News Summary

April factory orders for big-ticket goods appreciated owing to recovery in the demand for commercial aircrafts. The news further proved that the manufacturing sector is driving economic recovery. The Commerce Department today announced that requests for durable goods climbed 2.9% last month. Paul Ashworth, senior US economist at Capital Economics said, "April's durable goods orders figures demonstrate that, despite the fiscal meltdown in Europe, the recovery in the American manufacturing sector is still gathering momentum." The new SEC rule has made money funds even less attractive as it requires money funds to hold more-liquid and higher-quality assets. The regulation has come at a difficult time for the European banks as the action may reduce lending and further stress the European banking system. Covidien COV, a leading global provider of healthcare products, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with an affiliate of New Mountain Capital LLC to sell its Specialty Chemicals business for $280 million in cash. It is expected that the deal will dilute EPS by $0.09-$0.11 in FY10 and FY11. By 9:50 am, COV had advanced 1.84% to $42.52. According to a Wall Street Journal analysis, Bank of America BAC, Deutsche Bank DB and Citi C are among the most active banks that temporarily reduce their debt levels just before reporting their finances to the public. The practice is termed as end-of-quarter "window dressing" and signifies that these banks are exposed to more risk than what is easily visible to their investors or customers. Read more from Benzinga's Markets.