A Peek Into The Market Before The Trading Starts

Pre-open movers US stock futures are lower this morning. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 31 points to 12,681.00 and S&P 500 index futures fell 3.90 points to 1,347.80. Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 5.50 points to 2,571.50.

A Peek Into Global Markets European markets were mostly lower today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 0.08%, London's FTSE 100 Index dropped 0.02%, French CAC 40 Index declined 0.21% and German DAX 30 index fell 0.06%.

Asian markets ended mixed, with China's Shanghai Composite dropping 1.74% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rising 0.60%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 0.15% India's Sensex fell 0.71%.

Broker Recommendation Analysts at RW Baird downgraded SanDisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) from “outperform” to “neutral.” The target price for SanDisk has been lowered from $48 to $32.

SanDisk shares rose 0.03% to close at $33.42 on Friday.

Breaking news

• Regis (NYSE: RGS) today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Aderans Co., Ltd. to sell Hair Club for Men and Women (Hair Club), its subsidiary offering proven hair loss products and services. To read the full news, click here.
• Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE: TMO) today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire One Lambda, the leader in transplant diagnostics, for $925 million in cash, subject to a post-closing adjustment. To read the full news, click here.
• Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ALNY) announced today the achievement of positive clinical results from its Phase I trial with ALN-TTR02, an RNAi therapeutic targeting the transthyretin (TTR) gene for the treatment of TTR-mediated amyloidosis (ATTR). To read the full news, click here.
• Wi-LAN (NASDAQ: WILN) today provided an update related to an important discovery dispute in its litigation against LG Electronics and LG Electronics USA. To read the full news, click here.