MORNING COFFEE

IMF Wants to Tax Banks. The IMF has recommended a tax on banks, called a "Financial Stability Contribution."   The tax seeks to raise between 2-4% of GDP, or roughly $1-2 trillion if all G-20 nations adopt the tax.  The idea is for the G-20 nations to tax the balance sheets, profits and compensation of financial firms in order to reduce the likelihood of another financial crisis and to cover the costs should a crisis occur.

Google to Acquire Software Company. Google (GOOG) announced that its talks to acquire airline IT and services provider ITA Software Inc. in a deal that reportedly could be worth $1 billion. The purchase would allow Google to use ITA Software's tools to help users find online flight information.

TARP Inspector to Investigate Goldman Sachs. Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general for TARP, announced plans to investigate whether securities sold by Goldman Sachs (GS) led to losses at AIG (AIG). Reports say the Mr. Barofsky has contacted the SEC and may coordinate with the Justice Department as well.

Downgrades

Gilead Sciences (GILD): Piper Jaffray lowered their rating from Outperform to Neutral.

Synovus (SNV): Soleil  lowered their rating from Buy to Hold and placed a target price of $4.00 on the company.

Forest Labs (FRX): Oppenheimer lowered their rating from Outperform to Perform.

Coverage Reiterated/Price Target Changed

Apple (AAPL): Kaufman Bros reiterated their Buy rating and raised their target price from $305.00 to $315.00.

Apple (AAPL): Oppenheimer reiterated their Outperform rating and raised their target price from $285.00 to $320.00.

Yahoo! (YHOO): Oppenheimer reiterated their Perform rating and raised their target price from $18.00 to $21.00.

Elan (ELN): Reported Q1 EPS of $0.00 beating estimates by +$0.04 on revenue of $310.5 million. 

Lockheed Martin (LMT): Reported Q1 EPS of $1.45 beating estimates by +$0.11 on revenue of $10.6 billion.

Apple (AAPL): Report FQ2 EPS of $3.33 beating estimates by +$0.88 on revenue of $13.5 billion. The company sees Q2 EPS of $2.28-2.39 vs. $2.70, on revenue of $13B-13.4B vs. $12.97B.

Gilead Sciences (GILD): Reported Q1 EPS of $0.99 beating estimates by +$0.03 on revenue of $2.09 Billion.

Yahoo (YHOO): Reported Q1 EPS of $0.22 beating estimates by +$0.13 on revenue of $1.16 billion.

·         Futures: Dow -0.3%. S&P -0.2%. Nasdaq +0.3%. Crude +0.4% to $84.16. Gold +0.5% to $1144.50.

·          Asia: Nikkei +1.7% to 11090. Hang Seng -0.5% to 21511. Shanghai +1.8% to 3033. BSE +0.1% to 17473.

·         Europe: London -0.9% to 5730. Paris -0.8% to 3996. Frankfurt -0.3% to 6244.