End-of-Day Market Summary for December 12, 2011

This is your Benzinga news summary for Monday, December 12, 2011, covering headlines from Monday's daytime trading session. Today at market close, the Dow Jones Index traded down about 162.72 points or 1.34%, the S&P 500 traded 1.49% lower, the Nasdaq Composite Index traded down 1.31%, and the U.S. dollar trades higher near the $80.25 level. Earlier today, JP Morgan upgraded Ball Technologies BYI to Overweight and Oppenheimer upgraded Tempur-Pedic TPX to Outperform. View all of today's upgrades here. Morgan Stanley downgraded Aeroflex ARX to Underweight and Wells Fargo downgraded PNM Resources PNM to Market Perform. View all of today's downgrades here. Overseas, European markets ended their trading session lower. Britain's FTSE 100 lost 1.83%, Germany's DAX decreased by 3.36% and France's CAC 40 slid by 2.61% on the session. Asian stocks ended their session mixed. China's Shanghai Index slid by 0.99%, Japan's Nikkei 225 increased by 1.37%, and the Hang Seng index lost 0.06%. On the economic calendar, Monthly Budget Statement came in at -$137.3 billion versus an estimate of -$139.9 billion. On the commodity front, gold and silver futures traded higher today, with gold trading about 0.1% higher today. Energy futures are lower, however, with crude oil down over 1.3% near the $98 level and gasoline futures are trading lower by about 0.7%. Natural Gas futures are lower by about 2.1% and copper futures are trading over 0.3% lower. On the earnings front today, Avanir Pharmaceuticals Reports Q4 EPS $(0.14) vs $(0.14) Est; Sales $3.7B vs $4.49M Est; Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Reports Q2 EPS $(0.16) vs $(0.14) Est; Revenues $4.23M vs $2.08M Est. In corporate news, Diamond Foods DMND announced that it had to delay its 10-Q filing due to an internal investigation regarding accounting policies. Its internal audit committee is investigating whether it misrepresented certain costs to overstate incomes in fiscal year 2010. Brinker International EAT announced that its President of Global Business Development, Carin Stutz, left her position to become President and CEO of Cosi COSI. Lockheed Martin LMT announced that it was awarded a contract by NewSat of Australia. Terms of the transaction were undisclosed. Today's Movers include:

Vulcan Materials Company VMC +15.8% after merger offer from Martin Marietta Materials

Imperva IMPV +8.8% on heavy volume

Nortek NTK +7% on heavy volume

Diamond Foods DMND -22.3% after delayed 10-Q due to accounting distortions

National Bank of Greece NBG -15% on revised Greek bailout talks

Central European Distribution CEDC -11.9% on heavy volume

This concludes your news summary for December 12, 2011.