MORNING COFFEE

Federal Reserve Now Largest Holder of U.S. Debt. At the end of the first quarter the Federal Reserve surpassed China as the largest holder of U.S. Treasuries.  When QEII ends at the end of this month the Fed will hold 16% of U.S. debt versus China’s 12%.  U.S. household make up the third largest investor in U.S. debt.  Some economists believe the Treasury yields will have to rise to attract foreign investors after the Fed stops purchasing Treasuries.

Upgrades

Noble Corp (NE): Morgan Keegan raised their rating from Market Perform to Outperform and placed a target price of $48.00 on the company. Pre-market: 39.95 +0.35 (0.88%)

Murphy Oil (MUR): Societe Generale raised their rating from Sell to Hold.

Under Armour (UA): Stifel Nicolaus raised their rating from Hold to Buy and placed a target price of $80.00 on the company. Pre-market: 66.25 +0.98 (1.50%)

Downgrades

Cracker Barrel (CBRL): Morgan Keegan lowered their rating from Outperform to Market Perform.

Colgate (CL): CLSA lowered their rating from Underperform to Sell and placed a target price of $82.00 on the company.

Coverage Reiterated/Price Target Changed

J.M. Smucker (SJM): RBC Capital Markets reiterated their Outperform rating and raised their target price from $75.00 to $85.00

Research In Motion (RIMM): reiterated their Sector Perform rating and lowered their target price from $55.00 to $45.00. Pre-market: 37.34 -0.27 (-0.72%)

CarMax (KMX): Oppenheimer reiterated their Outperform rating and lowered their target price from $41.00 to $38.00

Earning Reports

National Semiconductor (NSM): Reported FQ4 EPS of $0.26 missing estimates by -$0.01 on revenue of $374 million, beating estimates by +$9 million. 

·         Futures at 7:00: Dow -0.3%. S&P -0.3%. Nasdaq -0.3%. Crude -0.9% to $100.98. Gold 0.0% at $1542.20.

·         Europe: London -0.3%. Paris -0.6%. Frankfurt -0.1%.

·         Asia: Japan +0.5% to 9514. Hong Kong -0.8% to 22420. China +0.1% to 2706. India -0.6% to 18269.