MORNING COFFEE

Oracle Plans to Acquire Chipmaker. CEO Larry Ellison during a conference yesterday said that the company is looking to purchase semiconductor companies and makers of industry- specific software.  Oracle has acquired more than 65 companies during the past five years.  Oracle’s computer hardware innovative started with its purchase of Sun Microsystems.

Durable Orders Fall.  The Commerce Department said durable goods orders fell -1.3% after a revised 0.7 percent increase in July. This was the largest decline in more than a year. Economists were looking for orders to fall -1.4%.  Ex-Autos and aircraft saw a +2.0% increase.

Coverage Initiated

American Water (AWK): Robert W. Baird initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and target price of $26.00.

Coverage Reiterated/Price Target Changed

Advanced Micro (AMD): FBR Capital reiterated their Market Perform rating and lowered their target price from $10.00 to $9.00.

Earning Reports

Nike (NKE): Reported FQ1 EPS of $1.14 beating estimates by +$0.13 on revenue of $5.2 billion.

KB Homes (KB): reported earnings of -$0.02 beating estimates by +$0.13.

·         Futures: S&P +0.27%. 10-yr +0.09%. Euro +0.73% vs. dollar. Crude +0.04% to $75.21. Gold +0.22% to $1299.10.

·         Asia: Japan -1.0%. Hong Kong +0.3%. China +0.1%. India +0.9%.

·         Europe: London -0.4%. Paris -0.2%. Frankfurt -0.5%.