End-of-Day Market Summary for November 11, 2011 - Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG), AMC Networks (NASDAQ:AMCX)

This is your Benzinga news summary and traders' summary for Friday, November 11, 2011, covering headlines from Friday's trading session. Today at market close, the Dow Jones Index traded up about 259.67 points or 2.18%, the S&P 500 traded 1.95% higher, the Nasdaq Composite Index traded up 2.04%, and the U.S. dollar trades slightly lower near the $77.10 level. Earlier today, Sterne Agee upgraded Chimera Investment Corp

CIM

to Neutral and Stifel Nicolaus upgraded AMC Networks

AMCX

to Hold. View all of

today's upgrades here

. Wedbush downgraded Health Net

HNT

to Neutral and UBS downgraded ConAgra Goods

CAG

to Neutral. View all of

today's downgrades here

. Overseas, European markets ended their trading session higher. Britain's FTSE 100 gained 1.85%, Germany's DAX increased by 3.22% and France's CAC 40 rallied by 2.76% on the session. Asian stocks ended their session higher. China's Shanghai Index gained 0.03%, Japan's Nikkei 225 increased by 0.16%, and the Hang Seng index rallied by 0.91%. On the economic calendar, the University of Michigan Confidence number came in at 64.2 versus an estimate of 61.5. On the commodity front,

gold

and

silver

futures traded mixed today, with gold trading about 0.05% higher today. Energy futures are mixed as well, with

crude oil

up over 1.3% near the $99.05 level and

gasoline

futures are trading lower by about 1.1%.

Natural Gas

futures are lower by about 2% and

copper

futures are trading over 0.2% higher. On the earnings front this afternoon, Dillard's Reports Q3 EPS $0.50 May Not Compare $0.32 Est; Revenues $1.38B vs $1.37B Est; DR Horton Reports Q4 EPS $0.11 vs $0.14 Est; Revenues $1.07B vs $1.08B Est; . In corporate news, Symantec

SYMC

announced that

it has rejected an unsolicited offer by TRC Capital

. TRC Capital's offer was approximately 5% lower than its closing price on 11/3/2011. Zoll Medical Corp

ZOLL

announced that

its Division of Medical Assistance has established a policy

for defibrillator coverage. ConAgra Foods

CAG

announced that

it will be acquiring the National Pretzel Company

. The terms of the transaction are undisclosed. Today's movers include:

ServiceSource Corporation SREV +15.00% on upbeat Q3 earnings that were reported yesterday.

The Active Network ACTV +13.36% on smaller than expected Q3 loss that was reported yesterday.

Home Inns & Hotels Management HMIN +9.84% on upbeat q3 earnings that were reported yesterday.

Dillard's DDS -13.94% after reporting Q3 earnings this morning.

Molycorp, Inc. MCP -13.88% on downbeat Q3 results that were reported this morning.

Quad/Graphics QUAD -9.00% after lowering 2011 guidance yesterday.

This concludes your news summary for November 11, 2011.

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