US Stock Futures Up Ahead Of Wholesale Trade Data - Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX)

Pre-open movers

US stock futures rose in early pre-market trade. The NFIB small-business optimism index for November will be released at 7:30 a.m. ET, while data on wholesale trade for October will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 16 points to 16,042.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 1.80 points to 1,810.80. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 4.25 points to 3,522.75.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.58%, London's FTSE 100 index gaining 0.18% and STOXX Europe 600 Index rising 0.20%. German DAX 30 index gained 0.20% and French CAC 40 Index rose 0.01%. French industrial production declined 0.3% in October versus September. Asian markets ended lower today. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average declined 0.25%, China's Shanghai Composite dropped 0.03%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.28% and India's BSE Sensex tumbled 0.33%. China's industrial output climbed 10% y/y for November, versus a 10.3% gain in the previous month. The country's retail sales surged 13.7% y/y, compared to October's 13.3% increase.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Bank of America downgraded Quest Diagnostics

DGX

from “buy” to “underperform.” The target price for Quest Diagnostics has been lowered from $64 to $55. Quest Diagnostics' shares closed at $60.33 yesterday.

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