End-of-Day Market Summary for December 21, 2011

This is your Benzinga news summary for Wednesday, December 21, 2011, covering headlines from Wednesday's daytime trading session. Today at market close, the Dow Jones Index traded up about 4.16 points or 0.03%, the S&P 500 traded 0.19% higher, the Nasdaq Composite Index traded down 0.99%, and the U.S. dollar trades slightly higher near the $80.35 level. Earlier today, Jefferies upgraded Research in Motion RIMM to Hold and Canaccord upgraded Ultra Petroleum UPL to Buy. View all of today's upgrades here. Societe Generale downgraded Oracle ORCL to Hold and Oppenheimer downgraded Teradata TDC to Perform. View all of today's downgrades here. Overseas, European markets ended their trading session lower. Britain's FTSE 100 lost 0.55%, Germany's DAX decreased by 0.95% and France's CAC 40 tumbled by 0.82% on the session. Asian stocks ended their session mixed. China's Shanghai Index slid by 1.12%, Japan's Nikkei 225 increased by 1.48%, and the Hang Seng index gained 1.86%. On the economic calendar, MBA Mortgage Applications came in at -2.6% versus a previous number of 4.1%; Existing Home Sales came in at 4.42M versus an estimate of 5.05M. On the commodity front, gold and silver futures traded higher today, with gold trading about 0.19% higher today. Energy futures are higher, as well, with crude oil up over 1.7% near the $98.90 level and gasoline futures are trading higher by about 1.7%. Natural Gas futures are higher by about 1.2% and copper futures are trading over 0.3% lower. Today's earnings announcements include Steelcase Reports Q3 EPS $0.19 vs $0.19 Est; Revenues $719.4M vs $707.43M Est; Bed Bath & Beyond Reports Q3 EPS $0.95 vs $0.88 Est; Revenues $2.34B vs $2.35B Est; TIBCO Software Reports Q4 EPS $0.30 vs $0.35 Est; Revenues $289.50M vs $281.28M Est. In corporate news, Exelon EXC announced that the US Department of Justice will allow the merger with Constellation Energy CEG. BNC Bancorp BNCN announced that it will acquire KeySource Financial for $12.2M. Transcept Pharmaceuticals TSPT announced that it has received $10 million for its Intermezzo patent in FDA Orange Book. Today's Movers include:

Delphi Financial Group DFG +73% after acquisition announcement by Tokio Marine Holdings

The Shaw Group SHAW +16% on positive earnings and guidance

Cobalt International Energy CIE +11.4% after positive Goldman Sachs comments

CommVault Systems CVLT -12.8% on Oracle's poor earnings

Oracle ORCL -11.7% on poor EPS and revenues results

Informatica Corp INFA -10.3% on heavy volume

This concludes your news summary for December 21, 2011.