A Peek Into The Market Before The Trading Starts

Pre-open movers US stock futures are slightly higher this morning, as investors are awaiting data on home prices and consumer confidence. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 18 points to 12,132.00 and S&P 500 index futures climbed 1.80 points to 1,304.00. Nasdaq 100 futures rose 5 points to 2,300.75. A Peek Into Global Markets Negative sentiment ruled the European markets today. While STOXX Europe 600 Index has dropped 0.51%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved down 0.30%. Most Asian markets ended lower, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average dropping 0.21%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gaining 0.40% and China's Shanghai Composite falling 0.87%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index lost 0.03% and India's Sensex surged 177.66 points. Broker Recommendation Analysts at Credit Suisse upgraded Owens-Illinois Inc OI from “neutral” to “outperform.” The target price for OI has been raised from $32 to $36. OI shares fell 1.32% to close at $29.96 yesterday. Breaking news

• Deer Consumer Products DEER announced today that DEER has filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court of the State of New York against Seeking Alpha blogger "Alfred Little" and others, related to their numerous false "research reports" about DEER, which appear to be part of an orchestrated scheme to manipulate and depress DEER's stock. To read the full news, click here.
• Apollo Group, Inc. APOL today reported financial results for the three months ended February 28, 2011. Consolidated net revenue for the second quarter of fiscal 2011 totaled $1,048.6 million, which represents a 2.0% decrease from the second quarter of fiscal 2010. To read the full news, click here.
• GE GE announced today that its Energy business has entered into an agreement to acquire approximately 90 percent of Converteam from a controlling shareholder group that includes management, Barclays Private Equity and LBO France, for approximately $3.2 billion. To read the full news, click here.
• McCormick & Company Inc MKC reported its Q1 EPS at $0.57, versus the consensus of $0.54. To read the full news, click here.

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