JPMorgan Hired Relatives To Get Deals.

JPMorgan Hired Relatives To Get Deals. Reports indicate that JPMorgan (JPM) began hiring relatives of government and other officials to secure banking deals. According to the NYTreports one email says "We lost a deal to DB (Deutsche Bank) today because they got (the) chairman's daughter (to) work for them this summer." JPMorgan and several other U.S. banks are being investigated for their recruitment policies in China and other overseas countries.

Upgrades:

Crocs (CROX): Sterne Agee raised their rating from Underperform to Neutral and placed a target price of $10.00 on the company.

Ensco PLC (ESV): ReserchTeam raised their rating from Reduce to Hold.

Expeditors International (EXPD): ReserchTeam raised their rating from Reduce to Hold.

Foot Locker (FL): ReserchTeam raised their rating from Hold to Accumulate.

Mattel (MAT): ReserchTeam raised their rating from Hold to Accumulate.

Mosaic (MOS): ReserchTeam raised their rating from Reduce to Hold.

Total SA (TOT): ReserchTeam raised their rating from Reduce to Hold.

Walt Disney (DIS): Guggenhein raised their rating from Neutral to Buy and raised their target price from $77.00 to $87.00.

Downgrades:

Cardinal Health (CAH): ReserchTeam lowered their rating from Accumulate to Hold.

Earning Reports:

Cal-Marine Foods (CALM): Reported EPS of $1.08 missing estimates by -$0.03.

Markets: 
Futures at 9:03: Dow +0.02%. S&P -0.03%. Nasdaq -0.13%. Crude -0.28% at $100.04. Gold -0.63% to $1206.60. U.S 10 Year +3/32 to 2.990%

Europe: London -0.32%. Paris +0.06%. Frankfurt -0.39%. 

Asia: Japan +0.69% to 16291. Hong Kong +0.01% at 23245. China -0.18% to 2098. India -0.24% to 21143. 

Morning Coffee Pre-Market Wall Street News

Consumer Spending Misses Estimates. The Commerce Department reported that personal spending for July rose 0.1% missing Wall Street economists’ estimates. Wall Street had expected personal spending to rise 0.3%. June’s numbers where revised higher to 0.6% from 0.5%. Personal income for July rose 0.1% in-line with estimates, but down from the prior months 0.3% reading. Consumer spending accounts for 70% of the economy. Job growth and wage gains are needed as interest rates on mortgages and home prices continue to rise.  If not, this could cause consumers to stop spending and detail to housing recovery.

Upgrades:

Apache Corp (APA): RBC Capital raised their rating from Sector Perform to Outperform and raised their target price from $93.00 to $99.00.

Deutsche Bank (DB): JPMorgan raised their rating from Neutral to Overweight.

Intel (INTC): Argus raised their rating from Hold to Buy and placed a target price of $28.00 on the company.

Downgrades:

Joy Global (JOY): BB&T lowered their rating from Buy to Hold.

OmniVision (OVTI): Northland Securities lowered their rating from Outperform to Market Perform.

OmniVision (OVTI): Craig-Hallum lowered their rating from Buy to Hold and lowered their target price from $24.00 to $18.00.

OmniVision (OVTI): Oppenheimer lowered their rating from Outperform to Perform.

Staples (SPLS): JPMorgan lowered their rating from Overweight to Neutral and lowered their target price from $17.00 to $15.00.

Vodafone (VOD): RW Baird lowered their rating from Outperform to Neutral. Pre-market: 32.03 +0.23 (0.72%)

Coverage Initiated:

Baidu (BIDU): JPMorgan initiated coverage with an Overweight rating and raised their target price from $115.00 to $165.00.

Earning Reports:

bebe Stores (BEBE): Reported EPS of -$0.14 missing estimates by -$0.01.

Big Lots (BIG): Reported EPS of $0.31 beating estimates by +$0.07. Pre-market: 35.35 +0.71 (2.05%)

Krispy Kreme (KKD): d EPS of -$0.14 missing estimates by -$0.02. Pre-market: 20.82 -2.41 (-10.37%)

OmniVision (OVTI): Reported EPS of $0.55 beating estimates by +$0.12. Pre-market: 16.17 -2.24 (-12.17%)

Pacific Sunwear (PSUN): Reported EPS of $0.02 beating estimates by +$0.02. Pre-market: 3.69 -0.23 (-5.87%)

Salesforce.com (CRM): Reported EPS of $0.09 beating estimates by +$0.02. Pre-market: 47.50 +3.85 (8.82%)

Yingli Green Energy (YGE): Reported EPS of -$0.33 in-line with estimates. Pre-market: 4.36 +0.16 (3.81%)

Markets: 
Futures at 8:07: Dow +0.11%. S&P +0.18%. Nasdaq +0.26%. Crude -0.87% to $107.83. Gold -1.12% to $1396.90. U.S. 10 Year -1/32 2.766%

Europe: London -0.45%. Paris -0.76%. Frankfurt -0.71%. 

Asia: Japan -0.53% to 13389. Hong Kong +0.12% to 21731. China +0.05% to 2098. India +1.19% to 18612.