MORNING COFFEE

BoE Leaves Rates Unchanged. The Bank of England left its bank rate at 0.5% and announced it will not extend its £200B ($319 billion) asset purchase program.

Beige Book Mixed. In the latest Beige Book report, the Federal Reserve said nine out of twelve regional districts saw economic activity improve modestly in February.  They also noted that severe winter weather on the East Coast hurt several areas. Credit conditions remained in bad shape, though consumer spending showed signs of improvement. Additionally, wage and price pressures were muted except for commodities such as lumber and raw materials.

Problems With Toyota Brakes? The Department of Transportation is investigating complaints of sudden acceleration in cars that Toyota (TM) has already repaired as part of its recent recalls. A DoT spokeswoman said the reports are still unverified, but that officials are conducting interviews with consumers about the issues.

Urban Outfitters (URBN): Reported Q4 EPS of $0.45 beating estimates by +$0.05 on revenue of $588 million.

Foot Locker (FL): Reported Q4 EPS of $0.24 missing estimates by -$0.01 on revenue of $1.3 billion.

Take-Two (TTWO): Reported 1Q2010 EPS of -$0.31 beating estimates by +0.20 on revenue of $163 million. The company also gave Q2 guidance above current estimates.

Upgrades

Coca-Cola (KO): UBS raised their rating from Neutral to Buy.

Boeing (BA): UBS raised their rating from Sell to Neutral.

FedEx (FDX): Morgan Keegan raised their rating from Market Perform to Outperform.

BB&T Corp (BBT): Bernstein raised their rating from Market Perform to Outperform.

Downgrades

Fifth Third (FTIB): Bernstein lowered their rating from Outperform to Market Perform.

Coverage Initiated

Boeing (BA): C.K. Cooper initiated coverage with a Buy rating.

·         Futures: Dow +0.04%. S&P -0.03%. Nasdaq +0.03%. Crude +0.09% to $80.94. Gold -0.22% to $1140.80.

·         Asia: Nikkei -1.1% to 10146. Hang Seng -1.4% to 20576. Shanghai -2.4% to 3023. BSE -0.2% to 16972.

·         Europe: London +0.1% to 5541. Paris -0.2% to 3835. Frankfurt -0.2% to 5808.