A Peek Into The Market At The Start Of The Trading Day

Pre-open US stock futures moved up modestly today after the Group of 20 leaders pledged to reduce their government deficit by half by the year 2013. While futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 28 points to 10,132, those on the S&P 500 gained 4.30 points to 1,079. Meanwhile, Nasdaq 100 futures added 7 points to 1,846.20. A Peek Into Global Markets Most equity markets in Europe posted broad-based gains. While the Stoxx Europe 600 added 0.81%, FTSE 100 Index has moved up 0.21% in the early market trading. All major Asian bourses, however, closed lower today, with Japan's Nikkei stock average losing 0.45% and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declining 0.67%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng, however, gained 0.17% to close in the black. Broker Recommendation Citing iPhone 4 demand that outpaces available supply, Deutsche Bank reiterated its Buy rating on Apple shares AAPL with a $375 price target. Noting that "iPhone demand remained very robust through the weekend," Deutsche analysts remain optimistic about mid-term prospects for Apple. Breaking news

• Noble Corporation NE, an offshore drilling contractor, has signed a merger agreement to acquire the privately-held FDR Holdings Limited (Frontier) in a cash transaction worth $2.16 billion. To read the full story, click here.
• Spherix Inc SPEX announced that it was shifting focus on the company s phase III candidate from type-2 diabetes to triglyceride lowering. To read the full story, click here.
• Honda HMC says that its factory output in China fell nearly 20% in the month of May. The labor dispute between Chinese workers and the Japanese car company worsened in June, so its financial impact is certainly getting worse. To read the full story, click here.
• Alcoa Inc. AA is facing lower aluminum prices and higher input costs. Alcoa's near-to medium-term profitability is likely to come under pressure from rising energy and caustic-soda costs. To read the full story, click here.