MORNING COFFEE

Stocks Fall On Greece Debt Worries.  Stocks around the world fell yesterday on worries that Greece will default on their debt and cause a domino effect in the EU.  Greece is just one of the PIGS, which include Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain.  Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou is attempting to reshuffle his government due to several resignations and pass austerity plans to prevent a default.  Currently the credit default swaps are saying that there is a 78% chance that Greece will not pay its debts.  If this occurs, some of the other PIG nations could decide to take the same rout and default on their debt.  

Upgrades

Mettler-Toledo (MTD): Auriga raised their rating from Hold to Buy and placed a target price of $185.00 on the company.

Advanced Micro (AMD): FBR Capital their rating from Market Perform to Outperform and placed a target price of $185.00 on the company. Pre-market: 7.60 +0.10 (1.33%)

Downgrades

Intel (INTC): FBR Capital their rating from Outperform to Market Perform and lowered their target price from $26.00 to $25.00. Pre-market: 21.31 -0.11 (-0.51%)

General Mills (GIS): Goldman Sachs lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral and lowered their target price from $44.00 to $42.00. Pre-market: 37.15 -0.58 (-1.54%)

Coverage Initiated

MGM Resorts (MGM): FBR Capital initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and a target price of $17.00. Pre-market: 12.44 -0.02 (-0.16%)

Dicks Sporting Goods (DKS): UBS initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a target price of $44.00.

Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY): UBS initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and a target price of $44.00.

Earning Reports

Pier 1 Imports (PIR): Reported Q1 EPS of $0.12 beating estimates by +$0.01 on revenue of $334.6 million, in-line. Pre-market: 11.25 +0.07 (0.63%)

Smithfield Foods (SFD): Reported FQ4 EPS of $0.85 beating estimates by +$0.03 on revenue of $3.12 billion, missing estimates by -$0.08 billion. Pre-market: 20.70 +0.31 (1.52%)

·         Futures at 7:54: Dow -0.33%. S&P -0.30%. Nasdaq -0.11%. Crude +0.7% to $9.84. Gold +0.01% to $1526.60.

·         Europe: London -1.6%. Paris -1.43%. Frankfurt -1.17%.

·         Asia: Japan -1.7% to 9411. Hong Kong -1.8% to 21953. India -0.8% to 17986.