Financial Breakfast: Morning News Summary for December 8, 2011

• The New York Stock Exchange had its first day on which a million shares were exchanged on December 15th, 1886.

Benzinga's Top News

• Costco COST reports Q1 EPS $0.80 vs $0.80 Est; Revenues $21.18B vs $21.26B Est
• Bank of England leaves interest rate at 0.50%
• GE GE and Microsoft MSFT to launch joint venture aimed at global healthcare system transformation.

Domestic Pre-Market Trading

• U.S. Equity Markets trade lower as Dow futures trade about 10 points lower.
• U.S. Dollar trades about 0.06% lower.

Overseas Trading

• European markets are mixed in afternoon trading. Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.38%, Germany's DAX gained 0.18% and France's CAC 40 lost 0.16% on the session.
• Asian stocks ended the session lower. China's Shanghai lost 0.13%, Japan's Nikkei 225 slid 0.66% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index lost 0.69%.

Upgrades/Downgrades

• Morgan Stanley upgrades Madison Square Garden MSG to Overweight
• Piper Jaffray upgrades Pacific Sunwear PSUN to Neutral, $2 PT

• Morgan Stanley downgrades Tesla Motors TSLA to Underweight
• Citigroup downgrades Expedia EXPE to Neutral, PT Lowered to $33

On the Economic Calendar

• Bank of England leaves interest rate at 0.50%
• ECB rate decision is set to report at 7:45 a.m. ET
• Initial and Continuing Claims are due at 8:30 a.m.
• Wholesale Inventories are to report at 10:00 a.m.

Earnings

• Costco COST reports Q1 EPS $0.80 vs $0.80 Est; Revenues $21.18B vs $21.26B Est
• Smithfield Foods SFD reports Q2 EPS $0.76 vs $0.69 Est; Revenues $3.30B vs $3.21B Est
• Layne Christensen LAYN reports Q3 EPS $0.45 vs $0.49 Est; Revenues $294.90M vs $278.08M Est

Corporate News

• Watson Pharmaceuticals WPI and Antares Pharma AIS announced that the FDA has approved Antares' topical oxybutynin gel 3% product.
• Mosaic MOS announced that it has reached a settlement with Potash Corporation POT regarding the parties' dispute over the obligations of Mosaic's wholly-owned subsidiary to supply potash from its Esterhazy mine to PCS pursuant to a tolling agreement which began in 1978.
• GE GE and Microsoft MSFT to launch joint venture aimed at global healthcare system transformation.

Commodities

• Precious metals are trading lower, with gold posting losses of about 0.11%
• Energy futures are trading higher, with crude oil posting gains of about 0.39%
• Natural Gas futures are higher by about 0.32% and copper is trading higher by about 0.37%

Benzinga's Morning Radar

Technical Levels for Futures and Forex

Name	Resistance-2	Resistance-1	Mid Pivot	Support-1	Support-2
E-Mini Dow	12371	12293	12174	12096	11977
E-Mini S&P 500	1282	1273	1258	1249	1234
Gold	1762	1754	1739	1731	1715
Crude	102.99	101.77	100.74	99.50	98.45
Natural Gas	3.53	3.48	3.44	3.39	3.35
EUR/USD	1.3506	1.3458	1.3404	1.3356	1.3302
USD/JPY	77.84	77.75	77.68	77.59	77.52
US Dollar Index	78.99	78.72	78.54	78.27	78.08

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