A Peek Into The Market Before The Trading Starts

Pre-open movers US stock futures are lower this morning, as investors are awaiting growth data. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 38 points to 14,615.00 and S&P 500 index futures fell 4.30 points to 1,577.40. Nasdaq 100 futures declined 8.75 points to 2,835.25. A Peek Into Global Markets European markets were mostly higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index declined 0.58%, London's FTSE 100 Index dropped 0.53%, French CAC 40 Index fell 0.93% and German DAX 30 index declined 0.46%. Asian markets ended mostly lower, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average declining 0.30%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index falling 0.03% and China's Shanghai Composite dropping 0.97%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.65% and India's Sensex declined 0.55%. Broker Recommendation Analysts at Bank of America downgraded Windstream WIN from “buy” to “neutral.” The target price for Windstream has been lowered from $12 to $8. Windstream shares closed at $8.74 yesterday. Breaking news

• LDK Solar LDK today announced that it has entered into a share purchase agreement dated April 25, 2013 with Fulai Investments Limited, which has agreed to purchase additional 25,000,000 newly issued ordinary shares of LDK Solar, at a purchase price of US$1.03 per share with an aggregate purchase price of US$25,750,000, subject to the terms and conditions of the share purchase agreement, including a lock-up for 180 days from the closing date of the contemplated transactions. To read the full news, click here.
• UPS UPS today announced that it has reached a tentative agreement with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (Teamsters) on two, new five-year contracts in the small package and freight business units. To read the full news, click here.
• Weyerhaeuser WY reported a rise in first quarter earnings Friday morning and beat expectations on both the top- and bottom-lines. To read the full news, click here.
• Tyco International TYC reported a drop in its second-quarter net income. To read the full news, click here.