday, although South Korean shares bucked the higher trend as investors return from a one-day elections break. See full story.

Facebook deal-making is not likely over

As social network giant Facebook tries to keep up with younger social media upstarts, it�s likely to seek out other acquisitions, no matter what its CEO says, writes Therese Poletti. See full story.

MARKETWATCH COMMENTARY

Instead of acknowledging that banks have become a part of government, we keep pretending they are private institutions, writes David Weidner. See full story.

MARKETWATCH PERSONAL FINANCE

Is the state that you have designs on retiring to tax friendly or not? And the basic questions to answer are these: How does the state tax your income? How does it tax your property and your consumption? And what�s the overall tax burden? See full story.