A Peek Into The Market Before The Trading Starts

Pre-open movers

US stock futures are higher this morning, as investors are awaiting a policy decision by the European Central Bank. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 110 points to 12,236.00 and S&P 500 index futures rose 13.60 points to 1,298.70. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 26.75 points to 2,515.50.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 1.76%, London's FTSE Index surged 1.45%, French CAC 40 index rose 2.02% and German DAX 30 index gained 1.68%. Asian markets ended mostly higher, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average gaining 1.81%, China's Shanghai Composite dropping 0.10% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving up 0.30%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained 1.43% and India's Sensex surged 2.52%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Jefferies downgraded Rackspace Hosting Inc

RAX

from “buy” to “hold.” The target price for Rackspace Hosting has been lowered from $64 to $54. Rackspace Hosting shares gained 0.28% to $47.15 in pre-market trading.

Breaking news

UnitedHealth Group UNH today announced that its Board of Directors authorized payment of a cash dividend of $0.2125 per share, to be paid on June 22, 2012, to all shareholders of record of UnitedHealth Group common stock as of the close of business on June 15, 2012. To read the full news, click here.
Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd RDY and Merck Serono, a division of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, announced today a partnership to co-develop a portfolio of biosimilar compounds in oncology, primarily focused on monoclonal antibodies (MAbs). To read the full news, click here.
Orexigen® Therapeutics Inc OREX announce their partnership for WeightMate™, a comprehensive weight management program developed for participants in the Light Study. To read the full news, click here.
Coinstar Inc CSTR and Seattle's Best Coffee, part of Starbucks Corporation SBUX, today announced an exclusive agreement to roll out Coinstar's new Rubi™coffee kiosk in the grocery, drug and mass merchant retail channels featuring Seattle's Best Coffee® beverages. To read the full news, click here.

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