Morning Coffee Pre-Market Wall Street News

CBO Gives Projections On Fiscal Cliff. Once again stock futures are lower on worries about the fiscal cliff and the European debt crisis.  Yesterday the CBO gave is projections on what the fiscal cliff could do to the U.S. economy.  The CBO forecast indicated that it could take at least 0.5% off the GDP and cause the unemployment rate to jump to 9.1% from the already high 7.9%.  On a more positive note if the fiscal cliff is avoided they projected the economy would expand at 1.7%, which is a dismal rate of growth but still positive.

Upgrades

Fastenal (FAST): Robert W. Baird raised their rating from Neutral to Outperform and raised their target price from $50.00 to $51.00.

Starbucks (SBUX): Argus raised their rating from Hold to Buy and placed a target price of $60.00 on the company.

3M (MMM): Nomura raised their rating from Reduce to Neutral and placed a target price of $96.00 on the company.

Downgrades

Cisco Systems (CSCO): JPMorgan lowered their rating from Overweight to Neutral and lowered their target price from $21.00 to $17.00.

Time Warner Cable (TWC): Stifel Nicolaus lowered their rating from Buy to Hold.

Groupon (GRPN): Barrington Research lowered their rating from Outperform to Market Perform.

Phillips 66 (PSX): Deutsche Bank lowered their rating from Buy to Hold and placed a target price of $50.00 on the company.

Walt Disney (DIS): Janney Capital lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral and placed a target price of $55.00 on the company.

Coverage Initiated

Celgene (CELG): Guggenheim initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $96.00.

Biogen (BIIB): Guggenheim initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and target price of $152.00.

Amgen (AMGN): Guggenheim initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and target price of $93.00.

Forest Labs (FRX): Mizuho initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $45.00.

Earning Reports

Allscripts-Misys Healthcare (MDRX): Reported EPS of $0.23 beating estimates by +$0.01.

Caribou Coffee (CBOU): Reported EPS of $0.08 beating estimates by +$0.02.

Dolby Labs (DLB): Reported EPS of $0.61 beating estimates by +$0.08.

Intl Game Tech (IGT): Reported EPS of $0.38 beating estimates by +$0.06.

Walt Disney (DIS): Reported EPS of $0.68 in-line with estimates.

Markets: 
Futures at 8:45: Dow -0.48%. S&P -0.33%. Nasdaq -0.09%. Crude -0.62% to $84.54. Gold +0.30% to $1731.10.

Europe: London -0.59%. Paris -0.47%. Frankfurt -1.28%. 

Asia: Japan -0.90% to 8757.6. Hong Kong -0.85% to 21384. China -0.12% to 2069. India -0.86% to 18684.