China Bans Banks from Bitcoin

China Bans Banks from Bitcoin. Report says that The People's Bank of China has banned banks from trading in Bitcoin. In a statement officials said that the virtual currency doesn't have "real meaning," and no legal status as a formal currency. While the ban affects banks, Chinese citizens are still free to trade the currency. Currently Bitcoins are trading down -15.8% to $1000 on the news.

Upgrades:

Aeropostale (ARO): KeyBanc raised their rating from Underweight to Neutral. Pre-market: 8.90 -0.46 (-4.91%)

Celgene (CELG): UBS raised their rating from Neutral to Buy and raised their target price from $163.00 to $200.00. Pre-market: 163.25 +3.18 (1.99%)

Jack in the Box (JACK): Wedbush raised their rating from Neutral to Outperform and raised their target price from $50.00 to $60.00. Pre-market: 47.12 +0.64 (1.38%)

Smith &Wesson (SWHC): Lake Street raised their rating from Hold to Buy and raised their target price from $12.00 to $17.00. Pre-market: 11.85 +0.25 (2.16%)

Sprint (S): Nomura raised their rating from Neutral to Buy and raised their target price from $6.00 to $10.50. Pre-market: 8.10 +0.15 (1.89%)

Tiffany & Co (TIF): Goldman Sachs raised their rating from Neutral to Buy and raised their target price from $97.00 to $105.00. Pre-market: 90.15 +1.57 (1.77%)

Union Pacific (UNP): Raymond James raised their rating from Outperform to Strong Buy. Pre-market: 163.50 +2.11 (1.31%)

Downgrades:

J.M. Smucker (SJM): Wells Fargo lowered their rating from Market Perform to Underperform. Pre-market: 103.00 -1.75 (-1.67%)

Coverage Initiated:

Boston Scientific (BSX): The Benchmark Co. initiated coverage with a Hold rating and target price of $12.00.

eBay (EBAY): CRT Capital initiated coverage with a Fair Value rating and target price of $58.00. Pre-market: 51.08 -0.01 (-0.02%)

Oracle (ORCL): BMO Capital initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and target price of $42.00.

Raymond James (RJF): Buckingham initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $58.00.

Spirit Aero Systems (SPR): Citigroup initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $39.00. Pre-market: 33.81 +2.17 (6.86%)

Earning Reports:

Aeropostale (ARO): Reported EPS of -$0.29 missing estimates by -$0.06. Pre-market: 8.90 -0.46 (-4.91%)

Dollar General (DG): Reported EPS of $0.72 beating estimates by +$0.02.

Guess? (GES): Reported EPS of $0.42 beating estimates by +$0.05. Pre-market: 34.00 +0.66 (1.98%)

Royal Bank of Canada (RY): Reported EPS of $1.40 beating estimates by +$0.02.

Synopsys (SNPS): Reported EPS of $0.56 beating estimates by +$0.01.

Markets: 
Futures at 7:43: Dow -0.03%. S&P +0.12%. Nasdaq +0.20%. Crude +0.14% to $97.37. Gold -1.32% to $1230.70. U.S. 10 Year -9/32 2.870%.

Europe: London +0.04%. Paris -0.13%. Frankfurt +0.31%. 

Asia: Japan -1.50% to 15177. Hong Kong -0.07% to 23713. China -0.21% to 2247. India +1.20% to 20958. 

#RLPaler #WallStreet #PreMarket #WealthManagement #EarningReports #AnalystsRatings #Bitcoin  

Berkshire Hathaway Buys Exxon Mobil

Berkshire Hathaway Buys Exxon Mobil. Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A / BRK.B) has bought 40.1 million shares of Exxon Mobil (XOM). The purchase makes Warren Buffett’s company the 6^th largest shareholder of Exxon. During the third quarter he also added to his position in the Bank of New York Mellon (BK), DaVita HealthCare Partners (DVA), Suncor Energy (SU), U.S. Bancorp (USB) and VeriSign (VRSN). During the quarter he also lowered his holdings in ConocoPhillips (COP), DirecTV (DTV), GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Sanofi (SNY). Pre-market: 115.60 -0.09 (-0.08%)

Upgrades:

Allscripts Healthcare Solutions (MDRX): Leerink raised their rating from Market Perform to Outperform and raised their target price from $16.00 to $18.00.

Ball Corp (BLL): BofA Merrill Lynch raised their rating from Neutral to Buy and raised their target price from $49.00 to $56.00.

Downgrades:

BlackBerry (BBRY): Macquarie lowered their rating from Neutral to Underperform and lowered their target price from $7.00 to $5.50.

Kellogg Co. (K): Barclays lowered their rating from Equal Weight to Underweight.

Kolh’s (KSS): BMO Capital lowered their rating from Outperform to Market Perform and lowered their target price from $66.00 to $55.00.

W.W. Grainger (GWW): Raymond James lowered their rating from Outperform to Market Perform.

Coverage Initiated:

Guess? (GES): Mizuho initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and target price of $30.00.

Twitter (TWTR): UBS initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and target price of $45.00.

Yelp (YELP): Janney Capital initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and target price of $70.00.

