A Peek Into The Market Before The Trading Starts

Pre-open movers US stock futures are lower this morning, as debt fears moved to Italy. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 102 points to 12,513.00 and futures on the S&P 500 stock index fell 14.70 points to 1,327.10. Nasdaq 100 futures declined 27.00 points to 2,381.50. A Peek Into Global Markets Most Asian markets ended lower, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average dropping 0.6727%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving down 1.47% and China's Shanghai Composite gaining 0.18%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 1.6685% and India's Sensex dipped 0.72%. European markets were lower today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index has dropped 0.71%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved down 0.71%, German DAX 30 index fell 1.19% and France CAC 40 index fell 1.75%. Broker Recommendation Analysts at Pritchard Capital Partners upgraded Venoco VQ from “neutral” to “buy.” The target price for Venoco is set to $19. Venoco shares dropped 2.11% to close at $13.00 on Friday. Breaking news

• Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ACHN today announced that it has begun dosing in a Phase 1 clinical trial of ACH-2928, a NS5A inhibitor, being developed for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus infection. To read the full news, click here.
• ICF International ICFI has released its Integrated Energy Outlook for the second quarter of 2011. To read the full news, click here.
• Local.com Corporation LOCM today announced the acquisition of Screamin' Media Group, Inc., which operates Screamin' Daily Deals. To read the full news, click here.
• Peabody Energy BTU and ArcelorMittal SA MT earlier today confirmed that they have jointly submitted an indicative proposal to the board of directors of Macarthur Coal Ltd. to acquire all of the shares of the company. To read the full news, click here.