A Peek Into The Market Before The Trading Starts

Pre-open movers US stock futures are slightly lower this morning, as investors are awaiting factory-orders data. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 18 points to 13,911.00 and S&P 500 index futures fell 2.40 points to 1,504.30. Nasdaq 100 futures declined 2.50 points to 2,754.00. A Peek Into Global Markets European markets were lower today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index fell 0.28%, London's FTSE 100 Index dropped 0.64%, German DAX 30 Index fell 0.43% and French CAC 40 Index declined 0.78%. Asian markets ended mixed, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rising 0.62%, China's Shanghai Composite surging 0.38% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index dropping 0.26%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index declined 0.16% and India's Sensex dropped 0.15%. Broker Recommendation Analysts at Bernstein upgraded BlackBerry BBRY from “market perform” to “outperform.” The target price for BlackBerry has been raised from $12 to $22. BlackBerry shares gained 0.35% to close at $13.02 on Friday. Breaking news

• The Medicines Company MDCO and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals ALNY announced today that they have formed an exclusive global alliance for the development and commercialization of Alnylam's ALN-PCS RNAi therapeutic program for the treatment of hypercholesterolemia. To read the full news, click here.
• Humana HUM reported a drop in its fourth-quarter net profit. To read the full news, click here.
• ICON plc ICLR today announced that it has agreed, subject to certain closing conditions, to acquire the Clinical Trial Services Division of Cross Country Healthcare CCRN, for a cash consideration of $52 million, plus an earn-out of up to $3.75 million related to certain performance-based milestones. To read the full news, click here.
• United Therapeutics UTHR today announced that its Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of up to an additional $420 million of the company's common stock. To read the full news, click here.