US Stock Futures Up Ahead Of Manufacturing PMI - Herbalife (NYSE:HLF)

Pre-open movers

US stock futures gained in early pre-market trading. The Chicago Fed National Activity Index for February will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, while the Markit PMI manufacturing index (flash) for March will be released at 9:45 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 21 points to 16,242.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 3.40 points to 1,860.40. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 9.25 points to 3,648.25.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index falling 0.95%, London's FTSE 100 index dropping 0.39% and STOXX Europe 600 Index slipping 0.56%. German DAX 30 index declined 0.60% and French CAC 40 Index tumbled 0.71%. German preliminary composite PMI dropped to 55.0 in March, versus 56.4 in February. Asian markets ended higher today. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average jumped 1.77%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 1.91% and China's Shanghai Composite Index surged 0.91% and India's BSE Sensex gained 1.39%. The preliminary HSBC's China manufacturing PMI declined to 48.1 in March, versus a reading of 48.5 in February.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Deutsche Bank downgraded Loews

from “buy” to “hold.” The target price for Loews has been lowered from $53 to $51. Loews shares closed at $44.23 on Friday.

Breaking news

AMRI AMRI today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire all the outstanding shares of Cedarburg Pharmaceuticals for $38.2 million in cash. To read the full news, click here.
Herbalife HLF today announced that it has amended and restated its agreement with Carl C. Icahn, Icahn Enterprises Holdings L.P. and certain related entities, which beneficially own, in the aggregate, 17,000,000 shares of Herbalife common stock, representing approximately 16.8% of the company's outstanding shares. To read the full news, click here.
Palo Alto Networks PANW, today announced a definitive agreement to acquire Cyvera, a privately held cybersecurity company located in Tel-Aviv, Israel. To read the full news, click here.
St. Jude Medical STJ today announced approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the Allure Quadra™ Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemaker (CRT-P), which provides additional pacing innovations for physicians to treat patients with heart failure. To read the full news, click here.

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