MORNING COFFEE

Fords Mercury Brand To Be Cut.  Reports say Ford (F) will likely close down its Mercury brand, which was first launched during the Great Depression. Mercury sales have been weak for some time and the vehicles are just rebranded Fords.

More Special Interest Spending. Congress is laying the groundwork for a possible federal bailout of underfunded multi-employer pension plans that are jointly run by companies and unions. Opponents argue the targeted aid is just another taxpayer giveaway to the unions and could cost tens of billions of dollars.

Upgrades

Nokia (NOK): MKM Partners raised their rating from Sell to Neutral.

Ulta Salon (ULTA): Robert W. Baird raised their rating from Neutral to Outperform and placed a target price of $30.00 on the company.

Coverage Initiated

Target (TGT): MKM Partners initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $66.00.

Wal-Mart (WMT): MKM Partners initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and target price of $55.00.

Earning Reports

Guess? (GES): Reported Q1 EPS of $0.58 beating estimates by +$0.09 on revenue of $539 million. 

J Crew Group (JCG): Reported Q1 EPS of $0.68 beating estimates by +$0.11 on revenue of $414 million.

Novell (NOVL): Reported FQ2 EPS of $0.07 in-line with estimates on revenue of $204 million.

·         Futures: Dow +0.1% to 10242. S&P +0.1% to 1102. Crude +0.8% to $75.15. Gold +0.1% to $1,213.
10-year Tsy +0.1%. Euro +0.2%. Yen -0.1%.

·         Asia: Japan +1.3%. Hong Kong +1.7%. China flat. India +1.2%.

·         Europe: London +0.5%. Paris +0.1%. Frankfurt +0.4%.