A Peek Into The Market Before The Trading Starts

Pre-open movers US stock futures are lower this morning, as investors are awaiting same-store sales data and a meeting of the European Central Bank (ECB). Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 33 points to 12,639.00 and futures on the S&P 500 stock index declined 4.70 points to 1,338.30. Nasdaq 100 futures fell 7.50 points to 2,376.50. A Peek Into Global Markets Asian markets ended mixed, with Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving up 0.31% and China's Shanghai Composite gaining 0.22%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dropped 0.23% and India's Sensex fell 1.63%. European markets were lower today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index has declined 0.80%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved down 0.81%. Broker Recommendation Analysts at Piper Jaffray downgraded McDonald's Corp MCD from “overweight” to “neutral.” The target price for MCD has been lowered from $91 to $85. MCD shares dropped 0.23% to $78.89 in pre-market trading. Breaking news

• International Game Technology IGT has launched a cash offer to purchase all outstanding shares of Entraction Holding AB at a price equivalent to approximately $11.11 per share, or a total consideration of approximately $115 million. To read the full news, click here.
• Cigna Corp CI reported a 52% surge in its first-quarter net income. The company reported its quarterly net income at $429 million, or $1.57 per share, versus $283 million, or $1.02 per share, in the year-ago quarter. To read the full news, click here.
• Omeros Corporation OMER today announced that its phosphodiesterase 7 inhibitors demonstrated robust efficacy in animal models of nicotine addiction. These data add to earlier studies showing strong effects in models of cocaine addiction as well as binge eating. To read the full news, click here.
• CVS Caremark Corp CVS released its results for the first-quarter today. The company's quarterly profit dropped to $713 million, or $0.52 per share, from $771 million, or $0.55 per share, in the year-earlier period. To read the full news, click here.

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