Earning Reports:

Agilent (A): Reported EPS of $0.81 beating estimates by +$0.05. Pre-market: 54.00 +3.46 (6.85%)

Applied Materials (AMAT): Reported EPS of $0.19 beating estimates by +$0.01. Pre-market: 17.65 +0.09 (0.51%)

Nordstrom (JWN): Reported EPS of $0.69 beating estimates by +$0.03. Pre-market: 62.70 -0.73 (-1.15%)

Maximus (MMS): Reported EPS of $0.51 beating estimates by +$0.01.

Markets: 
Futures at 8:01: Dow +0.20%. S&P +0.20%. Nasdaq +0.13%. Crude +0.37% to $94.10. Gold -0.01% to $1286.20. U.S. 10 Year -3/32 2.701%.

Europe: London +0.32%. Paris +0.25%. Frankfurt +0.25%. 

Asia: Japan +1.95% to 15166. Hong Kong +1.69% to 23032. China +1.68% to 2136. India closed. 

#RLPaler #WallStreet #PreMarket #WealthManagement #EarningReports #AnalystsRatings #WarrenBuffett #BerkshireHathaway #ExxonMobil

Morning Coffee Pre-Market Wall Street News

J.C. Penney shares get hit. Shares of J.C. Penney (JCP) fell -10.2% yesterday following news that commercial lender CIT is no longer financing deliveries from small manufacturers to the company's stores due to credit fears. According to RetailSails JCP is still receiving financing from other companies other than CIT.

Upgrades:

Baker Hughes (BHI): Argus raised their rating from Sell to Hold.

Comcast (CMCSA): RW Baird raised their rating from Neutral to Outperform and raised their target price from $45.00 to $54.00.

Covance (CVD): First Analysis raised their rating from Equal Weight to Overweight and placed a target price of $96.00 on the company.

J.C. Penney (JCP): Atlantic Equities raised their rating from Neutral to Overweight. Pre-market: 15.53 +0.93 (6.37%)

Downgrades:

Humana (HUM): Stifel lowered their rating from Buy to Hold. Pre-market: 90.70 -0.56 (-0.61%)

J.C. Penney (JCP): Citigroup lowered their rating from Neutral to Sell and lowered their target price from $20 to $11.00.

Raymond James (RJF): Susquehanna lowered their rating from Positive to Neutral. Pre-market: 43.83 -0.24 (-0.54%)

Starbucks (SBUX): Williams Capital raised their rating from Hold to Buy and placed a target price of $85.00 on the company.

Coverage Initiated:

Chico’s FAS (CHS): FBR Capital initiated coverage with a Market Perform rating and target price of $17.00.

Gap (GPS): FBR Capital initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and target price of $53.00.

Guess? (GES): Susquehanna initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and target price of $38.00.

Earning Reports:

Allstate (ALL): Reported EPS of $1.12 beating estimates by +$0.14. Pre-market: 51.75 +0.77 (1.51%)

AstraZeneca (AZN): Reported EPS of $1.20 beating estimates by +$0.17. Pre-market: 50.31 -0.41 (-0.81%)

Automatic Data (ADP): Reported EPS of $0.55 missing estimates by -$0.02. Pre-market: 69.85 -2.24 (-3.11%)

Boston Beer Co (SAM): Reported EPS of $1.45 beating estimates by +$0.11. Pre-market: 190.00 +11.02 (6.16%)

Cardinal Health (CAH): Reported EPS of $0.79 beating estimates by +$0.02.

CBS (CBS): Reported EPS of $0.76 beating estimates by +$0.04. Pre-market: 54.10 +1.26 (2.38%)

Clorox (CLX): Reported EPS of $1.38 beating estimates by +$0.04.

ConocoPhillips (COP): Reported EPS of $1.41 beating estimates by +$0.11. Pre-market: 65.90 +1.04 (1.60%)

DIRECTV (DTV): Reported EPS of $1.18 missing estimates by -$0.16. Pre-market: 60.00 -3.28 (-5.18%)

Dreamworks Animation (DWA): Reported EPS of $0.26 beating estimates by +$0.08. Pre-market: 26.49 +1.73 (6.99%)

Exxon Mobil (XOM): Reported EPS of $1.55 missing estimates by -$0.35. Pre-market: 92.75 -1.00 (-1.07%)

Fluor (FLR): Reported EPS of $0.98 missing estimates by -$0.03. Pre-market: 62.56 0.00 (0.00%)

Kellogg (K): Reported EPS of $1.00 beating estimates by +$0.02. Pre-market: 65.45 -0.79 (-1.19%)

Microchip (MCHP): Reported EPS of $0.57 beating estimates by +$0.03.

Procter & Gamble (PG): Reported EPS of $0.79 beating estimates by +$0.02. Pre-market: 81.67 +1.37 (1.71%)

Sturm Ruger (RGR): Reported EPS of $1.63 beating estimates by +$0.45. Pre-market: 54.15 +3.28 (6.45%)

SunPower (SPWR): Reported EPS of $0.48 beating estimates by +$0.37. Pre-market: 27.63 -0.02 (-0.07%)

Markets: 
Futures at 8:20: Dow +0.73%. S&P +0.77%. Nasdaq +0.78%. Crude +1.94% to $107.07. Gold +1.08% to $1327.20. U.S. 10 Year -16/32 2.642%

Europe: London +0.07%. Paris +0.55%. Frankfurt +1.24%. 

Asia: Japan +2.47% to 14006. Hong Kong +0.94% to 22089. China +1.77% to 2029. India -0.15% to 19,314.