MORNING COFFEE

Auto Sale Rise. Auto sales for December were up 11% and posted the 11^th straight month of increases.  Overall, 2010 sales came in at 11.6 million vehicles. Analysts now estimate that 2011 sales could reach 13 million. Individual company sales for December were as follows: GM (GM) +7.5% to 223,932 vehicles, Ford (F) +6.7% to 190,976 vehicles, Chrysler (FIATY) +16% to 100,702 vehicles, and Toyota (TM) -5.5% to 177,488 vehicles.

Downgrades

Qwest (Q): Argus lowered their rating from Buy to Sell.

Boeing (BA): Argus lowered their rating from Buy to Hold.

Franklin Resources (BEN): FBR Capital lowered their rating from Outperform to Market Perform and lowered their target price from $130.00 to $125.00.

Legg Mason (LM): FBR Capital lowered their rating from Market Perform to Underperform.

Coverage Initiated

Masco (MAS): Oppenheimer initiated coverage with a Perform rating.

Fluor (FLR): Oppenheimer initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and target price of $84.00.

Jack In The Box (JACK): Wedbush initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and target price of $23.00.

Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF): Wedbush initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and target price of $60.00.

Apple (AAPL): Wedbush initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and target price of $405.00.

Coverage Resumed

Cisco Systems (CSCO): Auriga U.S.A resumed coverage with a Buy recommendation and target price of $25.00.

Juniper Networks (JNPR): Auriga U.S.A resumed coverage with a Buy recommendation and target price of $45.00.

Earning Reports

Mosaic Company (MOS): Reported FQ2 EPS of $1.01 beating estimates by +$0.10 on revenue of $2.7 billion, up +56.4%.

Family Dollar (FDO): Reported EPS of $0.58 missing estimates by -$0.03.

·         Futures at 7:00: Dow -0.6%. S&P -0.75%. Nasdaq -0.7%. Crude -1.2% to $88.31. Gold +0.1% to $1380.30.

·         Europe: London -0.6%. Paris -1.4%. Frankfurt -1.4%.

·         Asia: Japan -0.2% to 10381. Hong Kong +0.4% to 23758. China -0.5% to 2839. India -1.0% to 20301.