A Peek Into The Market Before The Trading Starts

Pre-open movers US stock futures are higher this morning, after strong earnings from Apple Inc AAPL. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 65 points to 12,572.00 and futures on the S&P 500 stock index rose 7.40 points to 1,328.60. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 22.75 points to 2,411.75. A Peek Into Global Markets Asian markets ended mixed, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average surging 1.41%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving up 1.7403% and China's Shanghai Composite dropping 0.10%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.4625% and India's Sensex dropped 0.91%. European markets were higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index has gained 1.01%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved up 1.07%, German DAX 30 index rose 0.37% and France CAC 40 index rose 1.38%. Broker Recommendation Analysts at Piper Jaffray upgraded AO Smith Group AOS from “neutral” to “overweight.” The target price for AO Smith has been raised from $47 to $52. AO Smith shares rose 0.14% to $43.21 in after-hours trading. Breaking news

• Nalco Holding NLC announced today that the company has entered into a definitive merger agreement with Ecolab Inc. ECL. To read the full news, click here.
• Dell DELL today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Force10 Networks, Inc. Force10's networking capabilities complement Dell's datacenter solutions portfolio, enabling it to offer customers a broader range of enterprise offerings. To read the full news, click here.
• Altria Group Inc MO reported a 57% decline in its Q2 net profit. To read the full news, click here.
• United Technologies Corp UTX reported a 19% rise in its second-quarter profit and lifted its profit forecast for 2011. To read the full news, click here.