Financial Breakfast: Morning News Summary for May 21, 2012

Benzinga's Top News

• Lowes LOW Reports Q1 EPS $0.44 vs $0.42 Est; Revenues $13.2B vs $12.99B Est
• Yahoo! YHOO and Alibaba Reach Agreement on Comprehensive Plan for Alibaba Stake
• BlackRock BLK Announces Secondary Offering of its Common Stock held by Barclays; Plans $1B Stock Repurchase

Domestic Pre-Market Trading

• U.S. Equity Markets trade higher as Dow futures trade up about 88 points.
• U.S. Dollar trades about 0.15% lower.
To see more pre-market news, click here.

Overseas Trading

• European markets are higher in afternoon trading. Britain's FTSE 100 jumped 0.79%, Germany's DAX added 1.16% and France's CAC 40 advanced 1.02% on the session.
• Asian stocks ended the session mixed. China's Shanghai added 0.17%, Japan's Nikkei 225 advanced 0.26%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng slid 0.16%.
To see more overseas news, click here.

Upgrades/Downgrades

• Brean Murray Carret & Co. Upgrades American Eagle Outfitters AEO from Hold to Buy, Maintains PT at $23
• Brean Murray Carret & Co. Upgrades Alpha Natural Resources ANR from Hold to Buy, Announces PT of $15
To see more of today's upgrades, click here.
• Canaccord Downgrades Ross Stores ROST from Buy to Hold, Announces PT of $67
• Goldman Sachs Downgrades XL Group XL from Neutral to Sell, Lowers PT from $22 to $21
To see more of today's downgrades, click here.

On the Economic Calendar

• 08:30 a.m. ET - Chicago Fed National Activity
• 11:30 - 6-Month Bill Auction
• 11:30 - 3-Month Bill Auction
To see more economic news, click here

Earnings

• Lowes LOW Reports Q1 EPS $0.44 vs $0.42 Est; Revenues $13.2B vs $12.99B Est
To see more earnings announcements, click here.

Corporate News

• Yahoo! YHOO and Alibaba Reach Agreement on Comprehensive Plan for Alibaba Stake
• BlackRock BLK Announces Secondary Offering of its Common Stock held by Barclays; Plans $1B Stock Repurchase
• Yucheng Technologies YTEC Announces Receipt of "Going Private" Proposal for $3.80/Share
To see more corporate news, click here.

Commodities

• Precious metals are trading higher, with gold posting early gains of about 0.01%
• Energy futures are trading higher, with crude oil posting early gains of about 0.36%
• Natural Gas futures are trading 1.86% lower and copper is trading higher by about 0.84%
To see more commodities news, click here.




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	1317	1304	1296	1283	1276
Gold	1615	1603	1585	1573	1556
Crude	94.04	92.84	92.10	90.85	90.06
Natural Gas	2.84	2.78	2.69	2.63	2.54
EUR/USD	1.2889	1.2834	1.2737	1.2682	1.2585
US Dollar Index	82.21	81.72	81.44	80.95	80.66



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