MORNING COFFEE

Oil Continues Its Climb. Oil futures are up another +3% this morning, passing the $100 barrier and trading around $101 per barrel (7:00 ET).  Yesterday Oil hit a high of $103.41 before falling back. The IEA, which is meeting today and tomorrow, said it will be discussing the “oil-market situation” and the impact of continued unrest in Libya.

White House Pushes For Mortgage Relief. Reports say that the White House is pushing banks to spend billions of dollars reducing mortgage principals on underwater mortgages as a settlement for the breakdown in mortgage servicing. In addition, some state attorneys general are looking to get banks to pay more than $20 billion in civil fines or fund a similar amount in loan modifications for troubled borrowers. Reports say the settlement would cover 14 servicers, including Bank of America (BAC), JPMorgan (JPM) and Wells Fargo (WFC).

Upgrades

Biogen Idec (BIIB): RBC Capital Markets raised their rating from Sector Perform to Outperform and raised their target price from $60.00 to $70.00.

Flextronics (FLEX): Collins Stewart raised their rating from Hold to Buy and raised their target price from $8.00 to $11.00.

Downgrades

Celgene (CELG): RBC Capital Markets lowered their rating from Outperform to Sector Perform and lowered their target price from $68.00 to $55.00.

Coverage Initiated

Sprint Nextel (S): Kaufman Bros initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $6.25.

Coverage Reiterated/Price Target Change

Herbalife (HLF): Wedbush reiterated their Outperform rating and raised their target price from $72.00 to $87.00.

Priceline.com (PCLN): RBC Capital Markets reiterated their Outperform rating and raised their target price from $450.00 to $565.00.

Priceline.com (PCLN): The Benchmark Company reiterated their Buy rating and raised their target price from $504.00 to $570.00.

Earning Reports

DISH Network (DISH): Reported Q4 EPS of $0.56 beating estimates by +$0.02 on revenue of $3.2 billion, in-line with estimates.

Ensco International (ESV): Reported Q4 EPS of $0.9 beating estimates by +$0.02 on revenue of $408 million, beating estimates by +$8 million.

Foster Wheeler (FWLT): Reported Q4 EPS of $0.31 missing estimates by -$0.15 on revenue of $1.21 billon, beating estimates by +$0.2 billion.

 

General Motors (GM): Reported EPS of $0.31 missing estimates by -$0.15.

Sears (SHLD): Reported Q4 EPS of $3.67 beating estimates by +$0.10 on revenue of $13.1 billion, beating estimates by +$0.2 billion.

Target (TGT): Reported EPS of 1.38 missing estimates by -0.02.

Transocean (RIG): Reported Q4 EPS of $0.83 missing estimates by -$0.06 on revenue of $2.16 billion, missing estimates by -$0.14 billion.

·         Futures at 7:00: Dow -0.45%. S&P -0.6%. Nasdaq -0.6%. Crude +3% to $101.03. Gold +0.2% to $1417.10.

·         Europe: London -0.3%. Paris -0.4%. Frankfurt -1.0%.

·         Asia: Japan -1.2% to 10453. Hong Kong -1.3% to 22601. China +0.6% to 2879. India -3.0% to 17632.