A Peek Into The Market Before The Trading Starts

Pre-open movers US stock futures are mostly flat this morning, as investors are awaiting housing data. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 10 points to 13,463.00 and S&P 500 index futures rose 1.70 points to 1,450.90. Nasdaq 100 futures were flat at 2,765.25. A Peek Into Global Markets European markets were higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 0.25%, London's FTSE 100 Index gained 0.50%, French CAC 40 Index surged 0.44% and German DAX 30 index rose 0.25%. Asian markets ended higher, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rising 1.21%, China's Shanghai Composite gaining 0.32% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rising 0.82%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 0.99% and India's Sensex gained 0.18%. Broker Recommendation Analysts at Janney Capital downgraded International Business Machines IBM from “buy” to “neutral.” The target price for IBM is set to $211. IBM shares dropped 3.32% to $204.00 in pre-market trading. Breaking news

• Stanley Black & Decker SWK reported a decline in its third-quarter profit and lowered its full-year earnings forecast. To read the full news, click here.
• Hasbro HAS today announced that it will roll out a wide-ranging licensing program supporting the return of FURBY in 2012-2013. To read the full news, click here.
• Today at Citrix Synergy, Cisco CSCO and Citrix CTXS announced a significant expansion of their successful desktop virtualization partnership into three strategic areas: cloud networking, cloud orchestration, and mobile workstyles. To read the full news, click here.
• Pfizer PFE announced today that a Phase 3 study of INLYTA (axitinib) did not meet its primary endpoint of demonstrating statistically significantly longer progression-free survival (PFS), versus sorafenib, in treatment-naïve patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC). To read the full news, click here.