Pre-open movers
US stock futures traded mostly flat in early pre-market trade, ahead of international trade data. Data on international trade for March will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 5 points to 16,439.00, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 0.40 points to 1,875.40. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index gained 0.25 points to 3,591.00.
A Peek Into Global Markets
European markets were mixed today, with the Spanish Ibex Index rising 0.36%, STOXX Europe 600 Index gaining 0.08%. German DAX 30 index rose 0.04%, French CAC 40 Index declined 0.09% and London's FTSE 100 Index dropped 0.12%. UK's services PMI surged to 58.7 in April, from 57.6 in March.
In Asian markets, China's Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.03% and India's BSE Sensex rose 0.28%.
Broker Recommendation
Analysts at Bank of America upgraded Seattle Genetics (NASDAQ: SGEN [FREE Stock Trend Analysis]) from "underperform" to "neutral." The target price for Seattle Genetics has been lowered from $46 to $40.
Seattle Genetics' shares closed at $35.10 yesterday.
Breaking news
- Xerox (NYSE: XRX) today announced a definitive agreement to acquire ISG Holdings, Inc. for $225 million, creating a comprehensive workers' compensation suite of offerings for clients in the property and casualty insurance industry. To read the full news, click here.
- Astellas Pharma (OTC: ALPMY) and Medivation (NASDAQ: MDVN) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for filing the supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) to extend the indication for XTANDI® (enzalutamide) capsules for the treatment of men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) who have not received chemotherapy. To read the full news, click here.
- Switzerland's bank UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) reported a 7% rise in its first-quarter profit. UBS posted its quarterly net profit of 1.054 billion Swiss francs ($1.2 billion), versus a year-ago profit of 988 million francs. To read the full news, click here.
- Merck (NYSE: MRK) today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its Merck Consumer Care (MCC) business to Bayer AG (OTC: BAYRY) for $14.2 billion. To read the full news, click here.