MORNING COFFEE

Jobless Claims Rise.  U.S Jobless claims continue to rise to a five month high, despite the Obama administrations declaration of “the summer of recovery.”  According to The Labor Department jobless claims for the week of Aug. 7^th rose to 484,000.  Economists had estimated job losses of only 465,000.  The four week average now stands at 473,500 up from 459,250.

Downgrades

Cisco Systems (CSCO): Oppenheimer lowered their rating from Outperform to Perform.

JDS Uniphase (JDSU): Auriga U.S.A lowered their rating from Buy to Hold and lowered their target price from $15.00 to $12.00.

Coverage Initiated

Qualcomm (QCOM): MKM Partners initiated coverage with a Sell rating and target price of $30.00.

Coverage Reiterated/Price Target Changed

Cisco Systems (CSCO): UBS reiterated their Neutral rating and lowered their target price from $26.50 to $25.00.

Cisco Systems (CSCO): Wunderlich reiterated their Buy rating and lowered their target price from $33.00 to $28.00.

Cisco Systems (CSCO): RBC Capital Markets reiterated their Top Pick rating and lowered their target price from $33.00 to $28.00.

AutoZone (AZO): Oppenheimer reiterated their Perform rating and raised their target price from $200.00 to $234.00.

Procter & Gamble (PG): RBC Capital Markets reiterated their Sector Perform rating and raised their target price from $65.00 to $66.00.

Earning Reports

Advance Auto Parts (AAP): Reported Q2 EPS of $1.16 beating estimates by +$0.13 on revenue of $1.42 billion.

Cisco Systems (CSCO): Reported FQ4 EPS of $0.43 beating estimates by +$0.01 on revenue of $10.8 billion.

·         Futures: Dow 0.0%. S&P -0.1%. Nasdaq -0.2%. Crude -1.0% to $77.22. Gold +0.5% to $1204.70.

·         Asia: Japan -0.9% to 9213. Hong Kong -0.9% to 21106. China -1.2% to 2575. India 0.0% at 18074.

·         Europe: London +0.5%. Paris -0.1%. Frankfurt 0.0%.