MORNING COFFEE

Jobless Claims Disappoints Wall Street. Initial jobless claims disappointed Wall Street once again.  The Labor Department this morning announced that for the week ending Sept 15 382,000 new people applied for unemployment benefits, the previous week’s numbers were upwardly revised to 385,000.  Economists had been looking for initial claims of only 375,000.  This comes as Bank of America (BAC) announced plans to slash 16,000 jobs by the year-end. The bank will also close 200 branches on top of the 178 it shut in 2011, citing the weak economy. Pre-market: 9.15 -0.14 (-1.51%) http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/eta/ui/current.htm

Nike and CVS Announce Large Buyback Programs. Nike (NKE) announced that once it completes its current $5 billion repurchase program in FQ2 2013 it will have a new share repurchase program to replace it.  The new 4 yr program intends to repurchase $8 billion worth of class B shares. Additionally, CVS Caremark (CVS) said it would buy back up to $6 billion in shares. The CVS announcement comes at a time that CVS's stock is trading at record highs. NKE Pre-market: 98.29 +0.63 (0.65%)

Upgrades

Taubman Centers (TCO): KeyBanc raised their rating from Underweight to Hold. Pre-market: 79.88 +0.03 (0.04%)

Owens Corning (OC): Macquarie raised their rating from Neutral to Outperform and placed a target price of $38.00 on the company. Pre-market: 33.90 +0.03 (0.09%)

DreamWorks Anamation SKG (DWA): Janney Capital raised their rating from Sell to Neutral and raised their target price from $14.50 to $19.00.

Adobe Systems (ADBE): RBC Capital raised their rating from Sector Perform to Outperform and raised their rating from $34.00 to $40.00. Pre-market: 33.50 +0.38 (1.15%)

Downgrades

Goldman Sachs (GS): UBS lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral and placed a target price of $125.00 on the company. Pre-market: 117.46 -1.56 (-1.31%)

Morgan Stanley (MS): UBS lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral and placed a target price of $19.00 on the company. Pre-market: 17.22 -0.35 (-1.99%)

Citigroup (C): UBS lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral and placed a target price of $36.00 on the company. Pre-market: 33.70 -0.48 (-1.40%)

St. Jude Medical (STJ): Mizuho lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral and placed a target price of $45.00 on the company.

Halliburton (HAL): CLSA lowered their rating from Outperform to Underperform and placed a target price of $38.00 on the company. Pre-market: 35.90 -0.51 (-1.40%)

U.S. Steel (X): Nomura lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral and placed a target price of $20.00 on the company. Pre-market: 20.30 -0.56 (-2.68%)

Coach (COH): Credit Suisse lowered their rating from Outperform to Neutral and placed a target price of $63.00 on the company. Pre-market: 59.00 -0.99 (-1.65%)

Coverage Initiated

Patterson Companies (PDCO): WallachBeth initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $40.00. After Hours: 34.43 +0.24 (0.71%)

Coverage Reiterated/Price Target Changed

CVS Caremark (CVS): Mizuho reiterated their Buy rating and raised their target price from $50.00 to $53.00.

Earning Reports

Adobe Systems (ADBE): Reported EPS of $0.58 in-line with estimates. Pre-market: 33.50 +0.38 (1.15%)

Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY): reported EPS of $0.98 missing estimates by -$0.04. Pre-market: 65.36 -3.43 (-4.99%)

CarMax (KMX): Reported EPS of $0.49 missing estimates by -$0.01. Pre-market: 32.50 +0.53 (1.66%)

ConAgra (CAG): Reported EPS of $0.44 beating estimates by +$0.09. Pre-market: 27.00 +1.35 (5.26%)

Rite Aid (RAD): Reported EPS of -$0.05 beating estimates by +$0.03. Pre-market: 1.33 +0.02 (1.53%)

Markets: 
Futures at 8:15: Dow -0.28%. S&P -0.37%. Nasdaq -0.30%. Crude -0.23% to $91.77. Gold -0.42% to $1764.10.

Europe: London -0.71%. Paris -0.86%. Frankfurt -0.49%. 

Asia: Japan -1.57%. Hong Kong -1.20%. China -2.08%. India -0.79%.