MORNING COFFEE

U.S. Economy struggling. The latest batch of economic reports released this morning paints a bad picture. The latest GDP number shows an economy that has stalled. The Q2 GDP came in at only 1.3%, down from 2 ½% in Q1.  Just a year ago GDP came in at 4%.  Economists had estimated that the economy had grown by 1.7%. More troubling is Durable Goods Orders which fell -13.2%. This is the lowest level since 2009.  Economists were looking for Durable Orders to fall only -5%. Additionally, jobless numbers still remain high. Initial jobless claims came in at 359,000 and the previous week’s numbers were revised higher to 385,000. At this point the numbers should be in the range of only 250,000.

Upgrades

IMAX (IMAX): Susquehanna raised their rating from Neutral to Positive and placed a target price of $23.00 on the company.

Dean Foods (DF): BMO Capital raised their rating from Market Perform to Outperform and placed a target price of $21.00 on the company. Pre-market: 16.73 +0.50 (3.08%)

Monsanto (MON): Wells Fargo raised their rating from Market Perform to Outperform and raised their target range from $82.00-$84.00 to $104.00-$106.00. Pre-market: 90.80 +1.31 (1.46%)

Downgrades

Alcoa (AA): Dahlman Rose lowered their rating from Buy to Hold. Pre-market: 8.92 +0.03 (0.34%)

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ): Jefferies lowered their rating from Hold to Underperform and lowered their target price from $17.00 to $14.00. Pre-market: 16.73 -0.38 (-2.22%)

Altera (ALTR): Jefferies lowered their rating from Buy to Hold and lowered their target price from $40.00 to $38.00. Pre-market: 34.47 -0.30 (-0.86%)

Coverage Initiated

General Motors (GM): Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage with a Hold rating.

Yahoo! (YHOO): Goldman Sachs initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $22.00. Pre-market: 15.90 +0.29 (1.86%)

Amgen (AMGN): Brean Murray initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $96.00. Pre-market: 84.14 +0.68 (0.82%)

Becton Dickinson (BDX): RBC Capital initiated coverage with a Sector Perform rating and target price of $78.00.

Allstate Corp (ALL): Sun Trust initiated coverage with a Neutral rating.

Earning Reports

Thor Industries (THO): Reported EPS of $0.84 beating estimates by +$0.08. Pre-market: 38.26 +3.85 (11.19%)

McCormick (MKC): Reported EPS of $0.78 beating estimates by +$0.02. Pre-market: 60.77 -2.12 (-3.37%)

Sealy (ZZ): Reported EPS of $0.00 beating estimates by $0.03. Pre-market: 2.22 +0.08 (3.74%)

Markets: 
Futures at 8:46: Dow +0.47%. S&P +0.51%. Nasdaq +0.29%. Crude +1.29% to $91.13. Gold +0.70% to $1765.80.

Europe: London +0.27%. Paris +0.74%. Frankfurt +0.34%. 

Asia: Japan +0.48%. Hong Kong +1.14%. China +2.60%. India -0.28%.