This is your Benzinga news summary and traders' summary for Thursday, November 3, 2011, covering headlines from Thursday's trading session.
Today at market close, the Dow Jones Index traded up about 208.43 points or 1.76%, the S&P 500 traded 1.88% higher, the Nasdaq Composite Index traded up 2.20%, and the U.S. dollar trades lower near the $76.80 level.
Earlier today, KeyBanc upgraded Aeropostale (NYSE: ARO) to Buy and Stifel Nicolaus upgraded The Advisory Board Company (NASDAQ: ABCO) to Buy. View all of today's upgrades here.
Goldman Sachs downgraded Community Health Systems (NYSE: CYH) to Sell and Morgan Keegan downgraded Sierra Wireless (NASDAQ: SWIR) to Market Perform. View all of today's downgrades here.
Overseas, European markets ended their trading session higher. Britain's FTSE 100 rallied by 1.12%, Germany's DAX gained 2.81% and France's CAC 40 increased by 2.73% on the session. Asian stocks ended their session mixed. China's Shanghai Index gained 0.16%, Japan's Nikkei 225 slid by 2.21%, and the Hang Seng index increased by 2.49%.
On the economic calendar, Initial Jobless Claims came in at 397K versus an estimate of 400K; Continuing Claims came in at 3683K versus an estimate of 3693K; Factory Orders came in at 0.3% versus an estimate of -0.2%; and ISM Non-Manufacturing Composite came in at 52.9 versus an estimate of 53.5. On the commodity front, gold and silver futures traded higher today, with gold trading about 2.1% higher today. Energy futures are higher, with crude oil up over 1.7% near the $94.06 level and gasoline futures are trading higher by about 1.2%. Natural Gas futures are higher by about 1.05% and copper futures are trading over 0.3% higher.
On the earnings front this afternoon, Sunoco Inc (NYSE: SUN) Reports Q3 EPS $0.57 vs $0.59 Est; Revenues $12.20B vs $8.62B Est; Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) Reports Q4 EPS $0.37 vs $0.36 Est; Revenues $3.03B vs $2.95B Est; Linkedln Corp (NYSE: LNKD) Reports Q3 EPS $0.06 vs $(0.04) Est; Revenues $139.5M vs $127.35M Est; CVS Caremark Corp (NYSE CVS) Reported Q3 EPS $0.70 vs $0.67 Est; Revenues $26.7B vs $26.77B Est; .
In corporate news, Jefferies (NYSE: JEF) has been extremely turbulent in today's trading due to fears of the firm's exposure to MF Global and European sovereign debt. Jefferies is down over 16% for the week, and was down about 20% for a while today; it is now trading at a loss of 1.6%.
Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) announced that it will be acquiring Sim-Industries BV, a commercial aviation simulation company. Terms of the deal were undisclosed.
Medicis Pharmaceutical Corporation (NYSE: MRX) announced that it has settled with the law firm of Pomerantz Haudek Grossman & Gross for $11 million. It has settled a dispute regarding deceptive accounting practices between 2003 and 2008. Its auditor, Ernst & Young, will be paying $7 million as well.
Today's movers include:
Medivation (NASDAQ: MDVN) +140.17% after announcing positive phase 3 data.
Mercadolibre (NASDAQ: MELI) +30.87% after BofA upgraded the company and raised the price target to $90.
Fair Isaac (NASDAQ: FICO) +25.17% after reporting strong Q4 earnings yesterday.
Dendreon (NASDAQ: DNDN) -37.67% after Goldman Sachs downgraded the company this morning.
RealD (NYSE: RLD) -23.09% after Stifel Nicolaus lowered the company's price target earlier today.
Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) -19.38% after reporting disappointing SSS data.
This concludes your news summary for November 3, 2011.
