Markets Are Up

Here's the scorecard:

Britain's FTSE 100 is up 0.05%.

France's CAC 40 is up 0.71%.

Germany's DAX is up 0.93%.

Spain's IBEX is up 0.50%.

Italy's FTSE MIB is up 0.67%.

Asia closed higher with Japan's Nikkei up 0.35% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng up 0.81%.

Japan's GDP fell 6.8% in Q2 after a national sales tax that went into effect in April triggered a decline in consumer spending.

The Bank of England will release its inflation report, containing its economic predictions, at 10.30 a.m. BST.

U.K. unemployment fell as expected to 6.4 percent through June, the lowest level since 2008. But wages fell nonetheless by 0.2 percent.

The U.S. Commerce Department will release a report on retail sales at 8:30 a.m. ET. "Early indications point to solid upside in retail sales in July," said Morgan Stanley's Wieseman.

U.S. futures are up with Dow futures up 49 points, Nasdaq 100 futures up 13 points, and S&P futures up 7.3 points.