US Stock Futures Up Ahead Of Jobless Claims

Pre-open movers

US stock futures gained in early pre-market trade, ahead of jobless claims data. Data on weekly jobless claims will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 130 points to 14,858.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 16.50 points to 1,665.30. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 30 points to 3,162.50.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 1.81%, London's FTSE 100 index gaining 1.09% and STOXX Europe 600 Index rising 1.15%. German DAX 30 index rose 1.38% and French CAC 40 Index surged 1.46%. French industrial production rose 0.2% in August versus July. Greek jobless rate increased to 27.6% in July. Asian markets ended mixed today. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rose 1.12%, China's Shanghai Composite fell 0.94% and Australia's ASX/S&P500 dropped 0.10%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.36% and India's Sensex surged 0.12%. Japan's core machinery orders climbed 5.4% in August versus the earlier month. Australia's jobless rate dropped to 5.6% in September.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Sterne Agee upgraded Infoblox

BLOX

from “neutral” to “buy.” The target price for Infoblox is set to $47. Infoblox's shares closed at $39.72 yesterday.

Breaking news

Men's Wearhouse MW announced that its Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.18 per share on the Company's common stock, payable on December 27, 2013 to shareholders of record at the close of business on December 17, 2013. To read the full news, click here.
MasterCard MA today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Provus Bilişim Hizmetleri A. Ş. (“Provus”), Turkey's leading independent payment solution and processing provider. To read the full news, click here.
Vonage Holdings VG has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held Vocalocity, an industry-leading Software as a Service provider of cloud-based communication services to Small and Medium Businesses. To read the full news, click here.
Crestwood Midstream Partners LP CMLP today announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Crestwood Arrow Acquisition LLC, has entered into an agreement to acquire Arrow Midstream Holdings LLC, a privately-held midstream company, for approximately $750 million, subject to customary purchase price adjustments. To read the full news, click here.

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