A Peek Into The Market Before The Trading Starts - Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT)

Pre-open movers

US stock futures are higher this morning, as investors are awaiting earnings from Caterpillar

CAT

. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 44 points to 13,296.00 and S&P 500 index futures rose 5.20 points to 1,429.20. Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 15.25 points to 2,679.25.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index surged 0.15%, London's FTSE 100 Index gained 0.13%, French CAC 40 Index climbed 0.33% and German DAX 30 index rose 0.02%. Asian markets ended mostly higher, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rising 0.09%, China's Shanghai Composite rising 0.21% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dropping 0.63%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 0.68% and India's Sensex surged 0.59%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at RBC Capital downgraded SanDisk

SNDK

from “outperform” to “sector perform.” The target price for SanDisk is set to $50. SanDisk shares dropped 1.18% to $43.50 in pre-market trading.

Breaking news

Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Limited RDY, together with its subsidiaries, announces the intended public offer to acquire the issued and outstanding shares of OctoPlus NV, a service-based specialty pharmaceutical company, for an offer price of €27.39 million (cum dividend) in cash, representing 100% of the issued and outstanding ordinary shares. To read the full news, click here.
Prospect Global Resources PGRX and Sichuan Chemical Industry Holding (Group) Co., Ltd. today jointly announced a more than $2-billion agreement, over a 10-year period, under which Sichuan will purchase at least 500,000 metric tons of potash annually, or 25% of the projected output of Prospect Global's American West Potash field in Holbrook, AZ. To read the full news, click here.
DARA BioSciences DARA announced today it has launched Soltamox® (tamoxifen citrate) oral solution in the United States. To read the full news, click here.
Informatica Deutschland AG, Germany, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Informatica Corporation INFA, United States of America today announced the commencement of a public tender offer for all issued ordinary bearer shares with no par value of Heiler Software AG for EUR 7.04 per share in cash. To read the full news, click here.

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