STOCKS NEWS US-Sandler O'Neill upgrades trio of regional banks

Stocks on the move Real-time Equity news U.S. stock market report 1411 ET 02Nov2009-Sandler O'Neill upgrades trio of regional banks ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sandler O'Neill on Monday upgraded a trio of regional banks, saying the group would benefit from strong capital levels and recent regulator-assisted acquisitions. Both U.S. Bancorp and SunTrust Banks were lifted to "buy" from "hold" while BB&T Corp was upgraded to "hold" from "sell." For details, see Shares of U.S. Bancorp gained 1.6 percent to $23.60 on Monday, while SunTrust was up 2.6 percent to $19.60 and BB&T climbed 4.1 percent to $24.90. Reuters Messaging: [e-mail] 1350 ET 02Nov2009-Crude stockpiles seen up in latest week-poll ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ U.S. crude oil inventories climbed higher for the fourth week in a row as imports likely rose for a second straight week, a preliminary Reuters poll of analysts showed on Monday. On average, crude stocks rose by 1.5 million barrels, the survey of seven analysts showed, as imports continued to bounce back after a four-week decline beginning with the week to Sept. 25. For details, see December crude futures were down 0.2 percent to $76.89 per barrel on Monday. Reuters Messaging: [e-mail] 1333 ET 02Nov2009-US GDP seen growing 4.5 pct in Q4: ISM ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ U.S. economic expansion could accelerate in the fourth quarter after data released on Monday showed stronger-than-expected growth in manufacturing in October, according to a business group. The latest reading on national factory activity from the Institute for Supply Management suggests U.S. gross domestic product is growing at an annualized rate of 4.5 percent in the fourth quarter, Norbert Ore, chairman of the ISM manufacturing business survey committee said on Monday. Last week, the government reported an expectedly strong 3.5 percent increase in U.S. GDP in the third quarter, the first positive reading in more than a year. For details, see Reuters Messaging: [e-mail] 1223 ET 02Nov2009-More gray seen in last half of Q3 earnings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The best of the U.S. third-quarter earnings season may already be over. With results in from more than half of the Standard & Poor's 500 companies so far, some 85 percent of companies have beaten or matched analysts' expectations, according to StarMine, which tracks earnings data. But with the largest contributors to the earnings beats in dollar terms -- diversified financials and banks, followed by materials and chip makers -- among those that have already reported, the remaining companies could have much less influence on the major stock indexes. For more please double click Reuters Messaging: [e-mail] Keywords: MARKETS STOCKSNEWS COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved.

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