US Stock Futures Up; Gold Futures Rise 2% - Acacia Research (NASDAQ:ACTG)

Pre-open movers

US stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. Gold futures gained 2.04% to trade at $1,197.40 an ounce. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 28 points to 18,016.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 2.90 points to 2,081.70. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index climbed 12.25 points to 4,294.75.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were mixed today, with the Spanish Ibex Index gaining 0.09%, STOXX Europe 600 Index dropping 0.06%. German DAX 30 index climbed 0.57%, French CAC 40 Index gained 0.44% and London's FTSE 100 Index rose 0.18%. European markets are closed today. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average jumped 0.06%, China's Shanghai Composite Index climbed 2.77% and India's Sensex rose 0.12%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Wedbush reiterated an Outperform rating on United Therapeutics Corp.

UTHR

. The price target for United Therapeutics is set to $171. United Therapeutics' shares gained 1.88% to close at $130.22 on Wednesday.

Breaking news

Acacia Research Corporation ACTG announced today that its Credit Card Fraud Control Corporation subsidiary has entered into a settlement and patent license agreement with TCSP Inc. dba TrustCommerce. To read the full news, click here.
Spectrum Pharmaceuticals SPPI today announced the company has submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the approval of Captisol-Enabled Melphalan (CE-Melphalan) HCl for injection (propylene glycol-free) for use as a high-dose conditioning treatment prior to hematopoietic progenitor (stem) cell transplantation in patients with multiple myeloma.To read the full news, click here.
Auction.com, known as the 'eBay of real estate, is being accused of using shill bidders to inflate prices, according to a lawsuit filed in California, as reported by the NY Post. To read the full news, click here.
The euro slipped lower on Friday morning as markets eased back into full swing following the Christmas holidays. The common currency traded at $1.292 at 8:45 GMT, weighed down by encouraging U.S. data. To read the full news, click here.

Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs