Morning Coffee Pre-Market Wall Street News

World Markets Fall on Fed Comment. World markets are selling off after Ben Bernanke yesterday signaled that the Fed may soon stop trying to prop up the U.S. economy by printing money. Additionally, he said that the bond buying program could end by mid-2014. Some economists and traders have fear that the economy is not strong enough and needs the Fed’s stimulation to prevent another recession. They point to the weak GDP and job numbers as their evidence. U.S. futures are lower with government bond yields spiking, while gold had plunged -5.22% to $1302.40 hitting a 2 1/2 year low.

Upgrades: 

Alcatel-Lucent (ALU): UBS raised their rating from Sell to Neutral. Pre-market: 2.02 +0.09 (4.66%)

Hewlett-Packard (HQP): Wells Fargo raised Market Perform to Outperform and raised their target range from $23.00 - $25.00 to $30.00 - $32.00. Pre-market: 25.50 +0.07 (0.28%)

Plum Creek Timber (PCL): DA Davidson raised their rating from Underperform to Neutral. Pre-market: 45.15 -0.08 (-0.18%)

Wal-Mart (WMT): Raymond James raised their rating from Market Perform to Outperform and placed a target price of $84.00 on the company. Pre-market: 74.65 +0.19 (0.26%)

Weyerhaeuser (WY): BMO Capital raised their rating from Market Perform to Outperform and placed a target price of $33.00 on the company. Pre-market: 27.31 0.00 (0.00%)

Downgrades:

FedEx (FDX): JPMorgan lowered their rating from Overweight to Neutral and lowered their target price from $116.00 to $108.00. Pre-market: 98.50 -2.04 (-2.03%)

FedEx (FDX): Morgan Stanley lowered their rating from Overweight to Equal Weight. Pre-market: 98.50 -2.04 (-2.03%)

Newmont Mining (NEM): Cowen lowered their rating from Outperform to Neutral. Pre-market: 30.95 -0.95 (-2.98%)

Sprint Nextel (S): Argus lowered their rating from Buy to Hold. Pre-market: 6.97 -0.03 (-0.43%)

Walt Disney (DIS): Goldman Sachs lowered their rating from Conviction Buy to Neutral and placed a target price of $70.00 on the company. Pre-market: 63.29 -1.04 (-1.62%)

Coverage Initiated:

Owens Corning (OC): Wedbush initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and target price of $50.00.           

Earning Reports:

Jabil Circuit (JBL): Reported EPS of $0.56 beating estimates by +$0.02. Pre-market: 19.00 -0.82 (-4.14%)

Micron (MU): Reported EPS of $0.04 beating estimates by +$0.01. Pre-market: 13.66 -0.31 (-2.22%)

Pier 1 (PIR): Reported EPS of $0.19 in-line with estimates. After Hours: 24.55 +0.56 (2.33%)

Red Hat (RHT): Reported EPS of $0.32 beating estimates by +$0.01. Pre-market: 47.78 +1.56 (3.38%)

Rite Aid (RAD): Reported EPS of $0.09 in-line with estimates. Pre-market: 3.05 -0.06 (-1.93%)

Markets: 
Futures at 7:25: Dow -0.57%. S&P -0.78%. Nasdaq -0.84%. Crude -1.53% to $96.74. Gold -5.22% to $1302.40.

Europe: London -2.26%. Paris -2.51%. Frankfurt -2.49%. 

Asia: Japan -1.74% to 13015. Hong Kong -2.88% to 20383. China -2.77% to 2084. India -2.74% to 18719.