MORNING COFFEE

Bank of America Could Cut Its Size. Reports say that troubled Bank of America (BAC) has met with U.S. regulators and expressed it's willingness to withdraw from some parts of the country if its crippling financial problems continue to deteriorate. BofA also told regulators that it could sell of a separate class of shares tied to the performance of Merrill Lynch. Pre-market: 6.54 -0.25 (-3.68%) 

Obama Wants Higher Debt Limit. President Obama has notified Congress with a one sentence note requesting a $1.2T increase to the debt ceiling.  The U.S. debt stood at just $25M under its $15.194T borrowing limit on Tuesday.  The debt has risen 60% in the four years since President Obama took over the White House.  By election time in November the U.S. will be paying over $10B per week for interest on the debt.

Upgrades

Total S.A. ADS (TOT): JP Morgan raised their rating from Neutral to Outperform. Pre-market: 49.89 -0.28 (-0.56%)

Safeway (SWY): Jefferies raised their rating from Hold to Buy and raised their target price from $20.00 to $25.00. Pre-market: 21.10 +0.57 (2.78%)

Downgrades

MetLife (MET): Raymond James lowered their rating from Strong Buy to Market Perform. Pre-market: 35.28 -0.65 (-1.81%)

VMware (VMW): Citigroup lowered their rating from Neutral to Sell and lowered their target price from $87.00 to $80.00. Pre-market: 85.00 -2.88 (-3.28%)

Charles Schwab Corp. (SCHW): Wells Fargo lowered their rating from Outperform to Market Perform and lowered their target range from $14.00-$15.00 to $11.00-$13.00. Pre-market: 12.14 -0.33 (-2.65%)

United Parcel Systems (UPS): JP Morgan lowered their rating from Overweight to Neutral and placed a target price of $82.00 on the company. Pre-market: 73.32 -1.42 (-1.90%)

Coverage Initiated

Ryder Systems (R): FBR Capital initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and target price of $65.00.

Coverage Reiterated/Price Target Changed 

Chevron (CVX): Oppenheimer reiterated their Outperform rating and raised their target price from $120.00 to $130.00. Pre-market: 104.74 -0.23 (-0.22%)

Earning Reports

JPMorgan Chase (JPM): Reported EPS of $0.90 missing estimates by -$0.02. Pre-market: 35.50 -1.35 (-3.66%)

Markets: 
Futures at 8:47: Dow -0.08%. S&P -0.53%. Nasdaq -0.19%. Crude +0.12% at $99.25. Gold -0.39% to $1640.90. 

Europe: London -0.33%. Paris +0.79%. Frankfurt +0.16%. 

Asia: Japan +1.36% to 8500. Hong Kong +0.57% to 19204. China -1.34% to 2245. India +0.73% to 16155.