A Peek Into The Market Before The Trading Starts

Pre-open movers US stock futures are mixed this morning, as investors are awaiting weekly jobless-claims data. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 6 points to 12,789 and S&P 500 index futures rose 2.25 points to 1,353.25. Nasdaq 100 futures declined 1.50 points to 2,618. A Peek Into Global Markets European markets were lower today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index declined 0.20%, French CAC 40 index fell 0.99%. London's FTSE 100 Index moved down 0.27% and German DAX 30 index gained 0.11%. Asian markets ended mixed, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average declining 0.39%, China's Shanghai Composite rising 0.07% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving up 0.50%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 0.51% and India's Sensex dropped 0.29%. Broker Recommendation Macquarie downgraded Aon Corporation AON from “outperform” to “neutral.” The target price for Aon has been lowered from $55 to $51. Aon shares gained 0.21% to close at $48.09 yesterday. Breaking news

• Centene Corporation CNC announced today the Governor and Executive Council of New Hampshire have given approval for the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to contract with Granite State Health Plan, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Centene, to serve Medicaid beneficiaries in New Hampshire. To read the full news, click here.
• PSS World Medical Inc PSSI announced today that its Board of Directors has approved a strategic restructuring plan designed to transform the Company, focusing its efforts and investments on what it believes will be the fastest growing segments of non-acute, alternate site healthcare in the U.S. To read the full news, click here.
• Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance Inc ULTA announced that on May 9, 2012 Ulta priced an underwritten public offering of 7,000,000 shares of its common stock held by certain entities associated with Mousse Partners, at a price to the public of $84.00 per share. To read the full news, click here.
• Sony Corp SNE reported a net loss for the fiscal year. To read the full news, click here.