US Stock Futures Rise Ahead Of Wholesale Trade Data

Pre-open movers US stock futures surged in early pre-market trade. The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index for January will be released at 7:30 a.m. ET, while data on wholesale trade for December will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 49 points to 15,788.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 5.30 points to 1,800.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 11 points to 3,588.50. A Peek Into Global Markets European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.68%, London's FTSE 100 index gaining 0.72% and STOXX Europe 600 Index climbing 0.72%. German DAX 30 index rose 1.21% and French CAC 40 Index climbed 0.57%. Asian markets ended higher today. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index surged 1.78%, China's Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.84% and India's BSE Sensex gained 0.14%. Broker Recommendation Analysts at Credit Suisse downgraded Apache APA from “outperform” to “neutral.” The price target for Apache has been lowered from $104 to $102. Apache's shares closed at $80.75 yesterday. Breaking news

• CVS Caremark CVS reported a gain in its fourth-quarter profit. CVS Caremark's quarterly profit surged to $1.27 billion, or $1.05 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $1.13 billion, or $0.90 per share. To read the full news, click here.
• Mallinckrodt plc MNK Cadence Pharmaceuticals CADX today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which a subsidiary of Mallinckrodt plc will commence a tender offer to acquire all outstanding shares of Cadence Pharmaceuticals, Inc. for $14.00 per share in cash. To read the full news, click here.
• Barclays PLC BCS swung to a profit in the full year and announced its plans to lower up to 12,000 jobs this year. To read the full news, click here.
• Sprint S reported a narrower fourth-quarter net loss. Sprint posted a quarterly loss of $1.04 billion, or $0.26 per share, versus a year-ago loss of $1.32 billion, or $0.44 per share. To read the full news, click here.