A Peek Into The Market Before The Trading Starts - Brinker International (NYSE:EAT)

Pre-open movers

US stock futures are slightly higher this morning, as investors are awaiting earnings reports from major companies. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 12 points to 15,428.00 and S&P 500 index futures rose 0.50 points to 1,678.00. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 2.25 points to 3,075.25.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mostly lower today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index dropped 0.36%, London's FTSE 100 index fell 0.05%, French CAC 40 Index declined 0.53% and German DAX 30 index fell 0.14%. Asian markets ended mostly higher, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rising 0.64%, China's Shanghai Composite gaining 0.31% and Australia's ASX/S&P500 rising 0.06%. Hong Kong's Heng Seng Index surged 0.04% and India's Sensex tumbled 0.91%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at JP Morgan downgraded Brinker International

EAT

from “overweight” to “neutral.” The target price for Brinker International has been raised from $42 to $45. Brinker's shares closed at $40.95 yesterday.

Breaking news

ThermoGenesis KOOL and TotipotentRx, a privately held California Corporation, which specializes in developing cell-based therapies in the field of regenerative medicine and is the exclusive provider of cell-based product and services to the Fortis Healthcare System, today announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement. To read the full news, click here.
ICF International ICFI has been awarded a re-compete contract with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support the Electronic Research Administration (eRA) grants management program across a range of health informatics and systems engineering activities. To read the full news, click here.
Alexion Pharmaceuticals ALXN today announced that Soliris® (eculizumab), the company's first-in-class terminal complement inhibitor, has received a positive opinion for orphan medicinal product designation from the Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products (COMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for the treatment of neuromyelitis optica (NMO), a life-threatening, ultra-rare neurological disorder. To read the full news, click here.
Furmanite FRM, reported today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire certain professional service assets of ENGlobal ENG. To read the full news, click here.

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