Morning Coffee Pre-Market Wall Street News

Senate to Vote on New Tax. The Democratically controlled Senate is expected to approve a bill today that would force online merchants to collect sales tax on Internet transactions. The Republican controlled House is expected to provide more opposition to the bill.  Both Wal-Mart (WMT) and Amazon.com are in favor of the new tax while eBay (EBAY) is against the new tax.

Upgrades

Humana (HUM): JPMorgan raised their rating from Neutral to Overweight and raised their target price from $88.00 to $91.00.

Intel (INTC): RBC Capital JPMorgan raised their rating from Sector Perform to Overweight and raised their target price from $24.00 to $29.00. Pre-market: 24.16 +0.20 (0.83%)

Intuit (INTU): First Analysis raised their rating from Equal Weight to Overweight and placed a target price of $70.00 on the company. Pre-market: 60.57 +0.31 (0.51%)

Transocean (RIG): ISI Group raised their rating from Buy to Strong Buy. Pre-market: 53.45 +0.21 (0.39%)

Downgrades

Comerica (CMA): BTIG lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral. Pre-market: 36.90 -0.17 (-0.46%)

Exelon (EXC): ISI Group lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral and placed a target price of $36.00 on the company.

Moody’s (MCO): Raymond James lowered their rating from Strong Buy to Outperform.

Coverage Initiated

UnitedHealth Group (UNH): JPMorgan initiated coverage with an Overweight rating and target price of $70.00.

Coverage Reiterated/Price Target Changed 

Walt Disney (DIS): Wunderlich reiterated their Hold rating and raised their target price from $58.00 to $63.00. Pre-market: 65.09 +0.29 (0.45%)

Earning Reports

Federal Signal (FSS): Reported EPS of $0.12 beating estimates by +$0.02.

Sysco (SYY): Reported EPS of $0.49 beating estimates by +$0.06. Pre-market: 33.90 -0.76 (-2.19%)

Tyson Foods (TSN): Reported EPS of $0.36 missing estimates by -$0.09. Pre-market: 24.00 -0.93 (-3.73%)

Westlake Chemical (WLK): Reported EPS of $1.84 beating estimates by +0.59.

Markets: 
Futures at 7:16: Dow -0.01%. S&P -0.02%. Nasdaq +0.07%. Crude +0.40% to $95.99. Gold +0.78% to $1475.60.

Europe: London closed. Paris -0.36%. Frankfurt -0.16%. 

Asia: Japan closed. Hong Kong +0.99% to 22915. China +1.16% to 2231. India +0.50% to 19674.