US Stock Futures Up Ahead Of Time Warner Earnings - Humana (NYSE:HUM)

Pre-open movers

US stock futures rose in early pre-market trade, ahead of earnings from Time Warner

TWX

. The Conference Board's index of leading indicators for September will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 69 points to 15,619.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 9.30 points to 1,765.80. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 13 points to 3,392.75.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.45%, London's FTSE 100 index gaining 0.07% and STOXX Europe 600 Index surging 0.56%. German DAX 30 index rose 0.39% and French CAC 40 Index gained 0.98%. The euro-zone composite PMI surged to 51.9 in October, versus the flash reading of 51.5. Spanish services PMI rose to 49.6 in October, versus 49.0 in September. UK industrial production increased 0.9% in September versus August. Asian markets ended mostly lower today. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.79%, China's Shanghai Composite dropped 0.82% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index declined 0.01%. Australia's ASX/S&P500 rose 0.01% and India's BSE Sensex tumbled 0.38%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Bank of America downgraded VIVUS

VVUS

from “buy” to “neutral.” The target price for VIVUS has been lowered from $17 to $11. VIVUS's shares closed at $9.41 yesterday.

Breaking news

NGL Energy Partners LP NGL announced today that it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire all of the equity interests of Gavilon, LLC, the diversified midstream energy business owned by funds managed by Ospraie Management, General Atlantic and Soros Fund Management. To read the full news, click here.
Humana HUM reported a 13.6% drop in its third-quarter profit. Humana's quarterly profit dropped to $368 million, or $2.31 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $426 million, or $2.62 per share. To read the full news, click here.
Barracuda Networks CUDA today announced the pricing of its initial public offering of 4,140,000 shares of its common stock at a price to the public of $18 per share. To read the full news, click here.
Toyota Motor TM reported a string rise in its latest quarter net profit and raised its earnings forecast for the fiscal year. To read the full news, click here.

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