MORNING COFFEE

Market Futures Higher Prior to Greek Elections.  U.S. stock futures are higher as the whole world holds its breath prior to the Greek elections on Sunday.  In what may be called Europe’s Lehman Brothers moment, a negative outcome could cause Greece to withdrawal from the EU and send Europe into chaos.  To prevent this from occurring World Central banks are preparing for coordinated action to provide liquidity if needed.   In a move sure to upset U.S. voters, word has it the U.S. tax payers will also be helping out with Europe’s bailout.  The massive bailout could put off any contagion, but would not solve the debt problem. 

It appears that it’s now a no win situation.  If Europe implodes the effect will certainly hurt the world economy and some are even saying it would cause a worldwide depression.  If the elections go well and more austerity measures are put into place it would also slow down the economy.  In a nutshell neither option is going to stimulate world economies.

Upgrades

International Game Technology (IGT): Bank of America / Merrill Lynch raised their rating from Underperform to Neutral and raised their target price from $14.00 to $16.00. Pre-market: 15.27 +0.15 (0.99%)

Oracle (ORCL): ThinkEquity raised their rating from Hold to Buy and raised their target price from $28.00 to $32.00. Pre-market: 27.09 +0.18 (0.67%)

Coverage Initiated

Kinder Morgan (KMI): Goldman Sachs initiated a Buy rating and target price of $37.00 on the company. After Hours: 31.41 -0.06 (-0.18%)

Agilent Technologies (A): Citigroup initiated a Buy rating and target price of $46.00 on the company.

Downgrades

Exelon Corp (EXC): Atlantic Equities lowered their rating from Overweight to Neutral and lowered their target price from $59.00 to $37.00. After Hours: 37.65 -0.14 (-0.38%)

Nokia (NOK): Credit Suisse lowered their rating from Outperform to Neutral and lowered their target price from $4.50 to $2.00. Pre-market: 2.41 +0.06 (2.55%)

Nokia (NOK): Oppenheimer lowered their rating from Perform to Underperform. Pre-market: 2.41 +0.06 (2.55%)

Nokia (NOK): Citigroup lowered their rating from Neutral to Sell. Pre-market: 2.41 +0.06 (2.55%)

Markets: 
Futures at 7:08: Dow +0.45%. S&P +0.20%. Nasdaq +0.39%. Crude +0.46% to $84.33. Gold +0.31% to $1624.70. 

Europe: London +0.40%. Paris +1.60%. Frankfurt +1.36%. 

Asia: Japan +0.01% to 8569. Hong Kong +2.26% to 19234. China +0.47% to 2307. India +1.63% to 16950.