A Peek Into The Market Before The Trading Starts

Pre-open movers US stock futures are mostly flat this morning, as investors are awaiting economic data. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1 point to 14,453.00 and S&P 500 index futures fell 0.80 points to 1,555.20. Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.50 points to 2,800.50. A Peek Into Global Markets European markets were mostly lower today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index fell 0.15%, London's FTSE 100 Index dropped 0.31%, French CAC 40 Index fell 0.64% and German DAX 30 index gained 0.01%. Asian markets ended mixed, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average gaining 1.45%, China's Shanghai Composite rising 0.36% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rising 1.70%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dropped 0.38% and India's Sensex tumbled 0.73%. Broker Recommendation Analysts at Jefferies downgraded Transocean RIG from “buy” to “hold.” The target price for Transocean has been raised from $54 to $57. Transocean shares fell 1.17% to $53.13 in pre-market trading. Breaking news

• AMAG Pharmaceuticals AMAG today announced positive preliminary data from the IDA-303 study. IDA-303 is a single arm, open-label extension study that evaluated the safety and efficacy of repeat dosing with ferumoxytol in patients with persistent or recurring iron deficiency anemia (IDA) regardless of the underlying cause and a history of unsatisfactory oral iron therapy or in whom oral iron could not be used. To read the full news, click here.
• The Smithfield Packing Company, a subsidiary of Smithfield Foods SFD, announced today that it plans to shift bone-in ham production from its Landover, Maryland, plant to its facilities in North Carolina and Kentucky, and then permanently close the Landover plant by early fall. To read the full news, click here.
• Boeing BA announced that a comprehensive set of improvements that will add several layers of additional safety features to the lithium-ion batteries on 787 commercial jetliners are in production and could be ready for initial installation within the next few weeks. To read the full news, click here.
• Novadaq Technologies NVDQ today announced that Novadaq and Kinetic Concepts have terminated agreements that were signed in November 2011 related to the development, sales and marketing of the LUNA(TM) fluorescence imaging system which is used in wound care clinics. To read the full news, click here.