A Peek Into The Market Before The Trading Starts

Pre-open movers US stock futures are higher this morning, as investors are awaiting July personal-income and consumer-spending data and June pending home sales. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 91 points to 11,370.00 and S&P 500 index futures rose 13.10 points to 1,187.60. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 19 points to 2,183.00. A Peek Into Global Markets European markets were mostly higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index gained 1%, French CAC 40 index rose 1.89% and German DAX 30 index gained 1.42%. Asian markets ended mostly higher, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rising 0.61%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving up 1.47% and China's Shanghai Composite dropping 1.37%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 1.4412% and India's Sensex jumped 3.58%. Broker Recommendation Analysts at Citigroup downgraded Robert Half International Inc RHI from “buy” to “hold.” The target price for Robert Half International has been lowered from $40 to $25. Robert Half International shares rose 2.03% to close at $22.64 on Friday. Breaking news

• DryShips Inc. DRYS today announced the commencement of an offer by its majority-owned subsidiary, Ocean Rig UDW, to exchange up to 28,571,428 new shares of Ocean Rig common stock that have been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended for an equivalent number of common shares of Ocean Rig previously sold in a private offering in December 2010. To read the full news, click here.
• Venoco VQ announced that its board of directors has received a non-binding proposal from Timothy M. Marquez, Chairman and CEO of the company and the holder of approximately 50.3% of Venoco's outstanding common stock, to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Venoco common stock for $12.50 per share in cash. To read the full news, click here.
• AuRico Gold Inc. AUQand Northgate Minerals Corporation NXG announce that they have entered into a definitive acquisition agreement to create a new leading intermediate gold producer. To read the full news, click here.
• Donaldson Co Inc DCI reported better-than-expected quarterly results. Donaldson reported its quarterly earnings at $65.8 million, or $0.84 per share, up from $51.2 million, or $0.65 per share, in the year-ago period. To read the full news, click here.