A Peek Into The Market Before The Trading Starts

Pre-open movers

US stock futures are higher this morning. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 62 points to 11,575, while those for the S&P 500 index gained 7.2 points to 1,260. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index moved up 18.75 points to 2,235.

A Peek Into Global Markets

Positive sentiment ruled the European markets today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index has advanced 0.86%. Asian markets ended mixed, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average dropping 1.12%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving down 0.81% and China's Shanghai Composite gaining 1.76%.

Broker Recommendation

Piper Jaffray is lowering its price target on shares of Suntech Power Holdings

STP

to $9 from $10. It has a Neutral rating on shares. In the research note, Piper Jaffray writes, "Neutral with a $9 price target based on a 7.5x multiple to our FY12 EPS of $1.20 (FY11 EPS prior). We raise our multiple slightly (from 7x) to account for STP's acquisition and ramp of in-house wafering capacity, which likely enables it to lower its cost per watt." Shares of STP gained 17 cents Friday to close at $8.01.

Breaking news

Acacia Research Corporation ACTG announced today that its subsidiary, Telematics Corporation, has entered into a patent license agreement with Intergis, LLC. To read the full news, click here.
US Ecology, Inc. ECOL today declared that stockholders of record on January 14, 2011 will receive a quarterly cash dividend of $0.18 per common share, payable on January 21, 2011. To read the full news, click here.
CB&I CBI announced that it has acquired Chemical Research and Licensing from CRI/Criterion, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc. To read the full news, click here.
Celera Corporation CRA today announced that it has submitted a Premarket Approval Application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its KIF6 Genotyping Assay. To read the full news, click here.