A Peek Into The Market Before The Trading Starts

Pre-open movers US stock futures are lower this morning, for the last session of the year. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 34 points to 11,488, while those for the S&P 500 fell 3.3 points to 1,251. Futures on the Nasdaq 100 index lost 1.5 points to 2,223. A Peek Into Global Markets Negative sentiments ruled the European markets today. While STOXX Europe 600 Index has dropped 1.29%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved down 0.69%. Asian markets ended mixed, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average losing 1.12%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving down 0.81% and China's Shanghai Composite gaining 1.76%. Broker Recommendation JP Morgan has published a research report on Agrium, Inc. AGU and is raising 2011 estimates on the company. In the report, JP Morgan writes "Fertilizer fundamentals rest on very healthy crop pricing and excellent farmer economics as we approach the 2011 spring selling season. Harvest month 2011 futures are at near highs versus midseason 2010 price levels: corn $5.56 vs. $5.06, soybeans $12.77 vs. $9.14, and wheat $8.59 vs. $5.86. Accordingly, Agrium should benefit from solid volume growth in its Retail segment and wider margins in its Wholesale fertilizer businesses. Solid fall fertilizer volumes, coupled with heavy forward purchases by customers, have led to higher fertilizer prices entering the New Year. But, we also note that strong fall fertilizer applications could moderate volume growth in the spring, leading Agrium's EPS to fall short of the most aggressive Street agricultural EPS forecasts." JP Morgan maintains its Overweight rating and $95 price target. Agrium closed yesterday at $91.68. Breaking news

• Inuvo, Inc. INUV announced today that as of December 29, 2010, one year from the day it was issued, the Company fully satisfied the term note repayment obligations it had with Wachovia Bank, N.A. To read the full news, click here.
• Arch Chemicals, Inc. ARJ announced that on December 30, 2010 it issued the remaining $125 million principal amount of notes under its agreement with certain institutional investors providing for a private placement of a total of $250 million aggregate principal amount of 4.0% unsecured senior notes due December 31, 2017. To read the full news, click here.
• Porsche has won a dismissal of two lawsuits that it cost hedge funds over $2 billion in losses due to its acquisition of Volkswagen shares back in 2008, writes Bloomberg. To read the full news, click here.
• Unilife Corporation UNIS announced today that its 2010 Share Purchase Plan, which closed on Wednesday, 22 December 2010, was significantly oversubscribed. To read the full news, click here.

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