A Peek Into The Market Before The Trading Starts

US stock futures are higher this morning after General Electric

reported upbeat quarterly results. Google Inc

also reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings after the Thursday's closing bell. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 26 points to 11,800 and S&P 500 futures rose 4.50 points to 1,281. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 6 points at 2,288.

Positive sentiment ruled the European markets today. While STOXX Europe 600 Index has gained 0.78%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved up 0.57%. Asian markets ended mixed, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average dropping 1.56%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving down 0.64% and China's Shanghai Composite rising 1.41%.

Oppenheimer & Co. has a Perform rating on shares of Intrepid Potash

after it pre-announced earnings. in a note to clients, Oppenheimer writes, "In an 8-K today, IPI pre-announced better than expected preliminary sales data for 4Q10. Intrepid sold 210-220K tons of potash at $380-$390/ton and 20-30K tons of Trio at $215-$225/ton. We update our model to reflect the pre-announced figures, which brings our 4Q10E up by $0.06 to $0.20. We are also flowing through higher potash and Trio prices starting in 2011, as market prices have increased since we published our previous model. We raise '11E by $0.25 to $1.46. As we wrote on our 3Q10 report for IPI "ag market dynamics have taken a turn for the better," as prices have risen for corn, soybeans, and other crops." Shares of IPI lost 96 cents yesterday to close at $34.59, a loss of 2.7%.

Read more