A Peek Into The Market Before The Trading Starts

Pre-open movers US stock futures are higher this morning, ahead of a speech by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 66 points to 13,421.00 and S&P 500 index futures rose 6 points to 1,440.20. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 16 points to 2,808.00. A Peek Into Global Markets European markets were higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 1.01%, London's FTSE 100 Index gained 1.08%, French CAC 40 Index surged 1.54% and German DAX 30 index rose 1.27%. Asian markets ended mostly higher, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average dropping 0.83% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rising 0.05%. India's Sensex surged 0.33%. Broker Recommendation Analysts at RBC Capital downgraded Microsoft MSFT from “outperform” to “sector perform.” The target price for Microsoft has been lowered from $34 to $33. Microsoft shares dropped 0.20% to $29.70 in pre-market trading. Breaking news

• Goodrich Petroleum GDP today announced it closed the sale of certain non-core properties in the South Henderson field in East Texas to Memorial Resource Development MEMP on September 28, 2012. To read the full news, click here.
• Ball BLL announced today that it has entered into agreements to acquire Envases del Plata S.A. de C.V., a leading extruded aluminum aerosol packaging producer with a manufacturing facility in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, and to form a new joint venture in Argentina that will combine Ball's and Envases del Plata Group's aerosol packaging operations in Argentina and in Brazil. read the full news, click here.
• B&G Foods BGS announced today its intention to offer, subject to market and other conditions, 3,629,165 shares of its common stock, pursuant to an effective shelf registration statement previously filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. To read the full news, click here.
• Acacia Research ACTG announced today that its Power Management Solutions LLC subsidiary has entered into a settlement agreement with Freescale Semiconductor FSL. To read the full news, click here.