Morning Coffee Pre-Market Wall Street News

President Obama Releases Debt Proposal. President Obama has released his plans to avoid falling off the fiscal cliff.  The plan calls for $1.6 trillion in tax increases and $50 billion in infrastructure spending.  Economists are saying that the planed tax increases would slow the already dismal economy.  While others are pointing out that the plan is basically the same budget plan the president releases prior that received zero support by Democrats when it was brought up for a vote.  The most controversial aspect to his plan includes what some call a power grab.  The President would like the ability to raise the federal debt limit without congressional approval.

Upgrades

Lockheed Martin (LMT): CRT Capital raised their rating from Sell to Fair Value. Pre-market: 93.24 +0.20 (0.21%)

Royal Bank of Canada (RY): Macquarie raised their rating from Neutral to Outperform.

St Jude Medical (STJ): Mizuho raised their rating from Neutral to Buy and placed a target price of $40.00 on the company. Pre-market: 34.70 +1.01 (3.00%)

Downgrades

Volvo (VOLVY): HSBC Securities lowered their rating from Neutral to Underweight.

Yum! Brands (YUM): Susquehanna lowered their rating from Positive to Neutral. Pre-market: 68.26 -6.21 (-8.34%)

Coverage Initiated

ConocoPhillips (COP): Wells Fargo initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and target range of $72.00 - $78.00.

Pilgram’s Pride (PPC): Stephens initiated coverage with an Equal Weight rating and placed a target price of $5.50 on the company.

Earning Reports

Five Below (FIVE): Reported EPS of $0.03 beating estimates by +$0.01. Pre-market: 34.00 +2.61 (8.31%)

Pacific Sunwear (PSUN): Reported EPS of -$0.03 in-line with estimates. Pre-market: 1.89 0.00 (0.00%)

Ulta Salon (ULTA): Reported EPS of $0.59 beating estimates by +$0.03. Pre-market: 98.56 +5.41 (5.81%)

Zumiez (ZUMZ): Reported EPS of $0.51 beating estimates by +$0.04. Pre-market: 19.06 -1.69 (-8.14%)

Markets: 
Futures at 8:20: Dow +0.07%. S&P 0.00%. Nasdaq +0.18%. Crude -0.30% to $87.81. Gold -0.05% to $1726.40.

Europe: London +0.17%. Paris +0.17%. Frankfurt +0.27%. 

Asia: Japan +0.48% to 9446. Hong Kong +0.49% to 22030. China +0.85% to 1980. India +0.88% to 19340.