A Peek Into The Market Before The Trading Starts

Pre-open movers
US stock futures are mixed this morning as investors are awaiting economic data ahead of pre-Christmas holidays. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 5 points at 11,500 and S&P 500 index fell 0.80 point to 1,254. Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 4.75 points to 2,231.

A Peek Into Global Markets

Positive sentiment ruled the European markets today. While STOXX Europe 600 Index has gained 0.01%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved up 0.14%.

Mostly Asian markets ended mixed, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average losing 0.23%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving up 0.38% and China's Shanghai Composite falling 0.79%.

Broker Recommendation
Jefferies & Co. is raising its price target on shares of Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ: BBBY) to $57 from $49 and is keeping its Buy rating after the company beat estimates yesterday.

In a note sent to clients, Jefferies writes, "We increase our FY11 EPS estimate to $2.91 from $2.77 on the 3Q outperformance of $0.11 and our 4Q estimate to $0.96 from $0.92 –now slightly above the high end of the $0.91-$0.95 range guidance. We also raise our FY12 EPS estimate to $3.45 from $3.25 to reflect greater share repurchases, and slight improvements to our sales
and SG&A rate assumptions. Comp store sales came in at 7.6% in 3Q, well ahead of our 3.5% estimate and guidance for a low single-digit gain. The performance puts to rest concerns about the lapping of difficult comparisons, as the company went up against a 790 bps step-up in comp between 2Q and 3Q last year. Our checks showed sales trends improved through the quarter, with soft spots following the back-to-school season and in early November before the company finished strongly heading into the 2010 holiday season. We think bedding and seasonal categories performed very well during the period providing some offset to the margin mix headwind."

Shares of BBBY gained $3.15 yesterday in after-hours to $50.82, a gain of 6.6%

Breaking news

• Petrohawk Energy Corporation (NYSE: HK) today announced that it has completed the sale of its natural gas assets in the Fayetteville Shale, located primarily in Cleburne and Van Buren Counties, Arkansas, to XTO Energy Inc., a subsidiary of ExxonMobil, for $575 million. The sale has an effective date of October 1, 2010. To read the full news, click here.
• Piedmont Natural Gas (NYSE: PNY) today announced results for its fiscal year ended October 31, 2010. For the year, the Company reported record net income of $142 million and diluted earnings per share of $1.96 compared with net income of $123 million and diluted earnings per share of $1.67 for 2009. To read the full news, click here.
• Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN) announced today that the District Court of Düsseldorf has issued a ruling in the patent litigation initiated by Pioneer Corporation. To read the full news, click here.
• AU Optronics Corp. (NYSE: AUO) announced that it had received a contract to expand into the British market. To read the full news, click here.

Read more from Benzinga's Markets.