A Peek Into The Market Before The Trading Starts

Pre-open movers

US stock futures are higher this morning, as investors are awaiting weekly jobless claims data. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 34 points to 12,500.00 and S&P 500 index futures rose 4.50 points to 1,320.20. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 9.25 points to 2,549.75.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 1.02%, London's FTSE 100 Index gained 1.52%, French CAC 40 index rose 0.98% and German DAX 30 index climbed 0.81%. Asian markets ended mostly lower, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rising 0.08%, Chinese Shanghai Composite declining 0.53% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dropping 0.31%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 0.64% and India's Sensex surged 1.84%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Citigroup upgraded Eaton Vance Corp

from “sell” to “neutral.” The target price for Eaton Vance has been lowered from $24 to $23.50. Eaton Vance shares fell 0.91% to close at $23.98 yesterday.

Breaking news

Auxilium Pharmaceuticals Inc AUXL and FCB I LLC announced today that they filed a lawsuit against Watson Laboratories, Inc. (NV); Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. WPI; and Watson Pharma, Inc. for infringement of FCB's ten patents listed in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations as covering Testim® 1% testosterone gel. To read the full news, click here.
Ku6 Media Co Ltd KUTV today announced that it has entered into an agreement with famous Chinese SNS website Kaixin001.com ("Kaixin001"). To read the full news, click here.
Cepheid CPHD today announced that the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared its GeneXpert® Infinity-80 System, a high-throughput automated molecular system designed to deliver around-the-clock results for a wide variety of clinical testing applications. To read the full newsclick here.
Wesco Aircraft Holdings Inc WAIR today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire substantially all of the assets of Interfast Inc. for CDN$134 million in cash. To read the full news, click here.

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