Financial Breakfast: Morning News Summary for December 8, 2011
Posted in: Earnings, News, Futures, Guidance, Upgrades, Commodities, Downgrades, Forex, Technicals, Events, Global, Econ #s, Economics, Pre-Market Outlook, Markets, Analyst Ratings, Trading Ideas, General, Best of Benzinga
Thursday, December 8, 2011
This is your Benzinga news summary and trader's outlook covering headlines from overnight and today's pre-market session.
• The New York Stock Exchange had its first day on which a million shares were exchanged on December 15th, 1886.
Benzinga's Top News
- Costco (NASDAQ: COST) reports Q1 EPS $0.80 vs $0.80 Est; Revenues $21.18B vs $21.26B Est
- Bank of England leaves interest rate at 0.50%
- GE (NYSE: GE) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) to launch joint venture aimed at global healthcare system transformation.
Domestic Pre-Market Trading
- U.S. Equity Markets trade lower as Dow futures trade about 10 points lower.
- U.S. Dollar trades about 0.06% lower.
To see more pre-market news, click here.
Overseas Trading
- European markets are mixed in afternoon trading. Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.38%, Germany's DAX gained 0.18% and France's CAC 40 lost 0.16% on the session.
- Asian stocks ended the session lower. China's Shanghai lost 0.13%, Japan's Nikkei 225 slid 0.66% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index lost 0.69%.
To see more overseas news, click here.
Upgrades/Downgrades
- Morgan Stanley upgrades Madison Square Garden (NYSE: MSG) to Overweight
- Piper Jaffray upgrades Pacific Sunwear (NASDAQ: PSUN) to Neutral, $2 PT
To see more of today's upgrades, click here.
- Morgan Stanley downgrades Tesla Motors (NASDAQ: TSLA) to Underweight
- Citigroup downgrades Expedia (NASDAQ: EXPE) to Neutral, PT Lowered to $33
To see more of today's downgrades, click here.
On the Economic Calendar
- Bank of England leaves interest rate at 0.50%
- ECB rate decision is set to report at 7:45 a.m. ET
- Initial and Continuing Claims are due at 8:30 a.m.
- Wholesale Inventories are to report at 10:00 a.m.
To see more economic news, click here
Earnings
- Costco (NASDAQ: COST) reports Q1 EPS $0.80 vs $0.80 Est; Revenues $21.18B vs $21.26B Est
- Smithfield Foods (NYSE: SFD) reports Q2 EPS $0.76 vs $0.69 Est; Revenues $3.30B vs $3.21B Est
- Layne Christensen (NASDAQ: LAYN) reports Q3 EPS $0.45 vs $0.49 Est; Revenues $294.90M vs $278.08M Est
To see more earnings announcements, click here.
Corporate News
- Watson Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: WPI) and Antares Pharma (NYSE: AIS) announced that the FDA has approved Antares' topical oxybutynin gel 3% product.
- Mosaic (NYSE: MOS) announced that it has reached a settlement with Potash Corporation (NYSE: POT) regarding the parties' dispute over the obligations of Mosaic's wholly-owned subsidiary to supply potash from its Esterhazy mine to PCS pursuant to a tolling agreement which began in 1978.
- GE (NYSE: GE) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) to launch joint venture aimed at global healthcare system transformation.
To see more corporate news, click here.
Commodities
- Precious metals are trading lower, with gold posting losses of about 0.11%
- Energy futures are trading higher, with crude oil posting gains of about 0.39%
- Natural Gas futures are higher by about 0.32% and copper is trading higher by about 0.37%
To see more commodities news, click here.
Benzinga's Morning Radar
Technical Levels for Futures and Forex
| Name | Resistance-2 | Resistance-1 | Mid Pivot | Support-1 | Support-2 |
| E-Mini Dow | 12371 | 12293 | 12174 | 12096 | 11977 |
| E-Mini S&P 500 | 1282 | 1273 | 1258 | 1249 | 1234 |
| Gold | 1762 | 1754 | 1739 | 1731 | 1715 |
| Crude | 102.99 | 101.77 | 100.74 | 99.50 | 98.45 |
| Natural Gas | 3.53 | 3.48 | 3.44 | 3.39 | 3.35 |
| EUR/USD | 1.3506 | 1.3458 | 1.3404 | 1.3356 | 1.3302 |
| USD/JPY | 77.84 | 77.75 | 77.68 | 77.59 | 77.52 |
| US Dollar Index | 78.99 | 78.72 | 78.54 | 78.27 | 78.08 |
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