A Peek Into The Market Before The Trading Starts

Pre-open movers US stock futures are higher this morning. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 48 points to 12,550.00 and S&P 500 index futures rose 4.30 points to 1,333.50. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 12.25 points to 2,550.00.

A Peek Into Global Markets European markets were higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 0.67%, London's FTSE 100 Index gained 0.63%, French CAC 40 Index climbed 0.56% and German DAX 30 index rose 1.07%.

Asian markets ended mostly higher, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average gaining 0.05%, China's Shanghai Composite rising 0.02% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rising 0.30%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 0.35% India's Sensex fell 0.11%.

Broker Recommendation Analysts at RW Baird upgraded Cabot Oil & Gas (NYSE: COG) from “neutral” to “outperform.” The target price for Cabot Oil & Gas has been raised from $40 to $48.

Cabot Oil & Gas shares fell 1.17% to close at $38.97 yesterday.

Breaking news

• CB&I (NYSE: CBI) announced today that it has been awarded a contract by PETRONAS for the license and engineering design work for five petrochemicals units. To read the full news, click here.
• GlaxoSmithKline plc (NYSE: GSK) and Theravance (NASDAQ: THRX) today announced the submission of regulatory applications in the US and European Union for the once-daily investigational medicine fluticasone furoate "FF"/vilanterol "VI" (FF/VI) for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and a regulatory application for asthma in the European Union. To read the full news, click here.
• ACCESS CO LTD, Smartphone Technologies LLC, an affiliate of Acacia Research (NASDAQ: ACTG), and HP have expanded an existing patent license agreement, extending HP's license across ACCESS' and Smartphone Technologies' entire patent portfolios. To read the full news, click here.
• Hovnanian Enterprises (NYSE: HOV), a leading national homebuilder, and GSO Capital Partners LP, the credit arm of The Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX), announced today a land banking arrangement for up to $125 million. To read the full news, click here.