Financial Breakfast: Morning News Summary for March 7, 2012

Benzinga's Top News

• The Bon-Ton Stores BONT Reports Q1 EPS $3.07 vs $3.19 Est; Revenues $983.20M vs $1.00B Est
• Express Reports EXPR Q1 EPS $0.7 vs $0.68 Est; Revenues $673.20M vs $676.57M Est
• O'Charley's CHUX Announces End of "Go-Shop" Period; No Other Bids.
• GE GE and Chesapeake Energy CHK Announce Collaboration to Speed Adoption of Natural Gas as Transportation Fuel.

Domestic Pre-Market Trading

• U.S. Equity Markets trade higher as Dow futures trade up about 51 points.
• U.S. Dollar trades about 0.11% lower.

Overseas Trading

• European markets are higher in afternoon trading. Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.35%, Germany's DAX gained 0.21% and France's CAC 40 advanced 0.64% on the session.
• Asian stocks ended the session lower. China's Shanghai slid 0.64%, Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.64%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 0.86%.

Upgrades/Downgrades

• Sterne Agee Upgrades Dicks Sporting Goods DKS from Underperform to Neutral
• Piper Jaffray Upgrades Medidata Solutions MDSO from Underweight to Neutral, Raises PT from $16 to $23

• Citigroup Downgrades Pandora P from Buy to Neutral, Lowers PT from $25 to $17
• Jefferies & Company Downgrades Kraft Foods KFT from Buy to Hold, Raises PT from $40 to $41

On the Economic Calendar

• US MBA Mortgage Applications (1.2%) vs (0.3%) Prior
• ADP Employment Change is set to report at 8:15 a.m. ET
• Nonfarm Productivity is due at 8:30 a.m.

Earnings

• The Bon-Ton Stores BONT Reports Q1 EPS $3.07 vs $3.19 Est; Revenues $983.20M vs $1.00B Est
• Express Reports EXPR Q1 EPS $0.7 vs $0.68 Est; Revenues $673.20M vs $676.57M Est

Corporate News

• O'Charley's CHUX Announces End of "Go-Shop" Period; No Other Bids.
• GE GE and Chesapeake Energy CHK Announce Collaboration to Speed Adoption of Natural Gas as Transportation Fuel.

Commodities

• Precious metals are trading higher, with gold posting early gains of about 0.65%
• Energy futures are trading higher, with crude oil posting early gains of about 0.48%
• Natural Gas futures are lower by about 1.74% and copper is trading higher by about 0.29%

Benzinga's Morning Radar

Technical Levels for Futures and Forex

Name	Resistance-2	Resistance-1	Mid Pivot	Support-1	Support-2
E-Mini S&P 500	1371	1356	1347	1332	1323
Gold	1721	1698	1683	1657	1640
Crude	107.95	106.48	105.50	104.02	103.03
Natural Gas	2.41	2.37	2.35	2.32	2.30
EUR/USD	1.3246	1.3178	1.3140	1.3073	1.3035
US Dollar Index	80.25	80.07	79.75	79.57	79.25

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