A Peek Into The Market Before The Trading Starts - Barnes Gr (NYSE:B)

Pre-open movers

US stock futures are higher this morning, after Hewlett-Packard Co

HPQ

posted better-than-expected fiscal first-quarter results. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 45 points to 13,917.00 and S&P 500 index futures rose 7 points to 1,508.10. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 11 points to 2,725.00.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 1.24%, London's FTSE 100 Index surged 0.83%, French CAC 40 Index rose 1.80% and German DAX 30 index gained 1.22%. Asian markets ended mixed, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average gaining 0.68%, China's Shanghai Composite falling 0.51% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rising 0.76%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index tumbled 0.54% and India's Sensex fell 0.04%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at UBS upgraded Hewlett-Packard Company

HPQ

from “sell” to “neutral.” The target price for Hewlett-Packard is set to $19. Hewlett-Packard shares surged 4.68% to $17.90 in pre-market trading.

Breaking news

CombiMatrix Corporation CBMX today announced that Mark McDonough, currently the Company's Chief Commercial Officer, will become Chief Executive Officer following the retirement of CEO R. Judd Jessup, who has announced his retirement, effective March 15, 2013. To read the full news, click here.
Exelixis EXEL and Swedish Orphan Biovitrum (Sobi) today announced that they have entered into a three-year agreement to support the distribution and commercialization of COMETRIQ(TM) (cabozantinib) for metastatic medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) in the European Union (EU) and potentially other countries. To read the full news, click here.
Portland General Electric Co POR reported a 3.4% drop in its fourth-quarter earnings. To read the full news, click here.
MSC Industrial Direct Co MSM today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire substantially all of the assets and assume certain liabilities of the North American distribution business of the Barnes Group B. To read the full news, click here.

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