Morning Coffee Pre-Market Wall Street News

Stockton Eligible For Bankruptcy. A judge yesterday cleared the way for Stockton California to file for bankruptcy protection.  In doing so, Stockton will become the largest U.S. city to ever file for bankruptcy. Like many cash strapped cities and states, outlandish pensions where former employees receive 90% of their salaries at retirement and medical benefits to union workers was the cities downfall.  40% of Stockton revenues go towards employee pensions. Even more outraging is the fact that employees and their dependants receive life-time medical benefits no matter how long they have worked for the city. Some analysts believe that Jefferson County in Alabama, San Bernardino California and Detroit Michigan and other municipalities could follow suit.

Upgrades

eBay (EBAY): Topeka raised their rating from Hold to Buy. Pre-market: 56.39 +0.68 (1.22%)

Qualcomm (QCOM): Raymond James raised their rating from Outperform to Strong Buy. Pre-market: 66.90 +0.90 (1.36%)

Downgrades

Apple (AAPL): Goldman Sachs lowered their rating from Conviction Buy to Buy and lowered their target price from $660.00 to $575.00. Pre-market: 427.95 -0.96 (-0.22%)

Charles Schwab (SCHW): Credit Suisse lowered their rating from Outperform to Neutral and maintained a target price of $17.00. Pre-market: 17.38 0.00 (0.00%)

Ericsson (ERIC): RBC Capital lowered their rating from Outperform to Sector Perform and placed a target price of $124.00 on the company. Pre-market: 12.54 +0.04 (0.32%)

Exxon Mobile (XOM): Oppenheimer lowered their rating from Outperform to Perform and lowered their target price to $100.00. Pre-market: 90.79 +0.02 (0.02%)

Goldman Sachs (GS): BofA Merrill Lynch lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral and placed a target price of $155.00 on the company. Pre-market: 145.75 -0.29 (-0.20%)

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ): Goldman Sachs lowered their rating from Neutral to Sell and placed a target price of $16.00 on the company. Pre-market: 22.40 -0.91 (-3.90%)

Morgan Stanley (MS): Credit Suisse lowered their rating from Outperform to Neutral and placed a target price of $23.00 on the company. Pre-market: 21.62 -0.04 (-0.18%)

Texas Instruments (TXN): Stifel lowered their rating from Buy to Hold. Pre-market: 34.76 -0.25 (-0.71%)

Coverage Initiated

Accenture (ACN): UBS initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $85.00.

Amazon.com (AMZN): UBS initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and target price of $275.00. Pre-market: 263.44 +1.83 (0.70%)

AOL (AOL): UBS initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $44.00. Pre-market: 38.37 0.00 (0.00%)

Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD): Credit Suisse initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and target price of $92.00.

Cognizant Tech (CTSH): UBS initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and target price of $80.00.

eBay (EBAY): initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $64.00. Pre-market: 56.39 +0.68 (1.22%)

Electronic Arts (EA): UBS initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and target price of $18.00. Pre-market: 17.92 0.00 (0.00%)

Expedia (EXPE): UBS initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $77.00. Pre-market: 60.85 +0.35 (0.58%)

Google (GOOG): UBS initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $945.00. Pre-market: 804.00 +2.81 (0.35%)

Molycorp (MCP): DA Davidson initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $7.00. Pre-market: 5.09 +0.18 (3.67%)

Priceline.com (PCLN): UBS initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $825.00. Pre-market: 699.00 +3.24 (0.47%)

Yahoo! (YHOO): UBS initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $27.00. Pre-market: 23.64 +0.14 (0.60%)

Earning Reports

Shoe Carnival (SCVL): Reported EPS of $0.16 in-line with estimates. After Hours: 19.65 -0.56 (-2.77%)

McCormick (MKC): Reported EPS of $0.57 in-line with estimates. Pre-market: 72.25 -0.46 (-0.63%)

Markets: 
Futures at 7:32: Dow +0.41%. S&P +0.43%. Nasdaq +0.67%. Crude -0.16% to $96.90. Gold -0.19% to $1597.80.

Europe: London +1.07%. Paris +1.01%. Frankfurt +1.22%. 

Asia: Japan -1.08% to 12003. Hong Kong +0.31% to 22368. China -0.30% to 2228. India +0.93% to 19041.