End-of-Day Market Summary for October 28, 2011
This is your Benzinga news summary and traders' summary for Friday, October 28, 2011, covering headlines from Friday's trading session.
Today at market close, the Dow Jones Index traded up about 22.56 points or 0.18%, the S&P 500 traded 0.49% higher, the Nasdaq Composite Index traded down 0.05%, and the U.S. dollar trades slightly higher near the $75.15 level.
Earlier today, Goldman Sachs upgraded Aon Corporation (NYSE: AON) to Conviction Buy and DA Davidson upgraded Crocs (NASDAQ: CROX) to Buy. View all of today's upgrades here.
Oppenheimer downgraded Olin (NYSE: OLN) to Perform and UBS downgraded Avon Products (NYSE: AVP) to Neutral. View all of today's downgrades here.
Overseas, European markets ended their trading session mixed. Britain's FTSE 100 decreased by 0.20%, Germany's DAX gained 0.13% and France's CAC 40 declined by 0.59% on the session. Asian stocks ended their session higher, however. China's Shanghai Index gained 1.55%, Japan's Nikkei 225 rallied by 1.39%, and the Hang Seng index increased by 1.68%.
On the economic calendar, the Employment Cost Index number came in at 0.3% versus a 0.6% estimate; the Personal Income numbers came in at 0.1% versus a 0.3% estimate, and the University of Michigan Consumer Confidence number came in at 60.9 versus an estimate of 58. On the commodity front, gold and silver futures traded slightly lower today, with gold trading about 0.12% lower today. Energy futures are mixed, with crude oil down over 0.5% near the $93.50 level and gasoline futures are trading lower by about 2%. Natural Gas futures are higher by about 4.1% and copper futures are trading over 0.6% higher.
On the earnings front this morning, Constant Contact (NASDAQ: CTCT) Reports Q3 EPS $0.27 vs $0.22 Est; Revenues $54.35M vs $54.47M Est.
In corporate news, CSC (NYSE: CSC) announced that it has signed a 5.5 year agreement to develop its IT resources. The contract is valued at over $200 million.
The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE: SCHW) announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Compliance11, which is expected to close in Q4 2011.
GeoMet (NASDAQ: GMET) announced that the owners of the coalbed methane assets that it plans to purchase have waived all their preferential rights. This gives GeoMet more flexibility to structure the asset purchase to their liking.
Today's movers include:
Align Technology (NASDAQ: ALGN) +31.89% on upbeat earnings.
Stillwater Mining (NYSE: SWC) +19.89% on upbeat earnings.
China Real Estate Information Corporation (NASDAQ: CRIC) +16.67% after E-House submits a bid to acquire the company.
Computer Programs & Systems (NASDAQ: CPSI) -28.52% on downbeat earnings and guidance.
Spansion (NASDAQ: CODE) -26.54% after reporting disappointing Q3 earnings.
Digital River (NASDAQ: DRIV) -19.66% after multiple analyst downgrades this morning.
This concludes your news summary for October 28, 2011.
