A Peek Into The Market Before The Opening Bell

Pre-open movers
US stock futures slipped today and pointed to a weaker opening on Wall Street, as worries of slowing economic growth worries investors. While futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 48 points to 9634, those on the S&P 500 lost 5.7 points to 1018.50. Meanwhile, Nasdaq 100 futures declined 8.25 points to 1726.25.

A Peek Into Global Markets
Negative sentiments ruled the European markets, with STOXX Europe 600 Index losing 0.53% and London’s FTSE 100 Index moving down 0.60%. Marks & Spencer (OTC: MAKSY) and building materials group were creating pressure on the markets.

Most Asian markets ended in the negative territory, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average falling 0.63% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 losing 0.51%. China's Shanghai Composite, however, gained 0.48%.

Broker Recommendation
Jefferies & Co. maintained its "hold" rating on defense giant Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) with an $85 price target. A Jefferies research note said Lockheed is planning to reduce the number of employees at the vice president and director level, a move that could cut fourth-quarter earnings by 45 cents a share, but cost savings could be recognized in 2011 or 2012.

Breaking news

• Kraft Foods (NYSE: KFT) has signed a deal with Oryxa Capital to sell Cadbury's Romanian business unit. The company has not disclosed the deal amount. To read the full story, click here.
• ESPN announced yesterday night that superstar basketball free agent LeBron James is set to announce which NBA team he will sign with during a special live ESPN telecast on Thursday night at 9 p.m. To read the full news, click here.
• Deutsche Bank is falling for the double dip chatter. Their analysts believe we’re simply in a mid cycle slowdown. In a recent note they listed 4 reasons why this isn’t a reason to get overly bearish. To read the full analysis, click here.
• According to an article on the Wall Street Journal, Chief Executive Eric Schmidt of Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg went off together in Schmidt’s car in a private rendezvous, after they retired from the Allen and Company conference for the day. To read the full news, click here.