Financial Breakfast: Morning News Summary for December 16, 2011
Posted in: Earnings, News, Futures, Upgrades, Commodities, Downgrades, Forex, Technicals, M&A, Events, Global, Econ #s, Economics, Pre-Market Outlook, Markets, Analyst Ratings, Trading Ideas, General, Best of Benzinga
Friday, December 16, 2011
This is your Benzinga news summary and trader's outlook covering headlines from overnight and today's pre-market session.
• 89% - The amount wiped off stocks between 1929-1932, during the great depression.
Benzinga's Top News
- United Rentals (NYSE: URI) to acquire RSC Holdings (NYSE: RRR) at $18/share or Total Enterprise Value of $4.2B
- Zynga (NASDAQ: ZNGA) Prices 100M-share Initial Public Offering at $10/share
- Darden Restaurants (NYSE: DRI) reports Q2 EPS $0.41 vs $0.48 Est; Revenues $1.83B vs $1.83B Est
Domestic Pre-Market Trading
- U.S. Equity Markets trade higher as Dow futures trade up about 55 points.
- U.S. Dollar trades about 0.25% lower.
To see more pre-market news, click here.
Overseas Trading
- European markets are mixed in afternoon trading. Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.4%, Germany's DAX lost 0.28% and France's CAC 40 slid 0.19% on the session.
- Asian stocks ended the session higher. China's Shanghai added 2%, Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 0.3% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index added 1.4%.
To see more overseas news, click here.
Upgrades/Downgrades
- JP Morgan upgrades Thomson Creek Metals (NYSE: TC) to Overweight
- Oppenheimer upgrades Athenahealth (NASDAQ: ATHN) to Perform
To see more of today's upgrades, click here.
- Bank of America downgrades SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) to Neutral
- ISI Group downgrades Cablevision Systems (NYSE: CVC) to Hold
To see more of today's downgrades, click here.
On the Economic Calendar
- The Consumer Price Index is set to report at 8:30 a.m. ET
To see more economic news, click here
Earnings
- Darden Restaurants (NYSE: DRI) reports Q2 EPS $0.41 vs $0.48 Est; Revenues $1.83B vs $1.83B Est
To see more earnings announcements, click here.
Corporate News
- United Rentals (NYSE: URI) to acquire RSC Holdings (NYSE: RRR) at $18/share or Total Enterprise Value of $4.2B
- Zynga (NASDAQ: ZNGA) Prices 100M-share Initial Public Offering at $10/share
- Fertitta signs agreement to acquire Morton's Restaurant (NYSE: MRT) for $6.90 per share
To see more corporate news, click here.
Commodities
- Precious metals are trading higher, with gold posting gains of about 1.2%
- Energy futures are trading higher, with crude oil posting gains of about 0.5%
- Natural Gas futures are higher by about 0.16% and copper is trading higher by about 1.8%
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 | 11993 | 11907 | 11812 | 11726 | 11631 |
| E-Mini S&P 500 | 1231 | 1221 | 1210 | 1201 | 1190 |
| Gold | 1611 | 1592 | 1577 | 1558 | 1543 |
| Crude | 96.92 | 95.18 | 94.24 | 92.50 | 91.56 |
| Natural Gas | 3.24 | 3.19 | 3.14 | 3.08 | 3.04 |
| EUR/USD | 1.3099 | 1.3056 | 1.3007 | 1.2964 | 1.2915 |
| USD/JPY | 78.25 | 78.05 | 77.94 | 77.68 | 77.52 |
| US Dollar Index | 81.56 | 81.26 | 81.01 | 80.71 | 80.47 |
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