Financial Breakfast: Morning News Summary for November 30, 2011

On December 1st, 2005, the highest price was paid for membership in the NYSE at $4 million.

Benzinga's Top News

• The People's Bank of China cut bank reserve requirements by 0.5% for the first time since 2008.
• Watson Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: WPI) today confirmed that it has launched an authorized generic version of LIPITOR as part of an exclusive agreement with Pfizer (NYSE: PFE).
• Yesterday, Standard & Poor's has lowered credit ratings on Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) and Citigroup (NYSE: C) to A- from A.
• Standard Poor's also lowered the credit rating of Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) to A- from A. The ratings agency also cut Wells Fargo's (NYSE: WFC) credit rating to A+ from AA-.

Domestic Pre-Market Trading

• U.S. Equity Markets trade higher with Dow Futures up about 65 points.
• U.S. Dollar trades about 0.1% lower.
• Standard & Poor's has lowered credit ratings on Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) and Citigroup (NYSE: C) to A- from A.
• Standard Poor's also lowered the credit rating of Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) to A- from A. The ratings agency also cut Wells Fargo's (NYSE: WFC) credit rating to A+ from AA-.

Overseas Trading

• European markets are higher in afternoon trading. Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.9%, Germany's DAX gained 1.6% and France's CAC 40 added 1% on the session.
• Asian stocks ended the session lower. China's Shanghai tumbled 3.22%, Japan's Nikkei 225 lost 0.5% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slid 1.46%.
• The People's Bank of China cut bank reserve requirements by 0.5% for the first time since 2008.

Upgrades/Downgrades

• Citigroup upgrades Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) to Buy, $26 PT
• Oppenheimer upgrades Accretive Health (NYSE: AH) to Outperform, $31 PT

• Goldman Sachs downgrades Vulcan Materials (NYSE: VMC) to Sell, $29 PT
• Jefferies downgrades Calpine (NYSE CPN) to Hold, PT Lowered to $15.50

On the Economic Calendar

• MBA Mortgage Applications came in at -11.7% from a -1.2% reading last week
• ADP Employment Change is set to be reported at 8:15 a.m. ET
• Chicago PMI is due at 9:45 a.m.
• Pending Home Sales is set to report at 10:00 a.m.

Earnings

• United Natural Foods (NASDAQ: UNFI) Reports Q1 EPS $0.40 vs $0.40 Est; Revenues $1.22B vs $1.19B Est
• JOS A Bank (NASDAQ: JOSB) Reports Q3 EPS $0.54 vs $0.51 Est; Revenues $209.6M vs $196.03M Est
• The Fresh Market (NYSE: TFM) Reports Q3 EPS $0.19 vs $0.20 Est; Revenues $263.2M vs $264.50M Est

Corporate News

• Watson Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: WPI) today confirmed that it has launched an authorized generic version of LIPITOR as part of an exclusive agreement with Pfizer (NYSE: PFE).
• Affymetrix (NASDAQ: AFFX) today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire eBioscience for $330 million.
• China Telecom (NYSE: CHA) and AT&T (NYSE: T) have signed a strategic framework agreement to expand their existing relationship in order to deliver advanced global solutions to multinational companies.

Commodities

• Precious metals are trading lower, with gold posting losses of about 0.1%
• Energy futures are trading lower, with crude oil posting losses of about 0.06%
• Natural Gas futures are lower by about 0.06% and copper is trading lower by about 0.7%

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