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 surged 70 points to 13,120.00 and S&P 500 index futures rose 7.70 points to 1,411.20. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 15.50 points to 2,783.00. A Peek Into Global Markets European markets were higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 0.72%, French CAC 40 index gained 1%. London's FTSE 100 Index moved up 0.55% and German DAX 30 index rose 1.22%. Asian markets ended higher, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average gaining 0.01%, China's Shanghai Composite rising 0.70% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving up 0.79%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained 0.34% and India's Sensex rose 0.19%. Broker Recommendation Analysts at Deutsche Bank downgraded Nokia NOK from “hold” to “sell.” The target price for Nokia has been lowered from $1.70 to $1.60. Nokia shares gained 2.94% to $2.45 in pre-market trading. Breaking news

• American International Group AIG announced today that it has commenced a sale in Hong Kong of up to $2 billion worth of ordinary shares of AIA Group Limited (AIA) by means of a placing to certain institutional investors.To read the full news, click here.
• Jazz Pharmaceuticals JAZZ today announced a definitive agreement to sell its women's health business, which includes six products, to Meda (an international specialty pharmaceutical company) for $95 million in cash. To read the full news, click here.
• Physicians Formula Holdings FACE announced that it has received an unsolicited, nonbinding proposal to acquire all its outstanding shares of common stock at a price of $4.90 per share, subject to several conditions, including the completion of due diligence and securing of financing commitments by the third party who submitted the proposal and the negotiation of a mutually acceptable definitive agreement.To read the full news, click here.
• China Jo-Jo Drugstores CJJD today announced that on August 31, 2012, it was notified by The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC, notifying it of its failure to maintain a minimum closing bid price of $1.00 over the then preceding 30 consecutive trading days for its common stock as required by NASDAQ Listing Rule 5550(a)(2). To read the full news, click here.