A Peek Into The Market Before The Trading Starts

US stock futures are higher this morning, ahead of the weekly jobless data. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 35 points to 11,403, while those for the S&P 500 surged 5.50 points to 1,224.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index moved up 10.75 points to 2,199.

Positive sentiments ruled the European markets today. While STOXX Europe 600 Index has advanced 0.27%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved up 0.32%. Asian markets ended mixed, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average adding 0.52%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving up 0.75% and China's Shanghai Composite losing 1.31%. Indian shares fell sharply, with the BSE Sensex dropping 2.31%.

Piper Jaffray is raising its price target on salesforce.com, inc.

to $171 from $136, and is keeping its Overweight rating on the stock. In a note sent to clients, Piper Jaffray writes, "DreamForce has solidified its credentials as the most amazing spectacle among all conferences, with >30,000 registrations and a bevy of next-generation products unveiled. The defining trend is what we call "salesforce for the Masses", as the company structures new offerings (Chatter.com, Database.com) that deliver virality in a Freemium model to expand the addressable customer base by an order of magnitude. Dreamforce marks a fundamental turning point for the Platform, and will trigger a different perception in the developer community. Bottom Line: We believe CRM remains the best investment in the powerful Cloud Computing wave. Reiterate OW rating, establishing FY13 estimates, raising target to $171." Shares of CRM gained $5.34 yesterday to close at $150.58, a gain of 3.7%.

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