US markets end higher boosted by better than expected data

Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.74% or 92.34 points at 12627.01. Nasdaq Composite rose 0.74% or 21.26 points at 2875.32. Standard & Poor's 500 gained 0.9% or 11.86 points at 1331.85.

Also Read: Indian market outlook ahead of the EU summit

Encouraging news on economic front, durable goods orders jumped 1.1% in May following a revised 0.2% decrease in April. This was much higher than analyst expectations.

Pending home sales climbed 5.9% to 101.1, hitting a two-year high in May. Weekly mortgage applications dropped 7.1% last week.

In key data from US, initial jobless claims are seen coming in slightly lower at 385000 compared to 387000 last week.

Watch out for the final reading of the first quarter GDP data. The forecast is for a 1.9% reading.

In the currency space, the euro remained sluggish ahead of the impending summit of European leaders. The dollar index touched a two-week high at 82.69 but eventually stabilised to 82.40 mark in Asia trade 

In the commodity space, Brent crude rose to USD 93 a barrel on as tighter North Sea supplies and strong US economic data offset concerns that a European summit would do little to solve the region's debt crisis.

In the precious metal space, gold futures gained after trading flat for most of the day as investors held their bets in anticipation of news from the impending European Union summit.