US Stock Futures Mostly Higher Ahead Of Goldman Sachs Earnings

Pre-open moversUS stock futures traded mostly higher in early pre-market trade, ahead of earnings from Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) and The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS). Data on retail sales for June, the Empire State manufacturing index for July and import price index for June will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Data on business inventories for May will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 14 points to 16,992.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 0.10 points to 1,970.90. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 4.25 points to 3,923.50.A Peek Into Global Markets European markets were lower today, with the Spanish Ibex Index dropping 1.20%, STOXX Europe 600 Index declining 0.29%. German DAX 30 index fell 0.62%, French CAC 40 Index declined 0.47% and London's FTSE 100 Index dropped 0.35%. UK's annual rate of inflation surged to 1.9% in June, versus 1.5% in May.In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.64%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index surged 0.49%, China's Shanghai Composite Index climbed 0.18% and India's BSE Sensex jumped 0.89%. India's consumer-price index increased 7.31% y/y in June, while the wholesale price index rose 5.43% y/y. China's foreign direct investment rose 0.2% y/y to $14.42 billion in June.Broker RecommendationAnalysts at Goldman Sachs upgraded Mead Johnson Nutrition Company (NYSE: MJN) from Neutral to Buy. The target price for Mead Johnson Nutrition has been raised from $91 to $107. Mead Johnson's shares closed at $92.87 yesterday. Breaking news

• Reynolds American (NYSE: RAI) and Lorillard (NYSE: LO) today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement in which RAI has agreed to acquire Lorillard in a cash-and-stock transaction currently valued at $68.88 per Lorillard share, or a total of $27.4 billion, including the assumption of net debt. To read the full news, click here.
• Albemarle (NYSE: ALB) and Rockwood Holdings (NYSE: ROC) announced today that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Albemarle will acquire all outstanding shares of Rockwood in a cash and stock transaction valued at approximately $6.2 billion. To read the full news, click here.
• Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) announced results from an analyses of five datasets evaluating the relationship between cognitive and functional impairment in patients with mild Alzheimer's disease in the natural course of the disease. To read the full news, click here.
• Shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM) gained around 1.8% in pre-market trading after the company reported better-than-expected second-quarter earnings. To read the full news, click here.