Bacon & Trades: Morning News Summary for October 19, 2011

This is your Benzinga news summary and traders' outlook for Wednesday, October 19, 2011, covering headlines from overnight and Wednesday's pre-market session.

Today in domestic pre-market trading, U.S equity futures are trading higher. At last check, Dow futures are higher by about 11 points or 0.10% and the U.S. dollar trades lower near the $76.94 level.

Earlier this morning, Jefferies upgraded Whole Foods (NASDAQ: WFM) to Buy and Wunderlich upgraded New Oriental Education (NYSE: EDU) to Buy as well. View all of today's upgrades here.

Morgan Stanley downgraded Atwood Oceanics (NYSE: ATW) to Underweight and downgraded Rowan Company (NYSE: RDC) to Underweight as well. 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 1.5% and France's CAC 40 gained 1.2% on the session. Asian stocks ended the session mixed. China's Shanghai lost 0.23%, Japan's Nikkei 225 added 0.35% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 1.3%.

Moody's lowered Spain's debt rating to A1, down from the previous rating of Aa2. Since the rating agency put Spain's credit rating under review in July, Spanish and European leaders have failed to come up with a credible solution to the financial problems facing Spain.

On the economic calendar, MBA Mortgage Applications came in at (14.9%) versus a 1.3% prior reading. The Consumer Price Index , Housing Starts and Building Permits are set to be reported at 8:30 a.m. The Federal Reserve's Beige Book is set to be released at 2:00 p.m.

On the commodity front, gold and silver futures are lower in pre-market trading, with gold trading down by about 0.16%. Energy futures are mixed with crude oil up over 0.3% near the $88.88 level and gasoline futures are trading lower by about 0.6%. Natural Gas futures are higher by about 0.4% and copper futures are trading over 1% lower this morning.

On the earnings front, Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) reported Q3 EPS of $1.14, which may not compare to estimates, on revenues of $9.9 billion; The Street was looking for $0.30 per share on revenues of $7.42 billion.

United Technologies (NYSE: UTX) reported Q3 EPS of $1.47 on revenues of $14.8 billion; The Street was looking for $1.45 per share on revenues of $14.5 billion.

Bank of New York (NYSE: BK) reported Q3 EPS of $0.53 on revenues of $3.69 billion; The Street was looking for $0.53 per share on revenues of $3.71 billion.

St. Jude Medical (NYSE: STJ) reported Q3 EPS of $0.78 on revenues of $1.38 billion; The Street was looking for $0.76 per share on revenues of $1.37 billion.

Yesterday, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) reported Q4 EPS of $7.05 on revenues of $28.3 billion; The Street was looking for $7.28 per share on revenues of $29.45 billion.

In corporate news, Abbott (NYSE: ABT) announced that it plans to separate into two publicly traded companies, one in diversified medical products and the other in research-based pharmaceuticals. The diversified medical products company will consist of Abbott's existing diversified medical products portfolio, including its branded generic pharmaceutical, devices, diagnostic and nutritional businesses, and will retain the Abbott name.

Standard & Poor's raised its outlook on Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE: APC) to to "stable" from "negative," after the second-largest U.S. independent oil and natural gas producer reached an agreement on Monday to settle claims against the company brought by BP (NYSE: BP) for $4 billion.

DuPont filed a lawsuit against Monsanto (NYSE: MON) for violating a U.S. patent protecting a novel seed production technique.

Benzinga's Morning Radar:
Technical Levels for Futures and Forex

This concludes your news summary for October 19, 2011.

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