News Summary- (COST, SPLS, LUV)

Shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation COST moved up after analyst, Adrianne Shapira at Goldman Sachs upgraded the company from “neutral” to “buy.” Adrianne also lifted her projections for the current and the next year. According to Shapira, COST is increasing its profit on improved sales, expense focus and increased unit growth,. Goldman analyst Matthew Fassler upgraded Staples Inc SPLS from “neutral” to “buy.” Fassler has also added the company to its conviction list. SPLS’ shares gained about 2.5% following the upgrade. Southwest Airlines Co LUV reported a 6.4% rise in its August traffic. The company’s August traffic came in at more than 7.12 billion revenue passenger miles, up from 6.69 billion revenue passenger miles in the year-ago period. The company’s total August capacity gained 3.7% y/y to 8.65 billion available seat miles. LUV’s load factor also surged 82.3%, up from 80.2% in the year-ago period. Gold moved down after the concerns related to European banks faded. Gold futures for December delivery fell $0.10 to $1,259.20 an ounce..On Tuesday, gold has supassed its record June high by gaining $8.20 to close at $1,259.30 per ounce. Read more from Benzinga's Markets.