UBS to Settle, Dell Gets a Massive Upgrade: Morning Buzzers

Stock futures are up in the pre-market on Monday morning as news surfaces that a Greek bond offering beat expectations and Chinese manufacturing returned to growth.

At 8:30 AM: S&P: +0.45%, Nasdaq: +0.65%, Dow: +0.44%.

Here’s what’s buzzing on Monday morning:

Shares of Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) traded up as much as 6.1 percent in the pre-market after receiving a tremendous upgrade from Goldman Sachs. Analysts raised their price target on the stock from $9 per share to $13 per share and bumped their rating straight from “Sell” to “Buy.”

Time to Settle: Swiss banking giant UBS AG (NYSE:UBS) is reportedly reaching a settlement agreement with U.S. and U.K. authorities over allegations that it manipulated interest rates including the London Inter-Bank Offered Rate, or LIBOR. The bank could pay over $450 million to settle the case, possibly topping the fine Barclay’s (NYSE:BCS) had to pay in June because of its relationship to the rate-rigging scandal.

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Could This Get Messy? At the end of the last week, leading aerospace and defense contractor Boeing (NYSE:BA) asked for federal mediators to assist in contract negotiations with the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, or SPEEA, union. With their intention to avoid a strike, union officials are now reportedly trying to prevent an unauthorized, one-day “wildcat” strike that some members planned for Wednesday.

 A Long Road to Recovery: A territory dispute between China and Japan slammed the breaks on sales of Japanese cars in China at the end of the summer. While the worst may be behind for Japanese automakers, sales are still suffering. Toyota Motors (NYSE:TM) reported a 22.1-percent drop in November sales in the country. However, experts are expecting strong results for November as demand for cars spiked in the wake of hurricane Sandy.

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