Wednesday, January 15, 2014

World Economic Growth Accelerating

World Economic Growth Accelerating. The World Bank announced that they expect global economic growth to accelerate to 3.2% in 2014 from 2.4% in 2013. The banks Global Economic Prospects report forecast that the U.S. economy will expand by 2.8% from 1.8% and goes on to say that the worlds advanced economies seem "to be finally turning the corner" following the financial crisis.

Upgrades:

Dick’s Sporting Goods (DKS): Credit Suisse raised their rating from Neutral to Outperform and raised their target price from $56.00 to $65.00.

Intel (INTC): BMO Capital raised their rating from Market Perform to Outperform and raised their target price from $21.00 to $31.00. Pre-market: 26.75 +0.24 (0.91%)

Western Digital (WDC): Pacific Crest raised their rating from Sector Perform to Outperform and placed a target price of $105.00 on the company. Pre-market: 88.70 +0.81 (0.92%)

Downgrades:

Airgas (ARG): Goldman Sachs lowered their rating from Neutral to Sell and placed a target price of $101.00 on the company.

Cirrus Logic (CRUS): Pacific Crest lowered their rating from Sector Perform to Underperform and placed a target price of $14.00 on the company. Pre-market: 19.30 -0.80 (-3.98%)

Dollar General (DG): S&P lowered their rating from 4 Stars to 2 Stars.

PETsMART (PETM): UBS lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral and lowered their target price from $82.00 to $72.00. Pre-market: 65.88 -1.22 (-1.82%)

Unilever (UN/UL): JPMorgan lowered their rating from Neutral to Underweight. Pre-market: 38.32 -0.73 (-1.87%) / Pre-market: 39.30 -0.66 (-1.65%)

Coverage Initiated:

FedEx (FDX): Susquehanna initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and target price of $150.00.

Morgan Stanley (MS): Keefe Bruyette initiated coverage with a Market Perform rating and target price of $34.00. Pre-market: 31.48 +0.38 (1.22%)

United Parcel Service (UPS): Susquehanna initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and target price of $107.00.

Earning Reports:

Bank of America (BAC): Reported EPS of $0.29 beating estimates by +$0.03. Pre-market: 17.16 +0.39 (2.33%)

Fastenal (FAST): Reported EPS of $0.33 missing estimates by -$0.01. After Hours: 48.49 +0.28 (0.58%)

Markets: 
Futures at 7:16: Dow +0.23%. S&P +0.20%. Nasdaq +0.34%. Crude +0.55% to $92.10. Gold -0.61% to $1237.80. U.S. 10 Year +1/32 to 2.868%.

Europe: London +0.40%. Paris +0.92%. Frankfurt +1.22%. 

Asia: Japan +2.50% to 15809. Hong Kong +0.49% to 22902. China -0.17% to 2023. India +1.22% to 21289. 


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