Financial Breakfast: Morning News Summary for February 17, 2012

Benzinga's Top News

• Gilead Announces Viral Relapse Seen in Post Treatment with GS-7977 Plus Ribavirin
• HJ Heinz HNZ Reports Q3 EPS $0.95 vs $0.86 Est; Revenues $2.92B vs $2.89B Est
• FreightCar America RAIL Reports Q4 EPS $0.71 May Not Compare vs $0.13 Est; Revenues $187.1M vs $126.83M Est

Domestic Pre-Market Trading

• U.S. Equity Markets trade higher as Dow futures trade up about 26 points.
• U.S. Dollar trades about 0.02% higher.

Overseas Trading

• European markets are higher in afternoon trading. Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.37%, Germany's DAX gained 1.14% and France's CAC 40 advanced 1.09% on the session.
• Asian stocks ended the session higher as well. China's Shanghai added 0.06%, Japan's Nikkei 225 advanced 1.58%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 1.01%.

Upgrades/Downgrades

• Raymond James Upgrades Nexen NXY from Market Perform to Outperform

• Bank of America Downgrades Rackspace Hosting RAX from Buy to Neutral, Raises PO from $56 to $58
• Collins Stewart Downgrades Leap Wireless International LEAP from Buy to Neutral, Lowers PT from $18 to $12

On the Economic Calendar

• Consumer Price Index is set to report at 8:30 a.m. ET
• Leading Indicators are due at 10:00 a.m.

Earnings

• HJ Heinz HNZ Reports Q3 EPS $0.95 vs $0.86 Est; Revenues $2.92B vs $2.89B Est
• FreightCar America RAIL Reports Q4 EPS $0.71 May Not Compare vs $0.13 Est; Revenues $187.1M vs $126.83M Est
• AMERIGROUP AGP Reports Q4 EPS $0.67 vs $0.62 Est; Revenues $1.65B vs $1.62B Est

Corporate News

• Gilead Announces Viral Relapse Seen in Post Treatment with GS-7977 Plus Ribavirin

Commodities

• Precious metals are trading higher, with gold posting early gains of about 0.33%
• Energy futures are trading higher, with crude oil posting early gains of about 0.51%
• Natural Gas futures are higher by about 1.75% and copper is trading higher by about 0.66%

Benzinga's Morning Radar

Technical Levels for Futures and Forex

Name	Resistance-2	Resistance-1	Mid Pivot	Support-1	Support-2
E-Mini S&P 500	1371	1363	1348	1340	1325
Gold	1747	1739	1722	1714	1698
Crude	104.12	103.39	102.29	101.56	100.46
Natural Gas	2.67	2.61	2.51	2.45	2.35
EUR/USD	1.3271	1.3200	1.3086	1.3015	1.2902
US Dollar Index	80.56	80.02	79.69	79.15	78.82

Subscribe Click here to subscribe to this newsletter. Receive it daily to your inbox!