Morning Coffee Pre-Market Wall Street News

Senate to Vote on Firearms Bill. The Senate is due to vote today on firearms bill (S.649), yet it was announced yesterday that the current language in the Toomey-Manchin provision regarding background checks will be replaced. As of this morning not one Senator has been provided the legislative language of this provision. You would think that because background-checks are central to the bill, it would be critical that Senators knew what was in it before they voted. One Senator said that once the bill passes we will be able to “find out what’s in it.” This reminds many of when Senator Nancy Pelosi famously said “We have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it” when asked what was contained in the Obamacare bill. Stocks that could be effected are: Smith & Wesson (SWCH) close 8.64 +0.02 (0.23%) and Sturm, Ruger (RGR). close 48.57 +0.66 (1.38%)

Upgrades

MetroPCS (PCS): Guggengeim raised their rating from Neutral to Buy. Pre-market: 11.05 0.00 (0.00%)

Downgrades

BASF (BASFY): Nomura lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral. After Hours: 89.98 -0.06 (-0.07%)

Caterpillar (CAT): Macquarie lowered their rating from Outperform to Neutral. Pre-market: 81.25 -1.36 (-1.65%)

Cirrus Logic (CRUS): Needham raised their rating from Buy to Strong Buy and placed a target price of $30.00 on the company. Pre-market: 19.15 -2.26 (-10.56%)

Deere & Co (DE): Macquarie lowered their rating from Outperform to Neutral and placed a target price of $95.00 on the company. Pre-market: 82.00 -1.18 (-1.42%)

Yahoo! (YHOO): Bank of America Merrill Lynch lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral and placed a target price of $28.00 on the company. Pre-market: 23.20 -0.59 (-2.48%)

Coverage Initiated

Bright Horizons Family Solutions (BFAM): Credit Suisse initiated coverage with an Outperform rating.

Earning Reports

Abbott Labs (ABT): Reported EPS of $0.42 beating estimates by +$0.02. After Hours: 36.45 +0.05 (0.14%)

Bank of America (BAC): Reported EPS of $0.20 missing estimates by -$0.02. Pre-market: 12.26 -0.02 (-0.16%)

Bank of New York Mellon (BK): Reported EPS of $0.50 missing estimates by -$0.02.

Huntington Bank (HBAN): Reported EPS of $0.17 beating estimates by +$0.01. After Hours: 7.26 +0.04 (0.55%)

Intel (INTC): Reported EPS of $0.40 in-line with estimates. Pre-market: 21.81 -0.11 (-0.48%)

Mattel (MAT): Reported EPS of $0.11 beating estimates by +$0.03. After Hours: 43.25 +0.27 (0.63%)

PNC Financial (PNC): Reported EPS of $1.75 beating estimates by +$0.21. Pre-market: 64.70 -0.09 (-0.14%)

Quest Diagnostics (DGX): Reported EPS of $0.89 missing estimates by -$0.15. Pre-market: 56.00 -2.35 (-4.03%)

St Jude Medical (STJ): Reported EPS of $0.92 beating estimates by +$0.01.

Textron (TXT): Reported EPS of $0.40 missing estimates by -$0.05. Pre-market: 27.48 -1.87 (-6.37%)

Yahoo! (YHOO): Reported EPS of $0.38 beating estimates by +$0.13. Pre-market: 23.20 -0.59 (-2.48%)

Markets: 
Futures at 6:16: Dow -0.47%. S&P -0.61%. Nasdaq -0.65%. Crude +0.01% to $88.72. Gold -0.33% to $1384.20.

Europe: London -0.44%. Paris -1.17%. Frankfurt -1.29%. 

Asia: Japan +1.22% to 13393. Hong Kong -0.47% to 21570. China -0.05% to 2194. India -0.07% to 18731.