MORNING COFFEE

Dow 11,000. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose yesterday to close above 11,000 for the first time since September 2008 to close at 11,005.97.  The gain reflects optimism going into earnings season.  The resistance and support levels now stand at 11,046.88 and 10,097.76.

Alcoa Starts Earnings Season. Alcoa (AA) kicked off the earnings season yesterday posting Q1 earnings of +$0.10 in line with expectations on revenue of $4.89 billion.   Traders will be watching closely as companies begin to report their earnings, which could lead to additional volatility in the market.  Additionally, Intel (INTC) will report earnings today after the close.

Lexus GX460 Unsafe.  According to Consumer Reports the Lexus GX460 failed handling test that could cause the vehicle to rollover.  Because of this Consumer Reports slapped a rare “Don’t Buy” rating on the vehicle.  This latest blow comes to Toyota (TM) after the highly reported braking and acceleration problems with their most popular cars.

Infosys Technologies (INFY): Reported Q4 EPS of $0.61 beating estimates by +$0.04 on revenue of $1.3 billion.

Upgrades

ITT Educational (ESI): Credit Suisse raised their rating from Neutral to Outperform.

ConocoPhillips (COP): Oppenheimer raised their rating from Perform to Outperform and raised their target price to $70.00.

Downgrades

Monsanto (MON): Argus lowered their rating from Buy to Hold.

Alcoa (AA): UBS lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral.

Harley-Davidson (HOG): Deutsche Bank lowered their rating from Buy to Hold.

Coverage Resumed

3M (MMM): FBR Capital resumed coverage with a Outperform rating and raised their target price from $102.00 to $104.00.

Coverage Reiterated/Price Target Changed

Infosys (INFY): Kaufman Bros reiterated their Buy rating and raised their target price from $67.00 to $72.00.

·         Futures: Dow -0.2%. S&P -0.2%. Nasdaq -0.3%. Crude -0.9% to $83.61. Gold -1.0% to $1150.90.

·         Asia: Nikkei -0.8% to 11161. Hang Seng -0.2% to 22104. Shanghai +1.0% to 3161. BSE -0.2% to 17822.

·         Europe: London -0.2% to 5764. Paris -0.1% to 4046. Frankfurt -0.2% to 6236.