US Stock Futures Jump Ahead Of Jobless Claims Data

Pre-open movers US stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. Data on weekly jobless claims will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 148 points to 17,590.0, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 20.40 points to 2,059.65. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index climbed 48.60 points to 4,395.10. A Peek Into Global Markets European markets were higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index surging 2.48 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index rising 1.65 percent and German DAX 30 index gaining 1.80 percent. French CAC 40 Index climbed 1.93 percent and London's FTSE 100 Index rose 1.05 percent. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.60 percent, Homg Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed 4.16 percent, China's Shanghai Composite Index jumped 5.76 percent and India's BSE Sensex dipped 0.41 percent. Broker Recommendation Analysts at UBS downgraded Amgen, Inc. AMGN from Buy to Neutral. The target price for Amgen has been lowered from $185 to $165. Amgen shares closed at $152.31 yesterday. Breaking news

• Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. CRL announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Celsis International Ltd. for $212 million in cash, subject to customary closing adjustments. To read the full news, click here.
• Infosys INFY, a global leader in consulting, technology, outsourcing and next-generation services, will now offer the Finacle suite of software solutions on Verizon VZ Cloud. To read the full news, click here.
• BlackBerry BBRY is said to be launching multiple models of an Android-based Smartphone in the second half of 2015, according to sources as reported by DigiTimes. To read the full news, click here.
• Sanchez Production Partners LP SPP today announced that it intends to implement a 1-for-10 reverse split on its common units, effective after the market closes on August 3, 2015. To read the full news, click here.