Morning Coffee Pre-Market Wall Street News

Market Reopens Today.  After hurricane Sandy closed the markets for two straight days and caused billions worth of damage the markets are set to reopen today.  Companies that will be in focus today will be the insurers such as Allstate (ALL) Chub (CB) and the Tower Group (TWGP) since they were hit hard after hurricane Irene.  Other companies that may be affected include power utilities such as Consolidated Edison (ED) and FirstEnergy (FE). Companies that could benefit from the storm include Home Depot (HD) and Lowes (LOW).

Upgrades

Dominion (D): Argus raised their rating from Hold to Buy.

LM Ericsson (ERIC): Cowen & Co raised their rating from Neutral to Outperform. Pre-market: 8.85 +0.17 (1.96%)

Copart (CPRT): Robert W. Baird raised their rating from Neutral to Outperform and placed a target price of $33.00 on the company. Pre-market: 27.30 0.00 (0.00%)

Ford Motor Co. (F): Craig-Hallum raised their rating from Hold to Buy. Pre-market: 10.68 +0.32 (3.09%)

News Corp (NWSA): Macquarie raised their rating from Neutral to Outperform.

Downgrades

Canadian National Rail (CNI): FBR Capital lowered their rating from Outperform to Market Perform and lowered their target price from $110.00 to $94.00.

Western Union (WU): DA Davidson lowered their rating from Neutral to Underperform. Pre-market: 14.69 -3.24 (-18.07%)           

Western Union (WU): Evercore lowered their rating from Overweight to Underweight.  Pre-market: 14.69 -3.24 (-18.07%)

Western Union (WU): CLSA lowered their rating from Underperform to Sell. Pre-market: 14.69 -3.24 (-18.07%)       

     

Western Union (WU): Raymond James lowered their rating from Outperform to Market Perform. Pre-market: 14.69 -3.24 (-18.07%)    

       

Western Union (WU): Sun Trust lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral. Pre-market: 14.69 -3.24 (-18.07%)

Coverage Initiated

Salesforce.com (CRM): Barrington Research initiated coverage with an Outperform rating.

Earning Reports

Clorox (CLX): Reported EPS of $1.01 beating estimates by +$0.05. Pre-market: 72.12 +0.02 (0.03%)

Eaton (ETN): Reported EPS of $1.07 missing estimates by -$0.03.

General Motors (GM): Reported EPS of $0.90 beating estimates by +$0.30. Pre-market: 24.30 +1.02 (4.38%)

Mastercard (MA): Reported EPS of $6.17 beating estimates by +$0.24. Pre-market: 451.00 -1.98 (-0.44%)

MGM Resorts (MGM): Reported EPS of -$0.37 missing estimates by -$0.21. Pre-market: 10.35 -0.24 (-2.27%)

Markets: 
Futures at 8:41: Dow +0.36%. S&P +0.41%. Nasdaq -0.04%. Crude +0.76% to $86.33. Gold +0.48% to $1720.30.

Europe: London -0.27%. Paris +0.17%. Frankfurt +0.54%. 

Asia: Japan +0.98% to 8928. Hong Kong +1.00% to 21642. China +0.32% to 2069. India +0.40% to 18505.