A Peek Into The Market Before The Trading Starts

Pre-open movers US stock futures are higher this morning. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 59 points to 13,504.00 and S&P 500 index futures rose 6.70 points to 1,457.10. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 15.50 points to 2,836.50. A Peek Into Global Markets European markets were higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index surged 1.32%, French CAC 40 index gained 2.02%. London's FTSE 100 Index moved up 1.52% and German DAX 30 index rose 1.49%. Asian markets ended higher, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rising 1.83%, China's Shanghai Composite gaining 0.64% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving up 1.16%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained 2.90% and India's Sensex rose 2.46%. Broker Recommendation Analysts at JP Morgan downgraded Werner Enterprises WERN from “overweight” to “neutral.” The target price for Werner Enterprises has been lowered from $27 to $24. Werner Enterprises shares fell 0.13% to close at $23.67 yesterday. Breaking news

• Bayer HealthCare and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries TEVA announced today that they have signed an agreement in which Bayer will acquire the U.S. based animal health business of Teva for up to 145 million USD. To read the full news, click here.
• On Assignment ASGN today announced that the previously reported public offering of its common stock by certain selling stockholders has priced at $17.00 per share. To read the full news, click here.
• SkyWest SKYW announced today that its Board of Directors has approved the SkyWest, Inc. 2012 Stock Repurchase Plan and SkyWest has entered into an agreement with Raymond James & Associates to repurchase up to approximately 6.5 million outstanding shares of SkyWest common stock, from time to time, in open market or privately negotiated transactions in accordance with the requirements of Rule 10b5-1 promulgated under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.To read the full news, click here.
• OfficeMax OMX today confirmed that its agreement to extinguish the non-recourse liability related to the Lehman-backed timber notes is now effective as the result of the entry of a Final Order by the United States Bankruptcy Court resolving certain claims against Lehman Brothers based on the notes. To read the full news, click here.