A Peek Into The Market Before The Trading Starts

Pre-open movers

US stock futures are higher this morning, as investors are awaiting factory-orders data. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 41 points to 14,923.00 and S&P 500 index futures rose 5.40 points to 1,612.10. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 12.50 points to 2,929.50.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index fell 0.58%, London's FTSE 100 index dropped 0.47%, French CAC 40 Index declined 0.53% and German DAX 30 index fell 0.95%. Asian markets ended mixed, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average jumping 1.78%, China's Shanghai Composite surging 0.57% and Australia's ASX/S&P500 rising 2.57%. Hong Kong's Heng Seng Index fell 0.70% and India's Sensex declined 0.58%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Piper Jaffray downgraded Illumina

ILMN

from “overweight” to “neutral.” The target price for Illumina has been lowered from $72 to $70. Illumina's shares closed at $76.21 yesterday.

Breaking news

Recon Technology RCON announced the purchase of 2,800,000 shares of Avalon Oil and Gas AOGN. After this investment, Recon owns 32.22% of Avalon's outstanding shares. To read the full news, click here.
LDK Solar LDK announced the sale of 25,000,000 newly issued ordinary shares of LDK Solar to Fulai Investments Limited, at a purchase price of $1.03 per share with an aggregate purchase price of $25,750,000, pursuant to the share purchase agreement dated April 25, 2013. To read the full news, click here.
American Realty Capital Properties ARCP and American Realty Capital Trust IV announced today that they have signed a definitive merger agreement whereby ARCP will acquire all of the outstanding shares of ARCT IV for stock and cash in a transaction valued at approximately $3.1 billion. To read the full news, click here.
The Western Union Company WU expanded its offering of sending international money transfers from the U.S. and U.K. directly into bank accounts in India. To read the full news, click here.

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