A Peek Into The Market Before The Trading Starts

Pre-open movers US stock futures are flat this morning, as investors are awaiting speeches from President Barack Obama and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 4 points to 11,411.00 and S&P 500 index futures fell 0.20 points to 1,198.80. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 4.75 points to 2,226.75.

A Peek Into Global Markets European markets were higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 0.69%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved up 0.55%, French CAC 40 index rose 0.69% and German DAX 30 index gained 0.82%.

Asian markets ended mostly higher, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average surging 0.3390%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving up 0.16% and China's Shanghai Composite dropping 0.68%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.6743% and India's Sensex gained 0.59%.

Broker Recommendation Analysts at Auriga upgraded Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ: CSCO) form “hold” to “buy.” The target price for Cisco Systems has been raised from $16 to $20.

Cisco Systems shares gained 3.93% to close at $15.88 yesterday.

Breaking news

• Smithfield Foods Inc (NYSE: SFD) reported a 7.6% rise in its fiscal first-quarter net income. To read the full news, click here.
• Thomson Reuters (NYSE: TRI) today announced a new three-year partnership with the Algerian Ministry of Higher Education and Research that will bring Thomson Reuters Web of Knowledge, to scientists and researchers at more than 60 institutions across Algeria. To read the full news, click here.
• Elbit Systems Ltd (NASDAQ: ESLT) earlier announced today, further to the announcement dated April 13, 2011, that its Brazilian subsidiary AEL Sistemas SA signed several related agreements with Embraer Defesa e Segurança SA, a subsidiary of Embraer SA (NYSE: ERJ).To read the full news, click here.
• PerkinElmer Inc (NYSE: PKI) today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Caliper Life Sciences Inc (NASDAQ: CALP) for $10.50 per share. To read the full news, click here.