News Summary

Grain futures surged after the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) reduced its 2010 projections for corn, soybean and wheat production. USDA lowered its corn production estimates to 12.45 billion bushels. Corn for March delivery rose 4.9% to $6.37 a bushel, while Soybeans for March advanced 5.2% to $14.27 a bushel. Wheat for March surged 7.9% to $8.20 a bushel. Shares of St. Jude Medical STJ gained about 3.6% after the company projects to report about 12% rise in its Q4 sales. STJ said that it projects its Q4 adjusted earnings "will be near the top end" of its projections of $0.72 to $0.74 per share. However, analysts were expecting earnings at $0.73 per share. Barclays Capital downgraded the European telecoms sector from “positive” to “negative.” Barclays downgraded Vodafone Group PLC VOD from overweight to equal-weight, Deutsche Telekom AG DTEGY from equal-weight to underweight and Portugal Telecom PT from overweight to equal-weight. Read more from Benzinga's Markets.