Financial Breakfast: Morning News Summary for February 14, 2012

Benzinga's Top News

• Moody's warned yesterday that some of the European triple-A countries, including UK and France, may face sovereign credit rating downgrades. In addition, Moody's cut the ratings of six other nations, including Italy and Spain.

• President Obama announced his 2013 budget proposal yesterday. The proposal includes the raise of tax on dividends to the top marginal rate, which is currently at 39.6%. President also proposes raising the capital gains tax to 20%.

Domestic Pre-Market Trading

• U.S. Equity Markets trade higher as Dow futures trade up about 14 points.
• U.S. Dollar trades about 0.46% lower.

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Overseas Trading

• European markets are higher in afternoon trading. Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.14%, Germany's DAX gained 0.39% and France's CAC 40 advanced 0.24% on the session.
• Asian stocks ended the session mixed. China's Shanghai lost 0.28%, Japan's Nikkei 225 advanced 0.59%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.15%.

Upgrades/Downgrades

• Benchmark Upgrades Rackspace Hosting RAX from Hold to Buy, Raises PT from $45 to $60
• Deutsche Bank Upgrades Energy Transfer Partners ETP from Hold to Buy

• Citigroup Downgrades Bank of America BAC from Buy to Neutral, Raises PT from $8 to $8.50>
• Auriga Downgrades Trina Solar TSL from Buy to Hold

On the Economic Calendar

• 08:30 Retail Sales for Jan: Expected 0.7% Prior 0.1%
• 08:30 Import Prices for Jan: Expected 0.2% Prior -0.1%
• 08:30 Export Prices: Expected 0.2% Prior -0.5%
• 10:00 Business Inventories for Dec: Expected 0.5% Prior 0.3%

Earnings

• Fossil FOSL Reports Q4 EPS $1.87 vs $1.77 Est; Revenues $830.8M vs $841.41M Est
• Avon Products (NYSE: AVP Reports Q4 EPS $0.39 vs $0.51 Est; Revenues $3.0B vs $3.11B Est

Corporate News

• Moody's Investors Service downgraded the credit ratings of several European Union countries. Moody's downgraded the credit ratings of Italy, Malta, Portugal, Slovakia and Spain and gave each of them a negative outlook as well.
• Coronado Biosciences CNDO Announces IND Submission for CNDO-109 for the Treatment of Relapsed Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Commodities

• Precious metals are trading lower, with gold posting early losses of about 0.16%
• Energy futures are trading higher, with crude oil posting early gains of about 0.53%
• Natural Gas futures are up by about 1.85% and copper is trading lower by about 0.09%

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	1357	1353	1347	1344	1338
Gold	1743	1733	1725	1717	1707
Crude	101.87	101.33	100.34	99.80	98.81
Natural Gas	2.51	2.47	2.43	2.40	2.36
EUR/USD	1.3316	1.3250	1.3218	1.3152	1.3119
US Dollar Index	79.40	79.26	78.99	78.85	78.59

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