Financial Breakfast: Morning News Summary for February 08, 2012

When Ronald Reagan took office, the U.S. national debt was only about 1 trillion dollars.

Benzinga's Top News

• Roche Holding RHHBY may not be able to purchase Illumnia ILMN without a fight, as the company's board has rejected a takeover bid of $5.7 billion, saying that it is "grossly inadequate."
• Time Warner TWX Reports Q4 EPS $0.94 vs $0.87 Est; Revenues $8.19B vs $8.10B Est
• Sprint Nextel S Reports Q4 EPS $(0.43) vs $(0.37) Est; Revenues $8.72B vs $8.68B Est
• CVS Caremark CVS Reports Q4 EPS $0.89 vs $0.89 Est; Revenues $28.32B vs $28.12B Est

Domestic Pre-Market Trading

• U.S. Equity Markets trade higher as Dow futures trade up about 19 points.
• U.S. Dollar trades about 0.11% lower.

Overseas Trading

• European markets are higher in afternoon trading. Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.09%, Germany's DAX gained 0.64% and France's CAC 40 advanced 0.42% on the session.
• Asian stocks ended the session higher as well. China's Shanghai added 2.4%, Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 1.1%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 1.54%.

Upgrades/Downgrades

• Piper Jaffray Upgrades Open Table OPEN from Neutral to Overweight, Raises PT from $38 to $64
• JP Morgan Upgrades Vishay Intertechnology VSH from Neutral to Overweight, Raises PT from $11 to $15.5

• Citigroup Downgrades Walgreen WAG from Neutral to Sell, Lowers PT from $35 to $28
• Deutsche Bank Downgrades Netgear NTGR from Buy to Hold, Lowers PT from $42 to $40

On the Economic Calendar

• MBA Mortgage Applications reported 7.5% from a -2.9% prior reading

Earnings

• Time Warner TWX Reports Q4 EPS $0.94 vs $0.87 Est; Revenues $8.19B vs $8.10B Est
• Sprint Nextel S Reports Q4 EPS $(0.43) vs $(0.37) Est; Revenues $8.72B vs $8.68B Est
• CVS Caremark CVS Reports Q4 EPS $0.89 vs $0.89 Est; Revenues $28.32B vs $28.12B Est
• Level 3 Communications LVLT Reports Q4 EPS $(0.80) vs $(1.06) Est; Revenues $1.58B vs $1.63B Est

Corporate News

• Time Warner TWX Raises Cash Dividend by 11%
• L-3 LLL Increases Quarterly Dividend by 11% to $0.50
• Roche Holding RHHBY may not be able to purchase Illumnia ILMN without a fight, as the company's board has rejected a takeover bid of $5.7 billion, saying that it is "grossly inadequate."

Commodities

• Precious metals are trading lower, with gold posting losses of about 0.01%
• Energy futures are trading higher, with crude oil posting gains of about 0.9%
• Natural Gas futures are lower by about 2.87% and copper is trading higher by about 1.01%

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	1354	1349	1340	1335	1326
Gold	1777	1762	1737	1722	1697
Crude	101.19	99.96	97.90	96.67	94.61
Natural Gas	2.68	2.59	2.52	2.42	2.35
EUR/USD	1.3382	1.3320	1.3208	1.3146	1.3033
US Dollar Index	79.63	79.11	78.84	78.31	78.04

Subscribe Click here to subscribe to this newsletter. Receive it daily to your inbox!