Morning Coffee Pre-Market Wall Street News

LA to SF in 30 Minutes. Elon Musk has published a 57 page paper detailing what he calls a Hyperloop. The paper details technical information, and route proposals of the solar-powered, aluminum pod-based, transportation system.   Musk says the pods will be able to travel at 800 M.P.H. and could take people from L.A. to San Francisco in 30 minutes. According to BloombergBusinessWeek "about a dozen people at Tesla and SpaceX have helped Musk with the design and checked the physics." The best part of the Hyperloop is the projected cost at $6B and one that supports cars would cost an estimated $10B. California’s boondoggle high-speed train is projected to cost over $70B. Musk doesn't plan to patented or build the Hyperloop himself, but will open-source its design for third parties to make use of. The full report can be found at http://www.scribd.com/doc/159811253/Hyperloop

Upgrades:

ConocoPhillips (COP): ISI Group raised their rating from Buy to Strong Buy and raised their target price from $72.00 to $78.00. Pre-market: 66.45 +0.35 (0.53%)

Xerox (XRX): Citigroup raised their rating from Neutral to Buy and raised their target price from $9.75 to $13.00. Pre-market: 10.48 +0.33 (3.25%)

Downgrades:

Microsoft (MSFT): Stifel lowered their rating from Buy to Hold. Pre-market: 32.49 -0.38 (-1.16%)

Nordstrom (JWN): Maxim lowered their rating from Buy to Hold and lowered their target price from $70.00 to $63.00. Pre-market: 60.41 -0.38 (-0.63%)

Yum! Brands (YUM): Buckingham lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral and lowered their target price from $80.00 to $78.00. Pre-market: 71.85 -2.62 (-3.52%)

Coverage Initiated:

RetailMeNot (SALE): Jefferies initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $40.00. Pre-market: 32.59 +0.31 (0.96%)

RetailMeNot (SALE): Credit Suisse initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and target price of $31.00. Pre-market: 32.59 +0.31 (0.96%)

RetailMeNot (SALE): Goldman Sachs initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and target price of $31.00. Pre-market: 32.59 +0.31 (0.96%)

RetailMeNot (SALE): RBC Capital initiated coverage with a Sector Perform rating and target price of $33.00. Pre-market: 32.59 +0.31 (0.96%)

Markets: 
Futures at 8:16: Dow +0.29%. S&P +0.25%. Nasdaq +0.22%. Crude +0.21% to $106.33. Gold -0.52% to $1327.40. U.S. 10 Year -19/32 2.690%.

Europe: London +0.47%. Paris +0.32%. Frankfurt +0.73%. 

Asia: Japan +2.57% to 13867. Hong Kong +1.21% to 22541. China +0.23% to 2106. India +1.49% to 19230.