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Civil and Criminal Investigations Begin Over Gulf Oil Spill. The Justice Department announced that they have opened civil and criminal investigations into the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Attorney General Eric Holder declined to specify which companies are under investigation. This comes after complainants about the incompetence of the Obama administration in handling the environmental disaster. Additionally, there are reports the Obama administration is discussing seizing control of BP’s U.S. operations and finances. BP (BP) closed -15%, Transocean (RIG) -11.85%, Halliburton (HAL) -14.8%, Schlumberger (SLB) -7.8%, Anadarkko (APC) -19.55%.
Canada Raises Interest Rates. Bank of Canada announced yesterday that it raised their benchmark interest rate +25 basis points, which is now at 0.50%. The rate hike makes Canada the first G-7 country to raise interest rates.
Upgrades
Deere (DE): Morgan Joseph raised their rating from Hold to Buy.
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK): Jefferies raised their rating from Hold to Buy.
TCF Financial (TCB): FBR Capital raised their rating from Underperform to Market Perform and placed a target price of $16.00 on the company.
Downgrades
Steelcase (SCS): Longbow lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral.
Coverage Initiated
Cypress Semi (CY): Sterne Agee initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $14.00.
RF Micro Device (RFMD): Sterne Agee initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $6.00.
Coverage Reiterated/Price Target Changed
Research In Motion (RIMM): Wunderlich reiterated their Buy rating and lowered their target price from $96.00 to $85.00.
Earning Reports
Collective Brands (PSS): Reported Q1 EPS of $0.84 beating estimates by +$0.09 on revenue of $879 million.
· Futures: Dow +0.4%. S&P +0.4%. Nasdaq +0.6%. Crude -0.55% to $72.18. Gold -0.3% to $1223.10.
· Asia: Japan -1.1% to 9603. Hong Kong -0.1% to 19472. China +0.1% to 2571. India +1.0% to 16742.
· Europe: London -1.1%. Paris -1.1%. Frankfurt -1.0%.
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