A Peek Into The Market Before The Trading Starts
Pre-open movers
US stock futures are slightly higher this morning, as investors are awaiting earnings reports from many companies and economic data on weekly jobless claims. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 9 points to 11,945, while those for the S&P 500 rose 0.90 point to 1,295. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 rose 4.50 points to 2,323.
A Peek Into Global Markets
Positive sentiment ruled the European markets today. While STOXX Europe 600 Index has gained 0.25%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved up 0.22%.
Mostly Asian markets ended higher, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average adding 0.74%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving down 0.04% and China's Shanghai Composite gaining 1.49%.
Broker Recommendation
Piper Jaffray is raising its price target on shares of Informatica Corp. (NASDAQ: INFA) to $40 from $37 and has a Neutral rating on shares.
In a note to clients, Piper Jaffray writes, "Our checks in the Informatica ecosystem indicate the company closed out 2010 with a strong Q4. Specifically, contacts indicate that: 1) INFA closed "a ton" of seven-figure transactions; 2) newer products such as Master Data Management (MDM) and Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) are rapidly building momentum; and 3) 2011 pipelines look solid as INFA pushes its internal thinking beyond the $1B revenue milestone and toward multi-billion-dollar territory. As an additional sign of strength, we note that INFA's Sales hiring surged 91% y/y in Q4. Expect upside; maintain Neutral rating solely due to valuation."
Shares of INFA gained $1.39 yesterday to close at $43.79, a gain of 3.28%.
Breaking news
- Indianapolis, Indiana-based Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) announced on Thursday morning that it beat consensus Wall Street estimates. Eli Lilly and Company reported that its 4th quarter net income climbed 28% to $1.17 billion, or $1.05 per share, up from $915.4 million, or 83 cents per share, a year earlier. To read the full news, click here.
- Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) today announced sales and revenues of $42.588 billion for 2010, an increase of 31 percent from $32.396 billion in 2009. Profit in 2010 was $2.700 billion, an increase of 202 percent from 2009 profit of $895 million. Profit per share of $4.15 was up from $1.43 in 2009. Excluding redundancy costs, profit per share in 2009 was $2.18. To read the full news, click here.
- AT&T (NYSE: T) reports its Q4 EPS, ex-items, at $0.55, versus the consensus of $0.54. To read the full news, click here.
- Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY) today announced solid results for the fourth quarter of 2010. Bristol-Myers Squibb posted fourth quarter 2010 net sales of $5.1 billion. U.S. health care reform had a 1.5% negative effect on net sales in the fourth quarter. To read the full news, click here.
Read more from Benzinga's Markets.
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