MORNING COFFEE

Q1 Earnings Season Starts.  The first quarter earnings season start off today with Alcoa (AA).  Wall Street consensus is for the company to earn +$0.10, year ago the company posted losses of -$0.59. The beginning of earnings season can be more volatile as traders wait to see where earnings will come in.

Bank Face More Losses. According to a report by CreditSights Inc Bank of America (BAC), JPMorgan (JPM) and Wells Fargo (WFC) could incur $30 billion in losses on home-equity loans. CreditSights correctly predicted the earlier mortgage-related writedowns for the banks.

Palm For Sale. Palm (PALM) is reportedly working with Goldman Sachs and Frank Quattrone’s Qatalyst Partners to find a buyer.  Reports say that both Lenovo (LNVGY) and HTC may make offers.

Upgrades

HJ Heinz (HNZ): Deutsche Bank raised their rating from Hold to Buy.

Joy Global (JOYG): Robert W. Baird raised their rating from Neutral to Outperform and raised their target price from $61.00 to $82.00.

Texas Instruments (TXN): Credit Suisse raised their rating from Neutral to Outperform and raised their target price from $24.00 to $32.00.

Downgrades

Church & Dwight (CHD): UBS lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral.

Deckers Outdoor (DECK): Piper Jaffray lowered their rating from Overweight to Neutral.

Petrobras Brasileiro (PBR): Bernstein lowered their rating from Outperform to Market Perform.

Coverage Initiated

Cracker Barrel (CBRL): Standpoint Research initiated coverage with an Accumulate and a target price of $65.00.

Coverage Reiterated/Price Target Changed

Abercrombie (ANF): Caris & Company reiterated their Average rating and lowered their target price from $40.00 to $35.00

Abercrombie (ANF): Jefferies reiterated their Buy rating and raised their target price from $50.00 to $75.00.

DuPont (DD): Jefferies reiterated their Buy rating and raised their target price from $39.00 to $44.00.

Time Warner (TWX): Credit Suisse reiterated their Buy rating and raised their target price from $39.00 to $44.00.

·         Futures: Dow +0.1%. S&P flat. Nasdaq +0.05%. Crude +0.1% to $85. Gold +0.1% to $1162.90.

·         Asia: Nikkei +0.4% to 11251.9. Hang Seng -0.3% to 22138. Shanghai -0.5% to 3129. BSE -0.5% to 17853.

·         Europe: London -0.1% to 5768. Paris -0.1% to 4048. Frankfurt -0.1% to 6246.