US Stock Futures Rise Ahead Of Industrial Production, Housing Data - Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA)

Pre-open movers

US stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. The Empire State manufacturing index for March will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, while industrial production data for February will be released at 9:15 a.m. ET. The NAHB housing market index for March will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 84 points to 17,737, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 9.30 points to 2,051.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index climbed 17 points to 4,319.50

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.80%, STOXX Europe 600 Index surging 0.68% and German DAX 30 index gaining 1.15%. French CAC 40 Index climbed 0.91% and London's FTSE 100 Index rose 0.17%. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average slipped 0.04%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 0.53%, China's Shanghai Composite Index gained 2.26% and India's BSE Sensex fell 0.23%.

Broker Recommendation

Analysts at Cross Research upgraded

Jabil Circuit Inc. JBL

from Hold to Buy and raised the price target from $23.00 to $30.00. Jabil Circuit shares rose 0.18% to close at $21.73 on Friday.

Breaking news

NRG Energy, Inc. NRG today announced the authorization to repurchase $100 million of its common stock as part of its ongoing 2015 Capital Allocation Program. To read the full news, click here.
Akebia Therapeutics AKBA, today announced the presentation of results from its Phase 2b trial of AKB-6548 in non-dialysis patients with anemia related to chronic kidney disease (CKD) at the International Society of Nephrology's biennial World Congress of Nephrology (WCN), which is being held in Cape Town, South Africa from March 13-17, 2015. To read the full news, click here.
Ruthigen RTGN announced today that on March 13, 2015, they have entered into a definitive merger agreement. To read the full news, click here.
Sotheby's BID today announced that its Board of Directors has concluded its CEO search and appointed Tad Smith as President and Chief Executive Officer, effective March 31, 2015. To read the full news, click here.

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