A Peek Into The Market Before The Trading Starts

Pre-open movers US stock futures are slightly higher this morning. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 18 points to 12,704.00 and S&P 500 index futures rose 2.20 points to 1,343.10. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 9 points to 2,596.50. A Peek Into Global Markets European markets were mostly higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 0.47%, London's FTSE 100 Index gained 0.88%, French CAC 40 index rose 0.04% and German DAX 30 index surged 0.40%. Asian markets ended mostly lower, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average dropping 0.75%, Chinese Shanghai Composite falling 0.66% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dropping 0.39%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index declined 0.66% and India's Sensex gained 1.02%. Broker Recommendation Analysts at RW Baird downgraded Body Central BODY from “outperform” to “neutral.” The target price for Body Central has been lowered from $25 to $9. Body Central shares dropped 0.97% to $8.14 in after-hours trading. Breaking news

• Sonus Networks SONS and Network Equipment Technologies NWK today announced they have entered into a definitive agreement for Sonus to acquire NET in a cash merger. To read the full news, click here.
• Autodesk ADSK today announced that its Board of Directors has approved the repurchase of up to 30 million shares of the company's common stock, in addition to the approximately 12 million shares that remained at the end of the first quarter of fiscal 2013 under previously authorized share repurchase programs. To read the full news, click here.
• Air Products APD today announced a definitive agreement to purchase a 67% majority stake in Indura S.A. for $884 million/CLP 451 billion. To read the full news, click here.
• Joe's Jeans JOEZ announced today that the Company has entered into a new multi-year international distribution arrangement with Advanced Retail for France. To read the full news, click here.