Financial Breakfast for August 30, 2011

This is your Benzinga news summary and traders' outlook for Tuesday, August 30, 2011, covering headlines from overnight and Tuesday's pre-market session. Today in domestic pre-market trading, U.S equity futures are trading lower. At last check, S&P futures are down by about 5 points or (0.43%) and the U.S. dollar trades higher near the $74.15 level. Earlier this morning, Bank of America upgraded Perry Ellis PERY to Buy and upgraded the Jones Group JNY to Buy as well. View all of today's upgrades here. Citigroup downgraded Robert Half AEO to Hold and Bank of America downgraded Gymboree GYMB to Underweight. View all of today's downgrades here. Bank of America raised Donaldson Company's DCI price objective to $61 from $58 and Citigroup added Dick Sporting Goods DKS to its Top Pick and Best Idea List. View all other of today's analyst ratings here. Overseas, European markets are mixed in afternoon trading. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 2.2%, Germany's DAX lost 0.4% and France's CAC 40 slid 0.25% on the session. Asian stocks ended the session mixed as well. China's Shanghai Index lost 0.4%, Japan's Nikkei 225 added 1.2%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 1.7%. On the economic calendar, the Case-Shiller 20-City Index is set to be reported at 9:00 a.m. The Consumer Confidence Index is due at 10:00 a.m. and the FOMC Minutes are to be released at 2:00 p.m. On the commodity front, gold and silver futures are higher in pre-market trading, with gold trading higher by about 0.25%. Energy futures are mixed with crude oil down near the $87.00 level and gasoline futures are trading higher by about 0.3%. Natural Gas futures are trading down by about 0.6% and copper futures are trading about 1% higher this morning. On the earnings front, Dollar General DG reported Q2 EPS of $0.52 on revenues of $3.58 billion; The Street was looking for $0.48 per share on revenues of $3.54 billion. DSW DSW reported Q2 EPS of $0.74 on revenues of $476.3 million; The Street was looking for $0.63 per share on revenues of $459.4 million. In corporate news, DG DGIT, today announced a definitive agreement to acquire Limelight Networks LLNW EyeWonder video and rich media advertising unit for approximately $66 million in cash. Peabody Energy BTU and ArcelorMittal MT today announced that PEAMCoal has agreed to terms with the Macarthur board for a cash takeover of all outstanding shares of Macarthur Coal for A$16.001 per share, valuing the equity in Macarthur at approximately A$4.8 billion. Finally, Starbucks Corporation SBUX today announced that Starbucks coffee K-Cup Portion Packs for the Keurig Single Cup Brewing system will be available throughout grocery stores and specialty retailers in the U.S. starting in November 2011. This concludes your news summary for August 30, 2011.