Fertilizers & Agricultural Chemicals

O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties Above the fruited plain! America! America! God shed his grace on thee And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea! Equity markets have been nothing short of rocky, like the "purple mountain...

Yesterday stocks soared on what the Federal Reserve had to say, as it intends to leave rates alone until at least mid-2013 due to a weak economy. For about 30 minutes, the equity markets jumped, then plunged, then sputtered around, until Goldman Sachs came out and saved the day, at least for a...

Bank of America, highlighting positive growth through the sector, has upgraded its rating on Monsanto (NYSE: MON) from Neutral to Buy, but is maintaining its $80 price target on the stock. According to Bank of America, “In connection with our reassessment of risk within the chemicals sector, we...

This is your Benzinga news summary and traders' outlook for Wednesday, August 10, 2011, covering headlines from overnight and Wednesday's pre-market session. Today in domestic pre-market trading, U.S. equity futures are trading lower as traders take profits after a 400 point rally in the Dow...

El Paso Corporation (NYSE: EP) rose 42.32% to $25.96 in the pre-market session. EP reported a 78% rise in its Q2 net income. Capital One Financial Corp (NYSE: COF) added 9.88% to $44.80 in the pre-market session. COF announced its plans to buy the US credit-card arm of HSBC Holdings PLC for a...

Bank of America has upgraded Monsanto (NYSE: MON) from Neutral to buy and maintains its $80 price objective.

Switzerland's central bank increased its efforts to cool a rising Swiss franc that threatens the competitiveness of the country's exporters. The Swiss franc has become an even more popular safe haven currency in the aftermath of Standard & Poor's downgrade of the United States' credit rating...

J.P. Morgan is out with its report today on Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE: SMG), lowering its PT to $45 from $56. In its report, J.P. Morgan writes, "We lowered our December 2012 price target for SMG shares from $56 to $45. Our $45 price target represents an EV/EBITDA multiple of ~8x based on F2012,...

This is your Benzinga news summary and traders' outlook for Tuesday, August 9, 2011, covering headlines from overnight and Tuesday's pre-market session. Today in domestic pre-market trading, U.S. equity futures are set for another volatile morning as traders wait for the Federal Reserve's...

JP Morgan has lowered the price target on Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE: SMG) from $56 to $45 and maintains its Neutral rating.

Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group Inc (NYSE: DTG) reported a 0.6% rise in its second-quarter net profit. Dollar Thrifty's quarterly net profit increased to $42.5 million, from $42.3 million, in the year-ago period. Its revenue dropped 0.3% to $395.1 million. Dollar Thrifty's earnings per share...

Scotia Capital is out with a research report on CF Industries (NYSE: CF) and it has a Sector Outperform rating and a $170 price target. In a note to clients, Scotia Capital writes, "The quarter. Despite a late spring planting that reduced ammonia and urea sales volumes by 20% and 6% YOY,...

This is your Benzinga news summary and traders' outlook for Monday, August 8, 2011, covering headlines from overnight and Monday's pre-market session. Today in domestic pre-market trading, U.S. equity futures are set for another weak morning as traders mull over the S&P credit downgrade of the...

J.P. Morgan is out with its report today on CF Industries Holdings (NYSE: CF), maintaining Overweight. In its report, J.P. Morgan writes, "We raised our 2011 EPS estimate for CF from $16.40 to $21.25, our 2012 EPS forecast from $14.40 to $17.00 and our 2013 projection from $13.20 to $17.25. Our...

Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE: SMG) reported a 37% drop in its third-quarter profit. Scotts Miracle-Gro reported its quarterly profit at $111.6 million, or $1.69 per share, down from $175.9 million, or $2.65 per share, in the year-earlier period. Its adjusted earnings came in at $1.91 per...