A Peek Into the Market Before the Trading Begins

US stock futures are lower this morning. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 40 points to 12,921.00 and S&P 500 index futures fell 4.80 points to 1,400.50. Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 6.25 points to 2,628.00.

European markets were lower today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index fell 0.48%, London's FTSE 100 Index dropped 0.44%, French CAC 40 Index declined 0.86% and German DAX 30 index fell 0.26%. Asian markets ended mixed, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average gaining 0.24%, China's Shanghai Composite dropping 0.49% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rising 0.27%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index declined 0.24% India's Sensex rose 0.16%.

Analysts at Bernstein upgraded Facebook

from “market perform” to “outperform.” The target price for Facebook has been raised from $23 to $33. Facebook shares gained 1.38% to $24.33 in pre-market trading.