End-of-Day Market Summary for November 2, 2011
This is your Benzinga news summary and traders' summary for Wednesday, November 2, 2011, covering headlines from Wednesday's trading session.
Today at market close, the Dow Jones Index traded up about 180.58 points or 1.55%, the S&P 500 traded 1.61% higher, the Nasdaq Composite Index traded up 1.27%, and the U.S. dollar trades flatly near the $77.30 level.
Earlier today, Deutsche Bank upgraded Sohu.com (NASDAQ: SOHU) to Buy and Citigroup upgraded FXCM (NASDAQ: FXCM) to Neutral. View all of today's upgrades here.
Credit Suisse downgraded Texas Roadhouse (NASDAQ: TXRH) to Neutral and JP Morgan downgraded Corning Inc (NYSE: GLW) to Underweight. View all of today's downgrades here.
Overseas, European markets ended their trading session higher. Britain's FTSE 100 rallied by 1.15%, Germany's DAX gained 2.25% and France's CAC 40 increased by 1.38% on the session. Asian stocks ended their session mixed. China's Shanghai Index gained 1.39%, Japan's Nikkei 225 slid by 2.25%, and the Hang Seng index increased by 1.88%.
On the economic calendar, MBA Mortgage Applications came in at 0.2% versus a prior number of 4.9%, ADP Employment Change came in at 110K versus an estimate of 100K, and the FOMC Rate Decision came in at 0.25%, matching estimates. On the commodity front, gold and silver futures traded higher today, with gold trading about 1.45% higher today. Energy futures are mixed, with crude oil up over 0.3% near the $92.45 level and gasoline futures are trading higher by about .1%. Natural Gas futures are lower by about 0.6% and copper futures are trading over 2.4% lower.
On the earnings front this afternoon, WebMD (NASDAQ: WBMD) Health Corp Reports Q3 EPS $0.24 vs $0.17 Est; Revenues $135.1M vs $135.94M Est; QUALCOMM (NASDAQ: QCOM) Reports Q3 EPS $0.80 vs $0.78 Est; Revenues $4.12B vs $4.00B Est; News Corp (NASDAQ: NWSA) Reports Q3 EPS $0.32 vs $0.29 Est; Revenues $7.96B vs $7.67B Est; Clearwire (NASDAQ: CLWR) Reports Q3 EPS $(0.34) vs $(0.40) Est; Revenues $332.20M vs $327.03M Est.
In corporate news, Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics (NYSE: SI) and Illumina (NASDAQ: ILMN) announced that they will be working together to develop genomic sequencing technologies for clinical, infectious diseases. They plan on focusing on diseases including AIDS.
Innophos Holdings (NASDAQ: IPHS) announced that it will be acquiring Kelatron Corporation for $21 million. The company plans diversify its product offerings via the deal.
DuPont (NYSE: DD) announced that has signed a technology contract with an Asian manufacturer to produce large AMOLED television displays.
Today's movers include:
Noranda Aluminum Holding (NYSE: NOR) +21.95% after declaring a supplemental cash dividend.
Sinclair Broadcast Group (NASDAQ: SBGI) +17.81% on positive earnings and outlook.
Huntsman Corporation (NYSE: HUN) on positive Q3 results.
This concludes your news summary for November 2, 2011.
