MORNING COFFEE

Retailers Attack Amazon’s Tax Break. The alliance for Main Street Fairness which includes retail giants Wal-Mart (WMT), Target (TGT) and other leading retailers are ratcheting up a campaign to force Amazon (AMZN) to collect sales taxes. The alliance is leading efforts to change sales tax laws in more than a dozen states, including Texas and California. In a 1992 Supreme Court ruling, only merchants with a physical presence in a state, such as stores, have to collect sales taxes.

Earning Reports

FedEx (FDX): Reported EPS of $0.81 missing estimates by -$0.01.

Guess? (GES): Reported FQ2 EPS of $1.11 beating estimates by +$0.05 on revenue of $757 million, beating estimates by +$32 million.

Winnebago Industries (WGO) Reported EPS of $0.11 beating estimates by +$0.05.

Upgrades

ProLogis (PLD): Stifel Nicolaus raised their rating from Hold to Buy and placed a target price of $16.50 on the company.

Akamai Tech (AKM): Stifel Nicolaus raised their rating from Hold to Buy and placed a target price of $44.00 on the company.

Downgrades

Devon Energy (DVN): Argus lowered their rating from Buy to Hold.

BMC Software (BMC): Stifel Nicolaus lowered their rating from Buy to Hold.

Coverage Reiterated/Price Target Changed

Noble Energy (NBL): FBR Capital reiterated their Market Perform rating and raised their target price from $85.00 to $95.00.

·         Futures at 7:00: Dow +0.45%. S&P +0.7%. Nasdaq +0.55%. Crude +1.6% to $99.52. Gold +0.5% to $1403.40.

·         Europe: London +0.5%. Paris +1.0%. Frankfurt +0.5%.

·         Asia: Japan -1.4% to 8963. Hong Kong -1.8% to 22284. China -1.1% to 2897. India -1.1% to 18150.