A Peek Into The Market Before The Trading Starts

Pre-open movers US stock futures are lower this morning, as investors are awaiting the Chicago PMI and pending home sales data. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 41 points to 12962.00 and S&P 500 index futures fell 4.70 points to 1,406.00. Nasdaq 100 futures declined 11 points to 2,611.50. A Peek Into Global Markets European markets were mostly lower today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index fell 0.36%, London's FTSE 100 Index dropped 0.20%, German DAX 30 Index dropped 0.43% and French CAC 40 Index fell 0.87%. Asian markets ended higher, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rising 0.70%, China's Shanghai Composite gaining 1.24% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index gaining 0.51%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 0.21% and India's Sensex surged 0.63%. Broker Recommendation Analysts at Stifel Nicolaus downgraded BCD Semiconductor Manufacturing BCDS from “buy” to “hold.” BCD Semiconductor shares jumped 86.18% to close at $7.41 yesterday. Breaking news

• National Health Investors NHI announced today that it will pay a special dividend of $.22 per common share to shareholders of record on January 10, 2013, and payable on January 31, 2013. To read the full news, click here.
• Retail Opportunity Investments ROIC announced today, in an off-market transaction, it has closed on three shopping centers and has a binding contract to acquire a fourth shopping center. To read the full news, click here.
• Synergy Pharmaceuticals SGYP announced today the successful completion of a Phase I single-ascending-dose clinical trial of SP-333, a guanylate cyclase C (GC-C) agonist designed to treat ulcerative colitis (UC) and other GI diseases. To read the full news, click here.
• Yucheng Technologies YTEC announced today that the Company completed the merger of New Sihitech Acquisition Limited with and into the Company (the "merger") by completing the registration of the merger with the Registrar of Corporate Affairs of the British Virgin Islands. To read the full news, click here.