Financial Breakfast: Morning News Summary for January 4, 2012
Posted in: Earnings, News, Futures, Guidance, Upgrades, Commodities, Downgrades, Forex, Technicals, FDA, Management, Stock Split, M&A, Events, Global, Econ #s, Economics, Pre-Market Outlook, Markets, Analyst Ratings, Trading Ideas, General, Best of Benzinga
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
This is your Benzinga news summary and trader's outlook covering headlines from overnight and today's pre-market session.
• The longest period in which the exchange was closed occurred during WW1, when the NYSE was closed for four and a half months starting July 31st, 1914.
Benzinga's Top News
- Entropic Communications (NASDAQ: ENTR) files intent to purchase Trident Microsystems' (NASDAQ: TRID) Set-Top Box Business Unit for $55M.
- Cubic (NYSE: CUB) wins Air Force contract for advisory and assistance services; worth a maximum of $4.7 billion.
- Alkermes (NASDAQ: ALKS) announces positive results from clinical study of ALKS 5461 for major depressive disorder.
Domestic Pre-Market Trading
- U.S. Equity Markets trade lower as Dow futures trade down about 24 points.
- U.S. Dollar trades about 0.45% higher.
To see more pre-market news, click here.
Overseas Trading
- European markets are mixed in afternoon trading. Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.09%, Germany's DAX slid 0.6% and France's CAC 40 lost 0.7% on the session.
- Asian stocks ended the session mixed as well. China's Shanghai lost 1.35%, Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 1.24%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng slid 0.8%
To see more overseas news, click here.
Upgrades/Downgrades
- Goldman Sachs adds Lululemon (NASDAQ: LULU) to Americas Conviction List
- Morgan Stanley opens Research Tactical Idea on Warnaco Group (NYSE: WRC), upgrades to Equal-weight
To see more of today's upgrades, click here.
- JP Morgan downgrades Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) to Neutral
- Morgan Keegan downgrades AvalonBay Communities (NYSE: AVB) to Market Perform
To see more of today's downgrades, click here.
On the Economic Calendar
- Factory Orders are set to report at 10:00 a.m. ET
To see more economic news, click here
Earnings
-
No Major Earnings this Morning
To see more earnings announcements, click here.
Corporate News
- Entropic Communications (NASDAQ: ENTR) files intent to purchase Trident Microsystems' (NASDAQ: TRID) Set-Top Box Business Unit for $55M.
- Cubic (NYSE: CUB) wins Air Force contract for advisory and assistance services; worth a maximum of $4.7 billion.
- Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation (NYSE: COG) declares 2-for-1 stock split; dividend increased on pre-split basis.
- Alkermes (NASDAQ: ALKS) announces positive results from clinical study of ALKS 5461 for major depressive disorder.
- Liz Claiborne (NYSE: LIZ) to become Fifth & Pacific Companies (NYSE: FNP).
To see more corporate news, click here.
Commodities
- Precious metals are trading lower, with gold posting losses of about 0.05%
- Energy futures are trading lower, with crude oil posting losses of about 0.7%
- Natural Gas futures are higher by about 1.6% and copper is trading lower by about 1.1%
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 | 12451 | 12394 | 12358 | 12301 | 12265 |
| E-Mini S&P 500 | 1283 | 1278 | 1274 | 1268 | 1264 |
| Gold | 1635 | 1620 | 1593 | 1578 | 1551 |
| Crude | 105.45 | 104.18 | 101.92 | 100.65 | 98.39 |
| Natural Gas | 3.13 | 3.05 | 2.99 | 2.91 | 2.85 |
| EUR/USD | 1.3164 | 1.3106 | 1.3018 | 1.2960 | 1.2872 |
| US Dollar Index | 80.39 | 80.16 | 79.99 | 79.77 | 79.69 |
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