MORNING COFFEE

France Maintains AAA Rating. Yesterday S&P, Moody’s and Fitch all confirmed France’s AAA debt rating with a stable outlook.  President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged to reduce France's budget deficit from 7.1% last year to 3% by 2013.  In a statement he said that they would precede with cuts "whatever the evolution of the economic situation." Additionally, bank stocks worldwide got hit yesterday after there were rumors about the liquidity of France’s largest bank Societe Generale (SCGLY)  

Upgrades

Forward Air (FWRD): Stifel Nicolaus raised their rating from Hold to Buy and placed a target price of $35.00 on the company.

Cisco Systems (CSCO): Stifel Nicolaus raised their rating from Hold to Buy and placed a target price of $17.00 on the company. Pre-market: 15.35 +1.62 (11.80%)

Cisco Systems (CSCO): Wunderlich raised their rating from Hold to Buy and placed a target price of $20.00 on the company. Pre-market: 15.35 +1.62 (11.80%)

Chevron (CVX): Oppenheimer raised their rating from Perform to Outperform and placed a target price of $110.00 on the company. Pre-market: 91.59 +1.02 (1.13%)

Dominion Resources (D): Macquarie raised their rating from Neutral to Outperform and raised their target price from $50.00 to $52.00. Pre-market: 46.24 -0.12 (-0.26%)

BlackRock (BLK): Goldman Sachs raised their rating from Buy to Conviction Buy and raised their target price from $205.00 to $239.00.

Exxon Mobile (XOM): Goldman Sachs raised their rating from Buy to Conviction Buy and placed a target price of $97.00 on the company. Pre-market: 68.93 +0.90 (1.32%)

Downgrades

Walt Disney (DIS): Goldman Sachs lowered their rating from Conviction Buy to Neutral and lowered their target price from $50.00 to $35.00. Pre-market: 31.80 +0.26 (0.82%) 

Coverage Initiated

Silicon Labs (SLAB): Wunderlich initiated coverage with a Hold rating and target price of $33.00 on the company.

US Steel (X): UBS initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $38.00. Pre-market: 29.50 +0.64 (2.22%)

Coverage Reiterated/Price Target Changed

News Corp (NWSA): Wunderlich reiterated their Buy rating and raised their target price from $18.00 to $20.00. Pre-market: 15.00 +1.29 (9.41%)

CONSOL Energy (CNX): FBR Capital reiterated their Outperform rating and lowered their target price from $65.00 to $63.00. Pre-market: 38.64 +0.28 (0.73%)

Earning Reports

Briggs & Stratton (BGG): Reported EPS of $0.32 missing estimates by -$0.11. Pre-market: 14.00 -0.99 (-6.60%)

Brinker (EAT): Reported EPS of $0.48 beating estimates by +$0.02. Pre-market: 22.40 +1.82 (8.84%)

Kolh’s (KSS): Reported EPS of $1.09 beating estimates by +$0.01. Pre-market: 46.30 +2.01 (4.54%)

Sara Lee (SLE): Reported EPS of $0.24 beating estimates by +$0.04. Pre-market: 15.99 -1.32 (-7.63%)

Wendy's (WEN): Reported EPS of $0.03 missing estimates by -$0.02. Pre-market: 4.56 +0.01 (0.22%) 

         

Market

Futures at 7:00: Dow +0.9%. S&P +1.1%. Nasdaq +1.25%. Crude -0.2% to $82.75. Gold -0.1% to $1782.00. 

Europe: London -1.0%. Paris -1.8%. Frankfurt -2.3%. 

Asia: Japan -0.6% to 8982. Hong Kong -0.9% to 19595. China +1.3% to 2582. India -0.4% to 17059.