A Peek Into The Market Before The Trading Starts

Pre-open movers US stock futures are lower this morning, as investors are awaiting the latest interest-rate decision from the Federal Reserve. The Greek government won a key confidence vote late Tuesday. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 28 points to 12,060.00 and futures on the S&P 500 stock index fell 4.40 points to 1,283.50. Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 8.50 points to 2,235.50. A Peek Into Global Markets Most Asian markets ended higher, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rising 1.7866%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving up 0.56% and China's Shanghai Composite surging 0.09%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.0429% and India's Sensex dropped 0.07%. European markets were lower today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index has dropped 0.61%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved down 0.47%, German DAX 30 index rose 0.0246% and France CAC 40 index fell 0.3459%. Broker Recommendation Analysts at Barclays upgraded F5 Networks Inc FFIV from “equal-weight” to “overweight.” The target price for FFIV has been raised from $100 to $125. FFIV shares rose 4.91% to close at $103.00 yesterday. Breaking news

• Philips Electronics PHG warned of sharply lower profits for the second quarter on Wednesday. To read the full news, click here.
• The chief executive of prominent bond fund PIMCO, Mohamed El-Erian, expressed his doubt Wednesday about the prospects for debt-ridden Greece and beyond. To read the full news, click here.
• Carter's, Inc. CRI today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Bonnie Togs, a children's apparel retailer based in Toronto, Canada, for total consideration of up to approximately $98 million. To read the full news, click here.
• Lihua International, Inc. LIWA has raised its 2011 gross profit guidance to be between $81.0 million and $83.0 million, and non-GAAP net income guidance to be between $53.0 million and $55.0 million, representing year-over-year growth of 30.4-33.7% and 32.2-37.2% respectively. To read the full news, click here.