News Summary for August 1, 2011
This is your Benzinga news summary and traders' outlook for Monday, August 1, 2011, covering headlines from overnight and Monday's pre-market session.
Today in domestic pre-market trading, U.S. equity futures are trading higher and the U.S. Dollar lower after Republican and Democratic leaders in the Senate and House of Representatives announced a deal to raise the nation's debt ceiling over the weekend.
Earlier this morning, Citigroup upgraded Eaton Vance (NYSE: EV) to Hold and Goldman Sachs upgraded RadioShack (NYSE: RSH) to Conviction-List Buy. View all of today's upgrades here.
Morgan Keegan downgraded Skilled Healthcare (NYSE: SKH) to Market Perform and downgraded Sun Healthcare (NASDAQ: SUNH) to Market Perform. View all of today's downgrades here.
Citigroup lowered Cerner's (NYSE: ITT) price target to $57 from $66 and Morgan Keegan raised Key Energy Service (NYSE: KEG) price target to $27 from $23. View all other analyst ratings here.
Overseas, European markets were higher this morning. Britain's FTSE 100 fell popped 1.3% and France's CAC 40 added 1% on the session. Asian stocks ended the session higher as well. China's Shanghai Index rose 0.1%, Japan's Nikkei 225 jumped 1.3%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 1%.
On the economic calendar, construction spending, ISM Manufacturing Index, and ISM Prices Paid Index are all set to be reported at 10:00 a.m.
On the commodity front, gold and silver futures are lower in pre-market trading, with silver down about 1.25%. Energy futures are higher with crude oil up a little over $1 at $96.77 per barrel. and gasoline trading higher by about 1% higher. Natural gas futures are trading higher this morning and copper futures are flat this morning.
On the earnings front, Humana (NYSE: HUM) reported Q2 EPS of $2.50 on revenues of $9.28 billion; The Street was looking for $2.06 per share on revenues of $9.32 billion. The company raised 2011 fiscal year EPS guidance to $7.50-$7.60 versus $7.07 estimate. Allstate (NYSE: ALL) reported Q2 EPS of $(1.23) on revenues of $8.08 billion; The Street was looking for $(1.56) per share on revenues of $7.98 billion.
In corporate news, Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU) and Arcelormittal (NYSE: MT) submitted an offer to acquire Macarthur Coal for total value of $15.66 per share.
Also, Europe's largest bank HSBC Holdings (NYSE: HBC) announced this morning a cost-saving initiative to cut 30,000 jobs from its workforce by 2013.
This concludes your news summary for August 1, 2011.
