US Stock Futures Up Ahead of NAHB Housing Market Index - Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT), Boeing (NYSE:BA)

Pre-open movers

US stock futures rose in early pre-market trade. The NAHB housing market index and E-commerce retail sales will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 52 points to 15,965.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 2.80 points to 1,796.30. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 3.50 points to 3,420.00.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.85%, London's FTSE 100 index gaining 0.29% and STOXX Europe 600 Index gaining 0.37%. German DAX 30 index rose 0.46% and French CAC 40 Index surged 0.44%. Euro-zone current-account surplus narrowed to 13.7 billion euros ($18.5 billion) in September, versus a revised EUR17.9 billion surplus in August. Asian markets ended mostly higher today. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average dropped 0.01%, China's Shanghai Composite gained 2.87%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 2.73% and India's BSE Sensex jumped 2.21%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Bank of America downgraded Microsoft

MSFT

from “neutral” to “underperform.” The target price for Microsoft is set to $36. Microsoft's shares dropped 1.19% to $37.39 in pre-market trading.

Breaking news

RCS Capital RCAP announced today that on November 16, 2013, RCAP and a newly formed wholly-owned subsidiary of RCAP entered into an agreement and plan of merger with Summit Financial Services Group SFNS by which RCAP will acquire Summit for $49.0 million, or approximately $1.43 per share. To read the full news, click here.
Pacific Premier Bancorp PPBI announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire privately held Infinity Franchise Holdings, LLC (IFH) and its wholly owned operating subsidiary Infinity Franchise Capital, LLC (IFC), a national lender to franchisees in the quick service restaurant (QSR) industry, and other direct and indirect subsidiaries of IFH utilized in its business. To read the full news, click here.
The Raytheon Company RTN and Lockheed Martin LMT Javelin Joint Venture received a $176 million contract for the production and delivery of 842 Block I Javelin missile rounds and 120 command launch units (CLUs). To read the full news, click here.
Boeing BA and Mubadala Development Company today announced a new strategic agreement that will increase the long-term role of Mubadala as a Tier 1 supplier to Boeing. To read the full news, click here.

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