Financial Breakfast: Morning News Summary for May 2, 2012

Benzinga's Top News

• Ascena Retail Group ASNA Reaches Agreement to Acquire Charming Shoppes CHRS for $890M or $7.35/Share
• Microchip Technology MCHP to Acquire Standard Microsystems SMSC for $37 per Share Totaling $939M

Domestic Pre-Market Trading

• U.S. Equity Markets trade lower as Dow futures trade down about 25 points.
• U.S. Dollar trades about 0.49% higher.

Overseas Trading

• European markets are mixed in afternoon trading. Britain's FTSE 100 lost 0.64%, Germany's DAX gained 0.15% and France's CAC 40 added 0.58% on the session.
• Asian stocks ended the session higher. China's Shanghai added 1.75%, Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 0.31%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 1.02%.
• German Unemployment Rises In April

Upgrades/Downgrades

• Bank of America Upgrades Genworth Financial GNW from Underperform to Neutral, Maintains PO at $8
• Bank of America Upgrades Flextronics FLEX from Underperform to Neutral, Raises PO from $6.5 to $7.5

• Brean Murray Carret & Co. Downgrades EQT EQT from Buy to Hold, Removes PT of $77
• Cantor Fitzgerald Downgrades Endo Pharmaceuticals ENDP from Buy to Hold, Lowers PT from $50 to $39

On the Economic Calendar

• 08:15 a.m. ET - ADP Nonfarm Employment Change
• 09:45 - New York NAPM
• 10:00 - Factory Orders (MoM)
• 10:30 - Gasoline Inventories
• 10:30 - Crude Oil Inventories

Earnings

• CVS Caremark CVS Reports Q1 EPS $0.65 vs $0.63 Est; Revenues $30.8B vs $30.31B Est
• Comcast CMCSA Reports Q1 EPS $0.45 vs $0.42 Est; Revenues $14.88B vs $14.43B Est
• Time Warner TWX Reports Q1 EPS $0.67 vs $0.64 Est; Revenues $7B vs $6.81B Est
• Barrick Gold ABX Reports Q1 EPS $1.09 vs $1.11 Est; Revenues $3.64B vs $3.76B Est
• Garmin GRMN Reports Q1 EPS $0.45 vs $0.41 Est; Revenues $557M vs $520.18M Est

Corporate News

• Ascena Retail Group ASNA Reaches Agreement to Acquire Charming Shoppes CHRS for $890M or $7.35/Share
• Microchip Technology MCHP to Acquire Standard Microsystems SMSC for $37 per Share Totaling $939M

Commodities

• Precious metals are trading lower, with gold posting early losses of about 0.62%
• Energy futures are trading lower, with crude oil posting early losses of about 0.42%
• Natural Gas futures are trading 1.0% lower and copper is trading lower by about 1.26%

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	1421	1411	1401	1390	1380
Gold	1678	1670	1664	1656	1649
Crude	107.64	106.80	105.50	104.76	103.56
Natural Gas	2.43	2.39	2.35	2.30	2.25
EUR/USD	1.3320	1.3278	1.3240	1.3198	1.3161
US Dollar Index	79.25	79.08	78.87	78.69	78.48

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