Morning Coffee Pre-Market Wall Street News

Valeant to Purchase Bausch & Lomb. Bausch & Lomb which is currently owned by Warburg Pincus LLC will be purchased by Valeant (VRX) for $8.7B in cash, including $4.2B in debt. The Bausch & Lomb deal is the largest of 15 acquisitions for the Montreal-based company. In 2012 Bausch & Lomb generated $3 billion in sales from its contact lenses, eye-care solutions and prescription medicines.

Upgrades

Bayer AG (BAYRY): Jefferies raised their rating from Hold to Buy.

Eli Lilly (ELI): Jefferies raised their rating from Underperform to Hold and raised their target price from $44.00 to $49.00.

Expeditors International (EXPD): BB&T raised their rating from Hold to Buy and placed a target price of $50.00 on the company.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK): Deutsche Bank raised their rating from Hold to Buy.

Merck & CO (MRK): Jefferies raised their rating from Hold to Buy and raised their target price from $48.00 to $54.00.

Novo Nordisk (NVO): Deutsche Bank raised their rating from Sell to Hold.

Texas Instruments (TXN): Drexel Hamilton raised their rating from Hold to Buy and raised their target price from $32.00 to $40.00.

Downgrades

Broadcom (BRCM): Susquehanna lowered their rating from Positive to Neutral and placed a target price of $39.00.

Lloyds Banking Group (LYG): Citigroup lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral.

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS): Citigroup lowered their rating from Hold to Sell.

St. Jude Medical (STJ): Canaccord Genuity lowered their rating from Hold to Sell.

Coverage Initiated

Jabil Circuit (JBL): Standpoint Research initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $28.00.

Earning Reports

Tiffany & Co (TIF): Reported EPS of $0.70 beating estimates by +$0.18.

Markets: 
Futures at 9:09: Dow +0.78%. S&P +0.81%. Nasdaq +0.93%. Crude +1.09% to $94.15. Gold -0.41% to $1381.10.

Europe: London +1.80%. Paris +1.46%. Frankfurt +1.22%. 

Asia: Japan +1.20% to 14312. Hong Kong +1.05% to 22924. China +1.23% to 2321. India +0.65% to 20161.