MORNING COFFEE

Fed Releases Minutes.  The FOMC released their minutes yesterday and none of the participants are concerned about a double-dip recession, but they did lower their growth forecast.  Their outlook for inflation was lowered, but they were not concerned about deflation at this point.  In the minutes they also said that they see higher unemployment coming in 2011.

Jobless Claims Fall. The Labor Department reported this morning that new claims for unemployment fell by 29,000 to 429,000, its lowest level in two years.  Economists had expected a loss of 450,000 lobs.  But the job losses continue and many on Wall Street are questioning the Obama administrations claim that their stimulus plan has saved or created over 3 million jobs.

China’s Economy Slowing. China's reported that their economy is growing at a slower rates then economist had estimated, coming in at 10.3% in the second quarter.  The previous quarter had seen 11.9% growth.

Downgrades

Symantec (SYMC): RBC Capital Markets lowered their rating from Outperform to Sector Perform and lowered their target price from $19.00 to $17.00.

McAfee (MFE): RBC Capital Markets lowered their rating from Outperform to Sector Perform and lowered their target price from $37.00 to $35.00.

Juniper Networks (JNPR): Oppenheimer lowered their rating from Outperform to Perform.

Coverage Initiated

Orbitz (OWW): FBR Capital initiated coverage with a Market Perform rating and target price of $5.00.

Expedia (EXPE): FBR Capital initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and target price of $26.00.

Priceline.com (PCLN): Capital initiated coverage with a Market Perform rating and target price of $200.00.

IBM (IBM): Kaufman Bros initiated coverage with a Hold rating and target price of $135.00

Earning Reports

JPMorgan (JPM): Reported Q2 EPS of $1.09 beating estimates by +$0.39 on revenue of $25.6 billion.

Novartis (NVS): Reported Q2 EPS of $1.06 beating estimates by +$0.01 on revenue of $11.7 billion.

Marriott (MAR): Reported Q2 EPS of $0.31 beating estimates by +$0.03 on revenue of $2.77 billion.

·         Futures: Dow +0.2%. S&P +0.3%. Nasdaq +0.3%. Crude +0.4% to $77.33. Gold +0.6% to $1214.10.

·         Asia: Japan -1.1% to 9686. Hong Kong -1.5% to 20256. China -1.9% to 2424. India -0.2% to 17909.

·         Europe: London -0.1%. Paris +0.4%. Frankfurt +0.2%.