US Stock Futures Down; Durable-Goods Data In Focus - Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Pre-open movers

US stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade, ahead of durable-goods data. Data on durable goods orders for July will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 27 points to 14,963.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 2.90 points to 1,658.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index dropped 2.25 points to 3,119.00.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index dropping 0.71%, and STOXX Europe 600 Index declining 0.34%. German DAX 30 index fell 0.32% and French CAC 40 Index declined 0.66%. Asian markets ended mostly higher today. China's Shanghai Composite surged 1.90%, while Japan's Nikkei Stock Average dropped 0.18%. Australia's ASX/S&P500 surged 0.23%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.65% and India's Sensex jumped 0.21%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Piper Jaffray upgraded Amgen

AMGN

from “neutral” to “overweight.” The price target for Amgen has been raised from $120 to $140. Amgen's shares surged 4.64% to $110.50 in pre-market trading.

Breaking news

The board of directors of Westlake Chemical Corporation WLK declared on Friday, August 23, 2013, a dividend of 22.5 cents per share, an increase of 20% from the 18.75 cents per share paid in the second quarter of 2013. To read the full news, click here.
ChipMOS TECHNOLOGIES (Bermuda) IMOS today announced that with the assistance of its underwriters, Yuanta Securities Company Limited and Capital Securities Corp, it plans to sell approximately 170 million outstanding common shares of its majority-owned subsidiary, ChipMOS TECHNOLOGIES INC, at the proposed price of NT$20.0 (US$0.67) per common share. To read the full news, click here.
Anadarko Petroleum APC announced it has entered into a definitive agreement with ONGC Videsh Ltd. (OVL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited, to sell a 10-percent interest in Mozambique's Offshore Area 1 (Area 1) for $2.64 billion in cash. To read the full news, click here.
Alcobra ADHD announced today that it has enrolled its first patient in a placebo-controlled clinical study designed to compare the efficacy of varied dosage levels of MG01CI to treat and improve executive dysfunctions in adult patients with Predominantly Inattentive Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (PI-ADHD). To read the full news, click here.

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