Financial Breakfast: Morning News Summary for September 26, 2011
This is your Benzinga news summary and traders' outlook for Monday, September 26, 2011, covering headlines from overnight and Monday's pre-market session.
Today in domestic pre-market trading, U.S equity futures are trading higher. At last check, Dow futures are trading down about 125 points and the U.S. dollar trades lower near the $78.83 level.
Earlier this morning, Piper Jaffray upgraded Expedia (NASDAQ: EXPE) to Overweight and Morgan Stanley upgraded United Technologies (NYSE: UTX) to Overweight. View all of today's upgrades here.
Goldman Sachs downgraded El Paso Electric (NYSE: EE) to Neutral. View all of today's downgrades here.
Overseas, European markets are higher in afternoon trading. Britain's FTSE 100 gained 1.3%, Germany's DAX added 3.1% and France's CAC 40 jumped 3.4% on the session. Asian stocks ended the session lower. China's Shanghai Index fell 1.7%, Japan's Nikkei 225 tumbled 2.2%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slid 1.5%.
On the economic calendar, Chicago Fed Activity Index is set to be reported at 8:30 a.m. New Home Sales is due at 10:00 a.m. and Dallas Fed Manufacturing Index is due at 10:30 a.m.
On the commodity front, gold and silver futures are lower in pre-market trading with gold trading down about 1%. Energy futures are higher with crude oil up over $.50 near the $80.30 level and gasoline futures are trading higher by about 1.2%. Natural Gas futures are up about 0.45% and copper futures are trading about 0.35% lower this morning.
On the earnings front, Ferrellgas Partners (NYSE: FGP) reported Q4 EPS of $(0.53) on revenues of $449.7 million; The Street was looking for $(0.43) per share on revenues of $426.5 million.
In corporate news, Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group (NYSE: DTG) said that it projects adjusted EBITDA to rise 17% to 28% in the third quarter, and lifted its share repurchase authorization from $100 million to $400 million.
RXi Pharmaceuticals Corporation (Nasdaq: RXII) today reported that it will separate its programs into two publicly traded companies: Galena Biopharma will focus on the development of targeted cancer therapies; and RXi Pharmaceuticals will focus on the development of RNAi-based therapeutics.
Over the weekend, UBS (NYSE: UBS) announced the resignation of CEO Oswald Gruebel. The company's board appointed Sergio Ermotti as interim CEO effective immediately.
The European Central Bank said the plans for a rate cut are not out of the question. They will discuss the possibility at the next meeting on October 6th.
This concludes your news summary for September 26, 2011.
