US Stock Futures Surge Ahead Of Federal Budget

Pre-open movers US stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. The U.S. Treasury monthly budget report for April will be released at 2:00 p.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 58 points to 16,585.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 7.80 points to 1,881.20. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 20 points to 3,568.00. A Peek Into Global Markets European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.61%, STOXX Europe 600 Index gaining 0.60%. German DAX 30 index surged 0.97%, French CAC 40 Index climbed 0.11% and London's FTSE 100 Index gained 0.42%. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.35%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 1.82%, China's Shanghai Composite Index jumped 2.08% and India's BSE Sensex jumped 2.42%. Broker Recommendation Analysts at Credit Suisse downgraded Ralph Lauren RL from “outperform” to “neutral.” The target price for Ralph Lauren has been lowered to $165. Ralph Lauren's shares closed at $148.81 on Friday. Breaking news

• The Dixie Group DXYN announced today that it plans to make a public offering of 2,500,000 shares of its common stock. In connection with the offering, the Company intends to grant the underwriters an option for 30 days to purchase up to an additional 375,000 shares of common stock to cover over-allotments, if any. To read the full news, click here.
• The Hillshire Brands Company HSH and Pinnacle Foods PF today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Hillshire Brands will acquire all outstanding shares of Pinnacle Foods in a cash and stock transaction. To read the full news, click here.
• MEDNAX MD today announced that it has recorded the one million neonatal health record in its Clinical Data Warehouse (CDW) using BabySteps®, the company's proprietary and certified electronic health record (EHR). To read the full news, click here.
• Shire plc SHPG and Lumena Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company with rare disease pipeline assets, announced the acquisition of Lumena Pharmaceuticals by Shire. To read the full news, click here.