MORNING COFFEE

Euro Continues To Fall.  The euro fell to a 10-month low against the dollar after government officials said the European Union may need International Monetary Fund (IMF) help to bail out Greece and Portugal’s debt was downgraded by Fitch Ratings.

Durable Goods Orders Rise. For the third month in a row orders for durable goods rose in February +0.5%, while inventories and backlogs climbed by the most in more than a year, indicating the manufacturing rebound will keep propelling the U.S. recovery.

JPMorgan Get Tax Windfall. JPMorgan (JPM) is close to a deal with the FDIC that would allow the bank to receive as much as $1.4 billion in tax refunds. JPMorgan, which took over Washington Mutual's banking operations in 2008, reportedly plans to claim more than half of the $2.6 billion in tax refunds that WaMu is eligible for because of its heavy losses.

General Mills (GIS): Reported FQ3 EPS of $0.97 beating estimates by +$0.04 on revenue of $3.6 billion.

Lennar (LEN): Reported FQ1 EPS of -$0.04 beating estimates by +$0.26 on revenue of $574 million.

Adobe Systems (ADBE): Reported Q1 2010 EPS of $0.40 beating estimates by +0.03 on revenue of $859 million.  The company also gaveQ2 EPS guidance in-line and revenue above consensus. 

Upgrades

Tyson Foods (TSN): BB&T Capital Markets raised their rating from Hold to Buy.

Jacobs Engineering (JEC): JP Morgan raised their rating from Neutral to Overweight and raised their target price from $44.00 to $51.00.

Downgrades

Whole Foods (WFMI): Longbow lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral.

Under Armour (UA): FBR Capital lowered their rating from Outperform to Market Perform and placed a target price of $30.00 on the company.

Coverage Reiterated/Price Target Changed

PepsiCo (PEP): Stifel Nicolaus reiterated their Buy rating and raised their target price from $68.00 to $74.00.

Texas Instruments (TXN): Auriga U.S.A reiterated their Sell rating and raised their target price from $20.00 to $21.00.

Honeywell (HON): Oppenheimer reiterated their Outperform rating and raised their target price from $45.00 to $50.00.

·         Futures: Dow -0.35%. S&P -0.5%. Nasdaq -0.45%. Crude -1.8% to $80.45. Gold -0.8% to $1094.50.

·         Asia: Nikkei +0.4% to 10815. Hang Seng +0.1% to 21009. Shanghai +0.1% to 3057. BSE +0.2% to 17451.

·         Europe: London -0.5% to 5647. Paris -0.8% to 3921. Frankfurt -0.6% to 5979.