End-of-Day Market Summary for December 15, 2011
This is your Benzinga news summary for Thursday, December 15, 2011, covering headlines from Monday's daytime trading session.
Today at market close, the Dow Jones Index traded up about 45.94 points or 0.39%, the S&P 500 traded 0.32% higher, the Nasdaq Composite Index traded up 0.07%, and the U.S. dollar trades lower near the $80.95 level.
Earlier today, Deutsche Bank upgraded TECO Energy (NYSE: TE) to Hold and Wedbush upgraded Xylem (NYSE: XYL) to Outperform. View all of today's upgrades here.
Jefferies downgraded Diamond Foods (NASDAQ: DMND) to Hold and UBS downgraded BorgWarner (NYSE: BWA) to Neutral. View all of today's downgrades here.
Overseas, European markets ended their trading session higher. Britain's FTSE 100 gained 0.63%, Germany's DAX increased by 0.98% and France's CAC 40 rallied by 0.76% on the session. Asian stocks ended their session lower. China's Shanghai Index slid by 2.11%, Japan's Nikkei 225 decreased by 1.66%, and the Hang Seng index lost 1.78%.
On the economic calendar, Producer Price Index MoM came in at 0.3% versus an estimate of 0.2%; Initial Jobless claims came in at 366K versus an estimate of 390K; Continuing Claims came in at 2603K versus an estimate of 3637K; Industrial Production came in at -0.2% versus an estimate of 0.1%. On the commodity front, gold and silver futures traded lower today, with gold trading about 0.3% lower today. Energy futures are lower, however, with crude oil down over 1.6% near the $98 level and gasoline futures are trading lower by about 0.6%. Natural Gas futures are lower by about 0.1% and copper futures are trading over 0.02% higher.
On the earnings front today, Accenture Reports Q1 EPS $0.96 vs $0.94 Est; Revenues $7.10B vs $6.85B Est; Adobe Systems Reports Q4 EPS $0.67 vs $0.60 Est; Revenues $1.15B vs $1.09B Est; Quiksilver Reports Q4 EPS $0.06 vs $0.07 Est; Revenues $545.2M vs $527.56M Est; Research In Motion Reports Q3 EPS $1.27 vs $1.19 Est; Revenues $5.2B vs $5.26B Est.
In corporate news, the Securities and Exchange Commission commented on Citigroup's (NYSE: C) court case, in which its settlement was rejected. The SEC stated that the court took unprecedented action that inadvertently harmed investors, and also noted that it had contacted the court to review its decisions.
Hologic (NASDAQ: HOLX) announced that the FDA has approved its Cervista HTA system, which screens for cervical cancer.
Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) announced that Tom Rutledge will step down as Chief Operating Officer. Terms of the resignation were undisclosed.
Today's Movers include:
ZOLL Medical Company (NASDAQ: ZOLL) +28.7% after authorities reaffirmed coverage policies for one of ZOLL's products
SonoSite (NASDAQ: SONO) +27.1% after agreeing to be acquired by Fujifilm for $995 million
Novellus Systems (NASDAQ: NVLS) +16.3% after merger announcement with Lam Research Corp
InterMune (NASDAQ: ITMN) -30.3% on heavy volume
athenahealth (NYSE: NBG) -15.5% on poor 2012 guidance
Nevsun Resources (NYSE: NSU) -11.4% on low volume
This concludes your news summary for December 15, 2011.
