A Peek Into The Market Before The Trading Starts

US stock futures moved up, driven by China's solid economic data. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 58 points to 10,781 and S&P 500 futures moved up 6.70 points to 1,143. Nasdaq 100 futures added 13.75 points to 2,009.

Positive sentiments ruled the European markets today. While STOXX Europe 600 Index has advanced 0.45%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved up 0.97%. Asian markets ended mixed, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average adding 0.37%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving down 0.05% and China's Shanghai Composite gaining 1.73%.

Goldman Sachs downgraded shares of Limited Brands, Inc.

to Sell with a $24 price target, as it believes 2011 will slow. In the research report, Goldman Sachs writes, "LTD has been executing very well since late last year, capitalizing on key opportunities to maximize its business. While fundamentals remain strong near-term, we see a high probability that momentum will decelerate sharply next year given LTD's mature store base with a very low "natural" comp rate and the lapping of key process changes that we believe have been the primary driver of above trend comp store gross profit growth in recent quarters. Though we see upside to results near-term, we expect investors to increasingly anticipate 2011 headwinds, and as a result lower our rating to Sell and our 6-month price target." Shares of Limited Brands lost 81 cents yesterday to close at $26.78, a loss of nearly 3%.

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