Financial Breakfast: Morning News Summary for January 3, 2012

• The Wellington Fund, created in 1928, was the first mutual fund to include stocks and bonds.

Benzinga's Top News

• UK Manufacturing PMI rises to 49.6 in December, better than analyst estimates of 47.3; however, still below 50, representing a contraction in the sector.
• The Markit euro-zone manufacturing PMI surged to 46.9 in December, versus 46.4 in November, confirming an earlier, preliminary estimate.
• Molycorp MCP secures 78% of phase 1 rare earth production in customer agreements and XSORBX production.
• The FOMC Minutes are due at 2:00 p.m.

Domestic Pre-Market Trading

• U.S. Equity Markets trade higher as Dow futures trade up about 218 points.
• U.S. Dollar trades about 0.62% lower.

Overseas Trading

• European markets are mixed in afternoon trading. Britain's FTSE 100 added 1.25%, Germany's DAX gained 1.03% and France's CAC 40 lost 0.44% on the session.
• Asian stocks ended the session higher. China's Shanghai added 1.22%, Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 0.67%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 2.4%
• UK Manufacturing PMI rises to 49.6 in December, better than analyst estimates of 47.3; however, still below 50, representing a contraction in the sector.
• The Markit euro-zone manufacturing PMI surged to 46.9 in December, versus 46.4 in November, confirming an earlier, preliminary estimate.

Upgrades/Downgrades

• JP Morgan upgrades Cisco Systems CSCO to Overweight
• Piper Jaffray upgrades American Eagle Outfitters AEO to Overweight

• Goldman Sachs downgrades SanDisk SNDK to Neutral
• Bank of America downgrades Kindred Healthcare KND to Underperform

On the Economic Calendar

• Construction Spending, ISM Manufacturing, and ISM Prices Paid are set to report at 10:00 a.m. ET
• The FOMC Minutes are due at 2:00 p.m.

Earnings

No Major Earnings this Morning

Corporate News

• Molycorp MCP secures 78% of phase 1 rare earth production in customer agreements and XSORBX production.
• Pioneer Drilling PDC acquires Go-Coil for $110M in cash.

Commodities

• Precious metals are trading higher, with gold posting gains of about 1.7%
• Energy futures are trading higher, with crude oil posting gains of about 2.6%
• Natural Gas futures are higher by about 2.2% and copper is trading higher by about 1.7%

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