US Stock Futures Down Ahead Of Jobless Claims Data - Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB)

Pre-open movers

US stock futures declined in early pre-market trade, ahead of jobless claims data. Data on weekly jobless claims will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Data on factory orders for August and the ISM non-manufacturing index for September will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 36 points to 14,989.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 5.40 points to 1,677.70. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index dropped 6 points to 3,231.50.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mostly lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.53%, London's FTSE 100 index gaining 0.22% and STOXX Europe 600 Index declining 0.01%. German DAX 30 index fell 0.07% and French CAC 40 Index declined 0.38%. Euro-zone composite PMI surged to 52.2 in September, versus 51.5 in August. Asian markets ended mostly higher today. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.09%, Australia's ASX/S&P500 gained 0.33%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index surged 1.00% and India's Sensex jumped 1.97%. China's official non-manufacturing PMI surged to 55.4 in September, versus 53.9 in August.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Citigroup upgraded BlackBerry

BBRY

from “sell” to “neutral.” The target price for BlackBerry has been raised from $7 to $9. BlackBerry's shares closed at $7.96 yesterday.

Breaking news

Prothena Corporation plc PRTA announced that it has priced an underwritten public offering of 5,910,000 of its ordinary shares at a price of $22.00 per ordinary share, before underwriting discounts and commissions. To read the full news, click here.
Vodafone Group VOD today announced that its Group Chief Financial Officer, Andy Halford, has informed the Board that after almost nine years in role, he intends to leave the Group at the end of March 2014 after the conclusion of Vodafone's transaction with Verizon Communications. To read the full news, click here.
Global payments technology company, Visa V and @UKplc, one of the United Kingdom's largest eCommerce marketplace solutions providers, today jointly announced a partnership that will position and deliver effective cost management for Governments and Enterprises in the region. To read the full news, click here.
Biogen Idec BIIB today announced results from several new analyses of TYSABRI® (natalizumab) data that demonstrate its effectiveness in reducing multiple sclerosis (MS) disease activity. To read the full news, click here.

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