Morning Coffee Pre-Market Wall Street News

Market Worry About Cyprus. Global markets are once again focusing on Cyprus. The government is scheduled to vote on whether to approve a raid on bank deposits by taxing them today.  The latest plan would exempt deposits below €20,000. Deposits above €20,000 would be taxed at 6.7%, while deposits above €100,000 would be taxed at 12.5%. The eurzone is demanding the tax in exchange for a $10 billion bailout plan. Cypriot banks hold about $90.7 billion in deposits, nearly half of which belong to foreigners. Russian and Ukraine citizens are the foreigners with the most to lose, causing their governments to denounce the planned tax as “unfair.”  The Russian energy company Gazprom (OGZPY) has also offered the government of Cyprus a bailout. In exchange Gazprom would receive all of rights for gas and oil exploration. Pre-market: 9.28 -0.04 (-0.43%)

Earning Reports

FactSet (FDS): Reported EPS of $1.14 beating estimates by +0.09.

Walgreens (WAG): Reported EPS of $0.96 beating estimates by +0.03. Pre-market: 43.16 +0.73 (1.72%)

Upgrades

Akamai Technologies (AKAM): S&P raised their rating from Buy to Strong Buy. Pre-market: 34.80 +0.25 (0.72%)

eBay (EBAY): Cantor Fitzgerald raised their rating from Hold to Buy. Pre-market: 50.95 +0.84 (1.68%)

Panara Bread (PNRA): BMO Capital raised their rating from Market Perform to Outperform.

Downgrades

Cracker Barrel (CBRL): Miller Tabak lowered their rating from Buy to Hold and placed a target price of $81.00 on the company.

Deer & Co. (DE): UBS lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral and lowered their target price from $103.00 to $98.00. Pre-market: 90.76 -1.06 (-1.15%)

Electronic Arts (EA): Needham lowered their rating from Buy to Hold. Pre-market: 19.05 +0.34 (1.82%)

Kolh’s (KSS): Morgan Stanley lowered their rating from Equal Weight to Underweight and placed a target price of $42.00 on the company.

Coverage Initiated

Amazon.com (AMZN): JMP Securities initiated coverage with a Market Perform rating. Pre-market: 258.40 +0.51 (0.20%)

AOL (AOL): JMP Securities initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and target price of $44.00.

eBay (EBAY): JMP Securities initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and target price of $68.00. Pre-market: 50.95 +0.84 (1.68%)

Expedia (EXPE): JMP Securities initiated coverage with a Market Perform rating.

Facebook (FB): JMP Securities initiated coverage with a Market Perform rating. Pre-market: 26.68 +0.19 (0.72%)

Google (GOOG): JMP Securities initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and target price of $955.00. Pre-market: 811.00 +3.21 (0.40%)

International Paper (IP): KeyBanc Capital Markets initiated coverage with a Hold rating. Pre-market: 45.16 -0.23 (-0.51%)

Priceline.com (PCLN): JMP Securities initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and target price of $850.00.

Yahoo! (YHOO): Raymond James Securities initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and target price of $26.00. Pre-market: 22.08 +0.07 (0.32%)

Coverage Reiterated/Price Target Changed

Dycom (DY): FBR Capital reiterated their Outperform rating and raised their target price from $26.00 to $27.00.

Electronic Arts (EA): Stifel reiterated their Buy rating and raised their target price from $17.00 to $21.00. Pre-market: 19.05 +0.34 (1.82%)

Norfolk Southern (NSC): Cowen reiterated their Buy rating and raised their target price from $82.00 to $85.00.

Markets: 
Futures at 7:00: Dow +0.01%. S&P +0.12%. Nasdaq +0.07%. Crude +0.20% to $93.92. Gold -0.10% to $1603.00.

Europe: London +0.01%. Paris -0.49%. Frankfurt -0.21%. 

Asia: Japan +2.03% to 12468. Hong Kong -0.19% to 22042. China +0.78% to 2257. India -1.48% to 19008.