Morning Coffee Pre-Market Wall Street News

Inflation Remains Low. The Labor Department reported today that the consumer-price index dropped unexpectedly. The CPI for November fell -0.3%. The decline in inflation was the first since May and followed October’s +0.1% gain. The core CPI, which excludes food and energy costs, climbed +0.1%.

Upgrades

CVS Caremark (CVS): Macquarie raised their rating from Neutral to Outperform and raised their target price from $50.00 to $55.00. Pre-market: 48.70 +0.20 (0.41%)

Downgrades

Ethan Allen (ETH): Stifel Nicolaus lowered their rating from Buy to Hold.

Leap Wireless (LEAP): Oppenheimer lowered their rating from Outperform to Perform. Pre-market: 6.81 +0.06 (0.89%)

Clearwire (CLWR): Guggenheim lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral and maintained a target price of $3.00 on the company. Pre-market: 3.11 -0.05 (-1.58%)

National Oilwell (NOV): Guggenheim lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral and lowered their target price from $90.00 to $71.00. Pre-market: 65.24 -0.34 (-0.52%)

Adobe Systems (ADBE): Janney Capital lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral. . Pre-market: 37.65 +2.12 (5.97%)

ExxonMobil (XOM): Goldman Sachs lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral and lowered their target price from $100.00 to $97.00. Pre-market: 88.02 -0.56 (-0.63%)

Coverage Initiated

Clorox (CLX): Goldman Sachs initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and target price of $79.00.

Kimberly Clark (KMB): Goldman Sachs initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and target price of $93.00.

Procter & Gamble (PG): Goldman Sachs initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and target price of $74.00.

Colgate Palmolive (CL): Goldman Sachs initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and target price of $122.00.

I.E. DuPont (DD): SunTrust initiated coverage with a Reduce rating and target price of $37.00. Pre-market: 43.64 -0.34 (-0.77%)

Dow Chemical (DOW): SunTrust initiated coverage with a Reduce rating and target price of $25.00. Pre-market: 30.86 -0.17 (-0.55%)

Deere & Co (DE): Macquarie initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and placed a target price of $102.00 on the company.

SAP AG (SAP): Janney Capital initiated coverage with a Buy rating. Pre-market: 79.28 +0.37 (0.47%)

Microsoft (MSFT): BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage with a Market Perform rating and target price of $30.00. Pre-market: 27.00 -0.11 (-0.41%)

Earning Reports

Adobe Systems (ADBE): Reported EPS of $0.61 bearing estimates by +$0.05. Pre-market: 37.65 +2.12 (5.97%)

Nordson (NDSN): Reported EPS of $1.04 beating estimates by +$0.01. Pre-market: 62.90 +0.93 (1.50%)

VeriFone (PAY): Reported EPS of $0.76 in-line with estimates. Pre-market: 30.90 -2.33 (-7.01%)

Markets: 
Futures at 7:30: Dow +0.29%. S&P +0.10%. Nasdaq -0.17%. Crude +1.13% to $86.87. Gold +0.08% to $1698.10.

Europe: London -0.18%. Paris -0.14%. Frankfurt +0.17%. 

Asia Japan -0.05% to 9738. Hong Kong +0.71% to 22606. China +4.32% to 2151. India +0.46% to 19317.