A Peek Into The Market Before The Trading Starts

Pre-open movers US stock futures are lower this morning. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 11 points to 12,738.00 and futures on the S&P 500 stock index fell 1.60 points to 1,350.50. Nasdaq 100 futures declined 6.25 points to 2,383.50. A Peek Into Global Markets Asian markets ended lower, with Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving down 0.84% and China's Shanghai Composite dropping 2.26%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dropped 1.35% and India's Sensex fell 0.40%. European markets were lower today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index has declined 0.65%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved down 1.03%. Broker Recommendation Analysts at Benchmark Company downgraded DigitalGlobe Inc DGI from “buy” to “hold.” The target price for DGI has been lowered from $38 to $30. DGI shares gained 0.38% to close at $28.72 yesterday. Breaking news

• Applied Materials Inc AMAT agreed to acquire Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates Inc VSEA for about $4.9 billion. To read the full news, click here.
• ConAgra Foods, Inc. CAG, today announced that it has made a proposal to the Ralcorp Holdings, Inc. Board of Directors RAH to acquire Ralcorp for $86 per share in cash, or approximately $4.9 billion, plus the assumption of $2.5 billion in debt. To read the full news, click here.
• R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co RRD reported a 30% decline in its first-quarter net profit. The company also announced a $1 billion share repurchase program. To read the full news, click here.
• Time Warner Inc TWX reported better-than-expected adjusted profit for the first quarter on Wednesday. To read the full news, click here.

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