Morning Coffee Pre-Market Wall Street News

DOJ Files Charges Against S&P. 

The Department of Justice has filed civil charges against McGraw Hill (MHP) over the company’s Standard & Poor’s unit’s mortgage-bond ratings from 2007. Shares of McGraw Hill fell -14% yesterday on news. This is the first action by the DOJ seeking financial penalties against any of the ratings agencies for their roles in the financial crisis. Moody's (MCO) shares also fell -10.7% yesterday. MHP Pre-market: 50.64 +0.34 (0.68%) MCO Pre-market: 49.85 +0.40 (0.81%)

Upgrades

BB&T Corp (BBT): Guggenheim raised their rating from Neutral to Buy and raised their target price from $34.00 to $38.00.

Target Corp (TGT): Citigroup raised their rating from Neutral to Buy and raised their target price from $70.00 to $72.00.

UnitedHealth (UNH): Goldman Sachs raised their rating from Neutral to Conviction Buy and placed a target price of $68.00. Pre-market: 56.75 +1.00 (1.79%)

Downgrades

Baidu.com (BIDU): Stifel Nicolaus lowered their rating from Buy to Hold. Pre-market: 100.75 -6.45 (-6.02%)

Bank of New York (BK): Guggenheim lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral and lowered their target price from $30.00 to $28.00. Pre-market: 27.14 -0.05 (-0.18%)

CIT Group (CIT): Nomura lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral and placed a target price of $45.00 on the company. Pre-market: 41.99 -0.08 (-0.19%)

Constellation Brands (STZ): Stifel Nicolaus lowered their rating from Buy to Hold. Pre-market: 31.50 -0.05 (-0.16%)

Cree (CREE): Maxium lowered their rating from Buy to Hold. Pre-market: 43.48 -0.27 (-0.62%)

National Oilwell (NOV): Berstein lowered their rating from Outperform to Market Perform. Pre-market: 69.70 -0.47 (-0.67%)

State Street Corp (STT): Guggenheim lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral and lowered their target price from $63.00 to $57.00.

YUM! Brands (YUM): Robert W. Baird lowered their rating from Outperform to Neutral. Pre-market: 59.98 -3.96 (-6.19%)

Earning Reports

Archer-Daniels (ADM): Reported EPS of $0.60 beating estimates by +$0.02. Pre-market: 28.11 -0.33 (-1.16%)

Automatic Data Processing (ADP): Reported EPS of $0.72 beating estimates by +$0.01.

BP (BP): Reported EPS of $0.67 beating estimates by +$0.49. Pre-market: 44.35 +0.74 (1.70%)

Cardinal Health (CAH): Reported EPS of $0.93 beating estimates by +$0.07.

Church & Dwight (CHD): Reported EPS of $0.57 missing estimates by -$0.01.

Eaton (ETN): Reported EPS of $0.96 beating estimates by +$0.04. After Hours: 56.82 +0.24 (0.42%)

Emerson (EMN): Reported EPS of $0.62 in-line with estimates. After Hours: 72.02 -0.46 (-0.63%)

NYSE Euronext (NYX): Reported EPS of $0.43 beating estimates by +$0.03.

UBS (UBS): Reported EPS of -$0.50 missing estimates by -$0.53. Pre-market: 17.07 -0.12 (-0.70%)

Markets: 
Futures at 7:08: Dow +0.54%. S&P +0.50%. Nasdaq +0.47%. Crude +0.69% to $96.93. Gold +0.10% to $1678.00.

Europe: London +0.57%. Paris +1.01%. Frankfurt +0.22%. 

Asia: Japan -1.90% to 11047. Hong Kong -2.27% to 23149. China +0.21% to 2433. India -0.46% to 19660.