Financial Breakfast: Morning News Summary for May 18, 2012

Friday, May 18, 2012

This is your Benzinga news summary and trader's outlook covering headlines from overnight and today's pre-market session.

Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) Prices 421M Shares At $38 per Share; Scheduled Open is for 11:00 a.m. ET Foot Locker (NYSE: FL) Reports Q1 EPS $0.83 vs $0.74 Est; Revenues $1.58B vs $1.55B Est Donaldson (NYSE: DCI) Reports Q3 EPS $0.46 vs $0.43 Est; Revenues $647.2M vs $649.88M Est

Domestic Pre-Market Trading

U.S. Equity Markets trade higher as Dow futures trade up about 60 points. U.S. Dollar trades about 0.11% higher. </ul>

Overseas Trading

European markets are mixed in afternoon trading. Britain's FTSE 100 slid 0.55%, Germany's DAX added 0.27% and France's CAC 40 advanced 0.43% on the session. Asian stocks ended the session lower. China's Shanghai fell 1.41%, Japan's Nikkei 225 tumbled 2.99%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng slid 1.3%. </ul>

Upgrades/Downgrades

Credit Suisse Upgrades AutoZone (NYSE: AZO) from Neutral to Outperform, Raises PT from $350 to $440 Guggenheim Upgrades Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S) from Neutral to Buy, Raises PT from $3 to $3.5 </ul>

Cantor Fitzgerald Downgrades Power-One (NASDAQ: PWER) from Buy to Hold, Lowers PT from $7.5 to $5 Goldman Sachs Downgrades Bankrate (NASDAQ: RATE) from Buy to Neutral, Lowers PT from $27 to $25 </ul>

On the Economic Calendar

No Major Economic Events </ul>

Earnings

Foot Locker (NYSE: FL) Reports Q1 EPS $0.83 vs $0.74 Est; Revenues $1.58B vs $1.55B Est Donaldson (NYSE: DCI) Reports Q3 EPS $0.46 vs $0.43 Est; Revenues $647.2M vs $649.88M Est Brown Shoe (NYSE: BWS) Reports Q1 EPS $0.23 vs $0.09 Est; Revenues $626.4M vs $600.70M Est </ul>

Corporate News

Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) Prices 421M Shares At $38 per Share; Scheduled Open is for 11:00 a.m. ET </ul>

Commodities

Precious metals are trading higher, with gold posting early gains of about 0.97% Energy futures are trading higher, with crude oil posting early gains of about 0.11% Natural Gas futures are trading 3.01% higher and copper is trading higher by about 0.92% </ul>

Benzinga's Morning Radar

Technical Levels for Futures and Forex
Name Resistance-2 Resistance-1 Mid Pivot Support-1 Support-2 </tr> E-Mini S&P 500 1341 1321 1310 1291 1280 </tr> Gold 1601 1588 1566 1553 1532 </tr> Crude 94.75 93.82 92.96 92.03 91.17 </tr> Natural Gas 2.77 2.70 2.60 2.53 2.43 </tr> EUR/USD 1.2785 1.2741 1.2700 1.2659 1.2622 </tr> US Dollar Index 82.04 81.84 81.63 81.43 81.21 </tr></table>
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