US Stock Futures Up; All Eyes On FOMC Minutes

Pre-open movers US stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade. The Federal Open Market Committee will release minutes of its latest meeting at 2:00 p.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 34 points to 16,371.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 3.90 points to 1,872.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 8.25 points to 3,604.75. A Peek Into Global Markets European markets were mixed today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.07%, STOXX Europe 600 Index gaining 0.03%. German DAX 30 index tumbled 0.01%, French CAC 40 Index fell 0.30% and London's FTSE 100 Index dropped 0.24%. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average dropped 0.24%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.01%, China's Shanghai Composite Index surged 0.84% and India's BSE Sensex dropped 0.32%. Japan's trade deficit narrowed to Yen808.9 billion in April, from Yen1.45 trillion in March. The country's April exports climbed 5.1% y/y, while imports increased 3.4% y/y. Broker Recommendation Analysts at JP Morgan downgraded Dick's Sporting Goods DKS from “overweight” to “neutral.” The target price for Dick's Sporting has been lowered from $63 to $50. Dick's Sporting shares tumbled 17.98% to close at $43.60 yesterday. Breaking news

• Hormel Foods HRL reported a 12% gain in its fiscal second-quarter earnings. Hormel's quarterly profit surged to $140.1 million, or $0.52 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $125.5 million, or $0.46 per share. To read the full news, click here.
• Lowe's Companies LOW reported a 16% rise in its fiscal first-quarter net income and lifted its full-year earnings guidance. Lowe's same-store sales rose 0.9% in the period ended May 2. To read the full news, click here.
• Atlas Financial Holdings AFH today announced the pricing of its underwritten public offering of 2,000,000 ordinary shares of the Company at a price to the public of $12.50 per share for gross proceeds of $25,000,000. To read the full news, click here.
• American Realty Capital Properties ARCP announced today that it intends to sell substantially all its multi-tenant shopping center portfolio for $1.975 billion in cash to affiliates of Blackstone Real Estate Partners VII BX. To read the full news, click here.