A Peek Into The Market Before The Trading Starts - Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG), Assurant (NYSE:AIZ)

Pre-open movers

US stock futures are mostly flat this morning, as investors are awaiting the ADP private-sector employment data. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1 point to 13,410.00 and S&P 500 index futures fell 0.40 points to 1,440.50. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 3 points to 2,798.25.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mixed today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index fell 0.07%, London's FTSE 100 Index surged 0.12%, French CAC 40 Index dropped 0.25% and German DAX 30 index rose 0.11%. Asian markets ended mostly higher, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average dropping 0.45% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rising 0.15%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained 0.23% and India's Sensex rose 0.24%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Goldman Sachs upgraded Assurant

AIZ

from “neutral” to “buy.” The target price for Assurant has been raised from $43 to $45. Assurant shares gained 1.02% to close at $37.69 yesterday.

Breaking news

LifeLock LOCK announced the pricing of its initial public offering of 15,700,000 shares of common stock at a price to the public of $9.00 per share. To read the full news, click here.
Sarepta Therapeutics SRPT today announced that treatment with its lead exon-skipping compound, eteplirsen, met the primary efficacy endpoint, increase in novel dystrophin, and achieved a significant clinical benefit on the primary clinical outcome, the 6-minute walk test (6MWT) over the placebo/delayed treatment cohort in a Phase IIb extension trial in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) patients. To read the full news, click here.
VIVUSVVUS today announced the dismissal of a putative class action lawsuit captioned Kovtun v. Vivus, Inc., et al., Case No. 4:10-CV-04957-PJH, filed in November 2010 against the company and two of its officers alleging securities fraud. To read the full news, click here.
The Carlyle Group CG and Vermillion Asset Management announced that the Carlyle publicly traded partnership has purchased, effective October 1, 2012, a 55% stake in Vermillion, a New York-based commodities investment manager with approximately $2.2 billion of assets under management as of September 30, 2012, which has become affiliated with Carlyle's Global Market Strategies business. To read the full news, click here.

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