A Peek Into The Market Before The Trading Starts - Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Air Products & Chemicals (NYSE:APD)

Pre-open movers

US stock futures are higher this morning, as investors are awaiting economic data and earnings from Apple

AAPL

. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 20 points to 14,519.00 and S&P 500 index futures rose 1.50 points to 1,557.40. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 6.75 points to 2,804.00.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 1.39%, London's FTSE 100 Index gained 1.02%, French CAC 40 Index surged 2.17% and German DAX 30 index rose 0.92%. Asian markets ended mostly lower, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average falling 0.29%, China's Shanghai Composite dropping 2.57% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rising 0.95%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.08% and India's Sensex gained 0.04%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at JP Morgan upgraded Caterpillar

CAT

from “neutral” to “overweight.” The target price for Caterpillar has been raised from $93 to $100. Caterpillar shares closed at $82.71 yesterday.

Breaking news

DuPont Co DD reported a surge in its first-quarter earnings. To read the full news, click here.
Enanta Pharmaceuticals ENTA announced today that new Phase 2b data related to ABT-450, Enanta's lead HCV protease inhibitor identified in its ongoing collaboration with AbbVie, as well as new preclinical data on Enanta's proprietary cyclophilin inhibitor, EDP-546, will be presented at the International Liver Congress, (ILC), which is the 48th Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) taking place in Amsterdam April 24-28, 2013. To read the full news, click here.
Air Products & Chemicals APD reported a 1.9% drop in its fiscal-second quarter earnings. To read the full news, click here.
National Technical Systems NTSC announced today that it has signed a $1.6 million contract with Sandia National Laboratories to continue the development of the Harvester project, a program authorized by the U.S. Department of Energy dedicated to monitoring nuclear emissions in the atmosphere through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), also called drones. To read the full news, click here.

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