Morning Coffee Pre-Market Wall Street News

U.S. Stock Futures Fall On German Data and U.S. debt. The economic slowdown in the eurozone has hit the Germany economy in Q4. Germany reported that their GDP contracted 0.5%, which was greater than what economist had estimated. Overall Germany’s 2012 GDP fell to 0.7% from 3% growth in 2011. The German data combined with fears about the U.S. debt ceiling has made U.S. stock futures trade lower.

Fitch Warns About Lower U.S. Credit Rating. The credit rating Fitch has once again warned that the U.S. could lose its AAA rating if the debt ceiling isn't raise, even though they said that the risk of a default "remains extremely low." Even if the U.S. raises  the debt limit all three major credit rating agencies Fitch, Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s all said that they could lower their rating if the Obama administration does not substantially cut spending.  

Upgrades

Green Mountain Coffee (GMCR): Argus raised their rating from Hold to Buy and placed a target price of $50.00 on the company. After Hours: 39.44 +0.10 (0.25%)

Boston Scientific (BSX): Credit Suisse raised their rating from Neutral to Outperform and raised their target price from $6.50 to $7.00.

Downgrades

Con Edison (ED): UBS lowered their rating from Neutral to Sell. After Hours: 55.65 -0.09 (-0.16%)

Dell (DELL): Monness Crespi lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral. After Hours: 12.73 +0.44 (3.58%)

American Express (AXP): JPMorgan lowered their rating from Neutral to Underweight and maintained a target price of $60.00 on the company.

Altera (ALTR): Lazard Capital lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral.

Dycom Industries (DY): Raymond James lowered their rating from Strong Buy to Outperform and placed a target price of $22.50 on the company.

AFLAC (AFL): Sterne Agee lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral and placed a target price of $62.00 on the company. After Hours: 52.79 -0.16 (-0.31%)

Coverage Initiated

Western Digital (WDC): Pacific Crest initiated coverage with a Sector Perform rating.

Seagate Tech (STX): Pacific Crest initiated coverage with a Sector Perform rating. After Hours: 33.95 -0.02 (-0.06%)

Earning Reports

Forest Labs (FRX): Reported EPS of -$0.21 missing estimates by -$0.16.

Lennar (LEN): Reported EPS of $0.56 beating estimates by +$0.11. After Hours: 41.19 +0.17 (0.41%)

Markets: 
Futures at 7:46: Dow -0.33%. S&P -0.39%. Nasdaq -0.33%. Crude -0.47% to $93.69. Gold +0.50% to $1677.80.

Europe: London -0.10%. Paris -0.43%. Frankfurt -0.97%.

Asia: Japan +0.72% to 10879. Hong Kong -0.14% to 23382. China +0.60% to 2326. India +0.40% to 19987.