MORNING COFFEE

World Bank Cut Global Growth Forecast. The World Bank has sharply cut its global growth forecast for 2012.  The cuts according to the World Bank reports are due to the eurozone crisis slowing down emerging economies. The World Bank now expects global growth of +2.5% down from the prior estimate of +3.6%. The eurozone’s growth got chopped to -0.3% vs. +1.8%, and the U.S. was cut to +2.2% vs. +2.9%.

Upgrades

Nestle (NSRGY): HSBC Securities raised their rating from Neutral to Overweight.

Cree (CREE): ThinkEquity raised their rating from Hold to Buy and placed a target price of $30.00 on the company.

Check Point Software (CHPK): Raymond James raised their rating from Market Perform to Outperform and placed a target price of $64.00 on the company.

Downgrades

BB&T Corp (BBT): Compass Point lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral.

Cree (CREE): Ticonderoga lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral.

Cree (CREE): Pacific Crest lowered their rating from Outperform to Sector Perform.

Chevron (CVX): Tudor Pickering lowered their rating from Accumulate to Hold.

Sketchers U.S.A (SKX): BB&T lowered their rating from Buy to Hold.

Tyson Foods (TSN): BMO Capital lowered their rating from Outperform to Market Perform and placed a target price of $22.00 on the company.

Textron (TXT): JP Morgan lowered their rating from Overweight to Neutral and placed a target price of $21.00 on the company.

Coverage Initiated

Old Dominion Freight (ODFL): Sun Trust initiated coverage with a Neutral rating.

Earning Reports

Cree (CREE): Reported EPS of $0.25 missing estimates by -$0.01.

Bank of New York (BK): Reported EPS of $0.42 missing estimates by -$0.10.

Charles Schwab (SCHW): Reported EPS of $0.13 in-line with estimates.

Fastenal (FAST): Reported EPS of $0.30 in-line with estimates.

PNC (PNC): Reported EPS of $1.39 missing estimates by -$0.03.

Goldman Sachs (GS): Reported EPS of $1.84 beating estimates by +$0.62.

State Street (STT): Reported EPS of $0.93 missing estimates by -$0.01.

U.S. Bancorp (USB): Reported EPS of $0.64 beating estimates by +$0.01.

Markets: 
Futures at 7:00: Dow +0.3%. S&P +0.4%. Nasdaq +0.45%. Crude +0.6% to $101.30. Gold 0.0% at $1655.10. 

Europe: London +0.1%. Paris +0.2%. Frankfurt +0.5%. 

Asia: Japan +1.0% to 8551. Hong Kong +0.3% to 19687. China -1.4% to 2266. India -0.1% to 16451.