A Peek Into The Market Before The Trading Starts

Pre-open movers

US stock futures are slightly lower this morning, ahead of the minutes of the recent Fed meeting. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 9 points to 15,213.00 and S&P 500 index futures fell 2.80 points to 1,642.80. Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 4 points to 2,970.25.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were lower today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index dropped 0.40%, London's FTSE 100 index declined 0.44%, French CAC 40 Index dropped 0.71% and German DAX 30 index fell 0.45%. Asian markets ended mostly higher, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average falling 0.39%, China's Shanghai Composite surging 2.17% and Australia's ASX/S&P500 rising 0.39%. Hong Kong's Heng Seng Index gained 1.07% and India's Sensex fell 0.75%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at JP Morgan upgraded Sealed Air

SEE

from “neutral” to “overweight.” The target price for Sealed Air has been raised from $24 to $30. Sealed Air's shares closed at $26.09 yesterday.

Breaking news

Pharmacyclics PCYC today announced that it has submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the investigational oral Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor, ibrutinib, for two relapsed/refractory B-cell malignancy indications: mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)/small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL). To read the full news, click here.
Pfizer PFE announced today the company's pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, Prevenar 13*, received European approval for an expanded indication to include adults aged 18 to 49 years for active immunization for the prevention of invasive disease caused by vaccine-type Streptococcus pneumonia. To read the full news, click here.
Family Dollar Stores FDO today announced that it has named Jason Reiser to the position of Senior Vice President–Merchandising. Mr. Reiser will replace John Scanlon, who retired from the Company at the end of March. To read the full news, click here.
Internet Initiative Japan IIJI announced that it has determined the issue price and the selling price in relation to the issuance of new shares and the secondary offering of shares resolved at the meeting of the Board of Directors held on July 2, 2013. To read the full news, click here.

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