A Peek Into The Market Before The Trading Starts

Pre-open movers US stock futures are mixed this morning, as investors are awaiting jobless claims data. Shares of Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) dropped about 2.6% in pre-market trading following the resignation of Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 23 points to 11,291.00 and S&P 500 index futures rose 2 points to 1,174.00. Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 7.25 points to 2,131.75. A Peek Into Global Markets European markets were higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index gained 0.42%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved up 0.02%, French CAC 40 index rose 0.99% and German DAX 30 index gained 0.71%.

Asian markets ended mostly higher, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average surging 1.54%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving up 1.06% and China's Shanghai Composite rising 2.92%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 1.4676% and India's Sensex dipped 0.72%.

Broker Recommendation Analysts at Bank of America upgraded Casey's General Stores Inc (NASDAQ: CASY) from “neutral” to “buy.” The target price for Casey's General Stores has been raised from $47 to $49.

Casey's General Stores shares gained 0.07% to close at $41.33 yesterday.

Breaking news

• Compass Diversified Holdings (NYSE: CODI) announced today that it acquired a controlling interest in CamelBak Products, LLC on August 24, 2011. To read the full news, click here.
• Acacia Research Corporation (NASDAQ: ACTG) announced today that its Chalameau Power Systems LLC subsidiary has entered into a license agreement with Force 10 Networks, Inc. covering patents generally relating to Power Over Ethernet technology. To read the full news, click here.
• Big Lots Inc (NYSE: BIG) released its results for the fiscal second-quarter on Thursday. Big Lots' net profit for the period came in at $35.7 million, or $0.50 per share, versus $38.9 million, or $0.48 per share, in the year-ago period. To read the full news, click here.
• Dollar Tree Inc (NASDAQ: DLTR) today announced that after market close on August 24, 2011, it entered into an agreement with JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association, to repurchase $200 million of its common shares under a variable maturity accelerated share repurchase program. To read the full news, click here.