End-of-Day Market Summary for November 30, 2011

This is your Benzinga news summary and traders' summary for Wednesday, November 30, 2011, covering headlines from Wednesday's trading session.

Today at market close, the Dow Jones Index traded up about 488.92 points or 4.23%, the S&P 500 traded 4.33% higher, the Nasdaq Composite Index traded up 4.17%, and the U.S. dollar trades lower near the $78.45 level.

Earlier today, UBS upgraded Apartment Investment & Management (NYSE: AIV) to Neutral and Oppenheimer upgraded Accretive Health (NYSE: AH) to Outperform. View all of today's upgrades here.

Jefferies downgraded Calpine (NYSE: CPN) to Hold and Goldman Sachs downgraded Vulcan Materials (NYSE: VMC) to Sell. View all of today's downgrades here.

Overseas, European markets ended their trading session higher. Britain's FTSE 100 gained 3.16%, Germany's DAX increased by 4.98% and France's CAC 40 rallied by 4.22% on the session. Asian stocks ended their session lower. China's Shanghai Index slid by 3.22%, Japan's Nikkei 225 decreased by 0.51%, and the Hang Seng index lost 1.46%.

On the economic calendar, MBA Mortgage Applications came in at -11.7% versus a previous number of -1.2%; ADP Employment Change came in at 206K versus an estimate of 103K; Chicago Purchasing Manager came in at 62.6 versus an estimate of 58.5; Pending Home Sales MoM came in at 10.4% versus an estimate of 2%. On the commodity front, gold and silver futures traded higher today, with gold trading about 0.5% higher today. Energy futures are mixed, however, with crude oil up over 0.5% near the $100.35 level and gasoline futures are trading higher by about 0.6%. Natural Gas futures are lower by about 1.8% and copper futures are trading over 0.1% higher.

On the earnings front this afternoon, Express Reports Q3 EPS $0.37 vs $0.35 Est; Revenues $486.80M vs $487.91M Est; Aeropostale Reports Q3 EPS $0.30 vs $0.28 Est; Revenues $596.50M vs $576.35M Est; Guess? Reports Q3 EPS $0.71 vs $0.73 Est; Revenues $642.80M vs $655.23M Est; La-Z-Boy Reports Q2 EPS $0.15 vs $0.14 Est; Revenues $307.70M vs $310.03M Est.

In corporate news, PAETEC (NASDAQ: PAET) announced that it will voluntarily delist from the NASDAQ.

Vail Resorts (NYSE: MTN) announced that it will reorganize its lodging division in order to better accommodate its customers.

B+H Ocean Carriers (NYSE: BHO) announced that it will be issuing RMB 3 billion notes to institutional investors in China.

Today's Movers include:

TPC Group (NASDAQ: TPCG) +19.1% along with higher moves in basic materials sector, which moved up 5.7%

Patriot Coal Corp (NYSE: PCX) +19.1% as coal and consumer energy moved higher within energy sector

MBIA (NYSE: MBI) +18.2% as financial sector moved higher than 5%

Shutterfly (NASDAQ: SFLY) -12.4% on heavy volume

StoneMor Partners (NASDAQ: STON) -12.4% after S&P placed its B rating on watch negative

Jos. A. Bank Clothiers (NASDAQ: JOSB) -3.7% after poor Q4 guidance

This concludes your news summary for November 30, 2011.