Financial Breakfast for August 31, 2011
This is your Benzinga news summary and traders' outlook for Wednesday, August 31, 2011, covering headlines from overnight and Wednesday's pre-market session.
Today in domestic pre-market trading, U.S equity futures are trading higher. At last check, Dow futures are up by about 85 points or 0.75% and the U.S. dollar trades flat near the $74 level.
Earlier this morning, Goldman Sachs upgraded Reliance Steel & Aluminum (NYSE: RS) to Buy and upgraded Century Aluminum (NASDAQ: CENX) to Neutral. View all of today's upgrades here.
Goldman Sachs downgraded Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ: STLD) to Neutral and Piper Jaffray downgraded Cognex (NASDAQ: CGNX) to Neutral. View all of today's downgrades here.
Bank of America raised Par Pharmaceutical (NYSE: PRX) price objective to $39 from $36 and Jefferies lowered Kroger's (NYSE: KR) price target to $27 from $28. View all other of today's analyst ratings here.
Overseas, European markets are higher in afternoon trading. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.85%, Germany's DAX added 1% and France's CAC 40 gained 1.5% on the session. Asian stocks ended the session higher as well. China's Shanghai Index added 0.04%, Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 0.01%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 1.6%.
On the economic calendar, ADP Employment Change is set to be reported at 8:15 a.m. The Chicago Purchasing Manager Index is due at 9:45 a.m. and Factor Orders are to be released at 10:00 a.m..
On the commodity front, gold and silver futures are mixed in pre-market trading, with gold trading higher by about 0.25%. Energy futures are mixed with crude oil down near the $88.00 level and gasoline futures are trading higher by about 0.1%. Natural Gas futures are trading up by about 0.3% and copper futures are trading about 1% higher this morning.
On the earnings front, Joy Global (NASDAQ: JOYG) reported Q3 EPS of $1.62 on revenues of $1.14 billion; The Street was looking for $1.53 per share on revenues of $1.17 billion.
Jos. A. Bank (NASDAQ: JOSB) reported Q3 EPS of $0.74 on revenues of $230.7 million; The Street was looking for $0.68 per share on revenues of $209.7 million.
In corporate news, Cameron (NYSE: CAM) has agreed to acquire LeTourneau Technologies Drillings Systems and Offshore Products divisions from Joy Global Inc. (NASDAQ: JOYG) for approximately $375 million in cash. The boards of Cameron and Joy Global Inc. have unanimously approved the transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions.
Teledyne Technologies Incorporated (NYSE: TDY) announced today that its subsidiary, was awarded an IDIQ contract with a potential value of $595 million over five years beginning September 1, 2011.
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (NYSE: CM) reported a 26% rise in its third-quarter profit and lifted its quarterly dividend for the first time in four years from C$0.87 per share to C$0.90, a 3.4% raise.
This concludes your news summary for August 31, 2011.
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