US Stock Futures Rise After Fed News - FedEx (NYSE:FDX)

Pre-open movers

US stock futures surged in early pre-market trade, after the Federal Reserve decided to maintain the pace of its asset purchases. Data on weekly jobless claims and current account for the second quarter will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Data on existing home sales for August and the Conference Board's index of leading indicators for August will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 49 points to 15,643.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 7.40 points to 1,725.20. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 12.25 points to 3,234.00.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index gaining 1.06%, London's FTSE 100 index rising 1.44% and STOXX Europe 600 Index surging 0.92%. German DAX 30 index gained 1.11% and French CAC 40 Index rose 1.04%. Greek jobless rate fell to 27.1% in the second quarter, from 27.4% in the prior quarter. Asian markets ended higher today. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average surged 1.80%, Australia's ASX/S&P500 surged 1.11%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 1.67% and India's Sensex jumped 3.43%. Japan's exports increased 14.7% in August, while imports surged 16.0%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Goldman Sachs downgraded FedEx

FDX

from “buy” to “neutral.” The target price for FedEx has been raised from $112 to $116. FedEx's shares closed at $116.25 yesterday.

Breaking news

IHS IHS reported upbeat third-quarter results. IHS's quarterly net income declined to $23.4 million, or $0.35 per share, from $44.1 million, or $0.66 per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding items, it earned $1.27 per share. To read the full news, click here.
Gentiva Health Services GTIV and Harden Healthcare Holdings, a leading provider of home health, hospice and community care services, announced today that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement whereby Gentiva will acquire Harden. To read the full news, click here.
Trimble TRMB announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the assets of privately-held Asset Forestry Limited (Asset), a provider of forestry logistics software and services. To read the full news, click here.
Pier 1 Imports PIR reported a 32% drop in its fiscal second-quarter earnings. Pier 1 cut its full-year earnings forecast to $1.23 to $1.29 per share, versus its earlier forecast of $1.27 to $1.32 per share. To read the full news, click here.

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