A Peek Into The Market Before The Trading Starts

US stock futures are trading flat this morning, after strong rise in the Dow Industrials in the previous session. Investors are awaiting another round of earnings reports. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 8 points to 11,981, while those for the S&P 500 index rose 0.10 point to 1,303. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index fell 0.50 point to 2,322.

Positive sentiment ruled the European markets today. While STOXX Europe 600 Index has gained 0.08%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved up 0.61%. Asian markets ended higher, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average gaining 1.78% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rising 0.95%.

Piper Jaffray raised its JDS Uniphase

price target to $20 from $19 in a research report published today and reiterated JDS Uniphase's rating of Overweight. In the report, Piper Jaffray states, "We believe JDSU is likely to report impressive results as a significant number of potential catalysts all appear to be aligning. Optical data points are indicating demand was better than expected in December and should be sustainable through 2011. Gesture recognition interest is accelerating and Microsoft's Kinect clearly exceeded forecasts. LTE deployments are continuing at a rapid pace and a Q4 budget flush for Test equipment should provide strong sequential growth for JDSU's CommTest business. JDSU has also recently surprised with better than expected cost controls and we believe the current consensus estimates could be understated if JDSU can execute on several of these favorable opportunities." Shares of JDS Uniphase were at $17.60 in after hours trading at the time of posting, down 0.11% from Tuesday's market close.

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