A Peek Into The Market Before The Trading Starts

Pre-open movers
US stock futures are slightly lower this morning, ahead of the 2-day Group of 20 meeting in Paris. The People's Bank of China lifted its reserve requirement ratio for banks by 50 basis points. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 6 points to 12,282.00, while those for the S&P 500 index fell 0.40 point to 1,337. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index fell 3.75 points to 2,390.
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A Peek Into Global Markets

Negative sentiment ruled the European markets today. While STOXX Europe 600 Index has dropped 0.05%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved down 0.46%.

Asian markets ended mixed, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average gaining 0.06%, and China's Shanghai Composite dropping 0.93%.

Broker Recommendation
Oppenheimer & Co. is raising its price target on shares of Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU) to $58 from $52, and is keeping its Outperform rating on shares after earnings.

In a note to investors, Oppenheimer writes, "F2Q11 EPS of $0.32 (-16% y/y) was consistent with our estimate/consensus of $0.31/$0.32. TurboTax started slowly in January, though this was anticipated due to actual/perceived delayed IRS acceptance of certain itemized returns. Importantly, TurboTax has been surging in February, which we expect to continue, and management cited market share gains thus far. We believe investors anticipate TurboTax will (again) finish strong and achieve (maintained) FY11 revenue guidance. We'd aggressively buy should stock softness arise, though don't expect it as robust QuickBooks growth drove F2Q11 outperformance in INTU's Small Business segment. Reiterating our Outperform, we're increasing our target to $58 from $52 on anticipated incremental TurboTax momentum through tax season-end, as well as QuickBook's rebound and accelerating online migration."

Shares of INTU gained 32 cents yesterday to close at $50.44.

Breaking news

• Tessera Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSRA) today announced that on February 17, 2011, it sent Amkor Technology, Inc. an official notice of termination of their license agreement with Tessera. To read the full news, click here.
• Campbell Soup Company (NYSE: CPB) today reported its results for the second quarter of fiscal 2011. Net earnings for the quarter ended Jan. 30, 2011 were $239 million compared with $259 million in the prior year, a decrease of 8 percent. To read the full news, click here.
• Barnes Group Inc. (NYSE: B) today reported financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2010. Fourth quarter 2010 sales totaled $283.3 million, up 10.4 percent from $256.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2009. To read the full news, click here.
• Progress Energy (NYSE: PGN) announced full-year GAAP earnings of $856 million, or $2.95 per share, compared with GAAP earnings of $757 million, or $2.71 per share, for the same period last year. To read the full news, click here.

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