End-of-Day Market Summary for October 25, 2011
This is your Benzinga news summary and traders' summary for Tuesday, October 25, 2011, covering headlines from Tuesday's trading session.
Today at market close, the Dow Jones Index traded down about 207 points or 1.74%, the S&P 500 traded 2% lower, the Nasdaq Composite Index traded down 2.26%, and the U.S. dollar trades flat near the $76.43 level.
Earlier today, Piper Jaffray upgraded JA Solar Holdings (NASDAQ: JASO) to Overweight and HSBC Securities upgraded Royal Gold (NASDAQ: RGLD) to Overweight. View all of today's upgrades here.
Citi downgraded Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) to Neutral and The Oxen Group downgraded NVR (NYSE: NVR) to Hold. View all of today's downgrades here.
Overseas, European markets ended their trading session lower. Britain's FTSE 100 decreased by 0.41%, Germany's DAX lost 0.14% and France's CAC 40 declined by 1.43% on the session. Asian stocks ended their session mixed. China's Shanghai Index gained 1.63%, Japan's Nikkei 225 declined by 0.92%, and the Hang Seng index increased by 1.05%.
On the economic calendar, the consumer confidence number came in at 39.8 versus a 46.0 estimate; the House Price Index MoM came in at -0.1% versus a 0.2% estimate, and the Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index came in at -6 versus an estimate of 1. On the commodity front, gold and silver futures traded higher today, with gold trading about 3% higher today. Energy futures are mixed, with crude oil up over 1.5% near the $92.75 level and gasoline futures are trading lower by about 0.4%. Natural Gas futures are higher by about 1.4% and copper futures are trading over 1% lower.
On the earnings front this morning, Novartis (NYSE: NVS) Reported Q3 EPS $1.45 vs $1.45 Est; Revenues $14.8B vs $15.09B Est; El DuPont (NYSE: DD) Reported Q3 EPS $0.69 vs $0.56 Est; Revenues $9.2B vs $8.79B Est; Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) Reported Q3 EPS $0.91 vs $0.93 Est; Revenues $9.82B vs $9.73B Est; Xerox Corp (NYSE: XRX) Reported Q3 EPS $0.26 vs $0.25 Est; Revenues $5.58B vs $5.59B Est.
In corporate news, Novartis (NYSE: NVS) announced that it will be cutting 2,000 jobs worldwide. As part of a wider cost-cutting measure, Novartis will cut jobs and transfer research jobs from Switzerland to the US.
Michael Baker Corporation (NYSE: BKR) announced that received a $6.5 million contract from the Maryland Aviation Admnistration to develop architectural improvements to various airport facilities.
American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) announced that its board of directors elected Nicholas Akins as Chief Executive Officer. He will also remain president of the company, and will take the CEO position when Michael Morris retires on November 11.
Today's movers include:
Unisys (NYSE: UIS) +33.17% on upbeat earnings.
Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX) +11.08% on upbeat earnings.
MF Global Holdings (NYSE: MF) -47.89% on downbeat earnings.
First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR) -24.76% on CEO resignation.
This concludes your news summary for October 25, 2011.
