Sony’s PlayStation 4 Goes On Sale

Sony’s PlayStation 4 Goes On Sale. Sony’s (SNE) PS4 went on sale Friday night and within 24 hours the company sold over 1 million video-gaming consoles.  The company needs to hit a home run with the PS4 to help the company the turn around its consumer-electronics division. Sony will face stiff competition from Microsoft which will be releasing its new gaming system Xbox One this Friday. Pre-market: 19.10 +0.60 (3.24%)

Upgrades:

Baxter Intl (BAX): Credit Suisse raised their rating from Neutral to Outperform and raised their target price from $73.00 to $80.00.

Swift Transportation (SWFT): RW Baird raised their rating from Neutral to Outperform and raised their target price from $25.00 to $28.00. Pre-market: 23.31 +0.08 (0.34%)

Downgrades:

Halliburton (HAL): Global Hunter lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral and maintained a target price of $61.00. Pre-market: 56.10 -0.13 (-0.23%)

Microchip Tech (MCHP): Stephens lowered their rating from Overweight to Equal Weight and placed a target price of $45.00 on the company. Pre-market: 43.00 -0.61 (-1.40%)

Microsoft (MSFT): BofA Merrill Lynch lowered their rating from Neutral to Underperform and placed a target price of $36.00 on the company.

NVIDIA (NVDA): Morgan Stanley lowered their rating from Equal Weight to Underweight and placed a target price of $13.00 on the company. Pre-market: 15.85 -0.32 (-1.98%)

Coverage Initiated:

Twitter (TWTR): Wunderlich re-initiated coverage with a Sell rating and target price of $34.00. Pre-market: 43.28 -0.70 (-1.59%)

Earning Reports:

Tyson Foods (TSN): Reported EPS of $0.70 beating estimates by +$0.01. Pre-market: 29.85 +1.08 (3.75%)

Markets: 
Futures at 8:03: Dow +0.23%. S&P +0.15%. Nasdaq +0.06%. Crude -0.46% to $93.41. Gold -0.71% to $1278.20. U.S. 10 Year 0/32 2.705%.

Europe: London +0.41%. Paris +0.73%. Frankfurt +0.62%. 

Asia: Japan -0.01% at 15164.3. Hong Kong +2.73% to 23660. China +2.87%. India +2.21%. 

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Morning Coffee Pre-Market Wall Street News

American’s Outraged Over U.S. Budget Deal/Debt Agreement.

Congress approved a deal to fund the U.S. government, but only through January 15 and raise the debt limit not by a dollar amount but up until February 7. So in reality in a few months we could be facing another shutdown and the out of control spending continues. As the news circulated American became outraged that the temporary agreement was filled with $3 billion in pork spending.  The two most outrageous examples of the pork spending buried in the bill are $174,000 of taxpayers’ money going to the widow of the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D).  The Senator was one of the richest in D.C. and he left his wife a multimillionaire.  The other is the quadrupling of the funding for a boondoggle dam project on the Ohio River to nearly $3 billion.  

Upgrades:

Abbott Labs (ABT) S&P raised their rating from Hold *** to Buy ****.

AFLAC (AFL): The Research Team raised their rating from Hold to Accumulate.

Downgrades:

Bank of America (BAC): Raymond James lowered their rating from Strong Buy to Outperform.

Clorox (CLX): Morgan Stanley lowered their rating from Equal Weight to Underweight and placed a target price of $83.00 on the company.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR): Dougherty lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral.

KB Homes (KBH): Raymond James lowered their rating from Market Perform to Underperform.

Men’s Warehouse (MW): Stifel lowered their rating from Buy to Hold.

Standard Pacific (SPF): Raymond James lowered their rating from Outperform to Market Perform.

Stanley Black & Decker (SWK): Credit Suisse lowered their rating from Outperform to Neutral.

Stanley Black & Decker (SWK): Macquarie lowered their rating from Outperform to Neutral and placed a target price of $75.00 on the company.

Travelers Cos (TRV): Guggenheim lowered their rating from Neutral to Sell and placed a target price of $72.00 on the company.

Coverage Initiated:

Allergan (AGN): JMP Securities initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and target price of $110.00.

Salesforce.com (CRM): Argus initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $63.00.

Earning Reports:

Baxter (BAX): Reported EPS of $1.19 in-line with estimates.

Ebay (EBAY): Reported EPS of $0.64 beating estimates by +$0.01.

Goldman Sachs (GS): Reported EPS of $2.88 beating estimates by +$0.25.

IBM (IBM): Reported EPS of $3.99 beating estimates by +$0.03.

Kinder Morgan (KMI): Reported EPS of $0.27 missing estimates by -$0.04.

Kinder Morgan Partners (KMP): Reported EPS of $0.51 missing estimates by -$0.10.

Noble Corp (NE): Reported EPS of $0.85 beating estimates by +$0.15.

PPG (PPG): Reported EPS of $2.44 beating estimates by +$0.09.

Snap-On (SNA): Reported EPS of $1.43 beating estimates by +$0.02.

UnitedHealth (UNH): Reported EPS of $1.53 in-line with estimates.

Verizon (VZ): Reported EPS of $0.77 beating estimates by +$0.03.

Markets: 
Futures at 6:20: Dow -0.35%. S&P -0.27%. Nasdaq -0.09%. Crude -0.5% to $101.77. Gold +1.9% to $1306.80.  U.S. 10 Year +12/32 to 2.622%.

Europe: London -0.32%. Paris -0.47%. Frankfurt -0.68%. 

Asia, Japan +0.83% to 14587. Hong Kong -0.57% to 23095. China -0.21% to 2189. India -0.64% to 20416. 

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Morning Coffee Pre-Market Wall Street News

Fed Fears Rock World Markets. World markets are lower after two Fed policy makers, including Charles Evans, said the U.S. central bank could start tapering as early as next month. The remarks sent the dollar lower against the yen, which in turn caused the Nikkei to fall -4%. This comes much sooner than Wall Street had expected and many feel that the economy which is still on shaky ground could start to lose steam.

Upgrades:

Louisiana Pacific (LPX): TD Securities raised their rating from Reduce to Hold.

Maximus (MMS): First Analysis raised their rating from Equal Weight to Overweight and placed a target price of $45.00 on the company.

Yum! Brands (YUM): BofA Merrill Lynch raised their rating from Underperform to Neutral and raised their target price from $60.00 to $75.00.

Downgrades:

CVS Caremark (CVS): Cantor lowered their rating from Buy to Hold and lowered their target price from $65.00 to $62.00.

Fossil Group (FOSL): Citigroup lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral.

McDermott Intl (MDR): Stifel lowered their rating from Buy to Hold.

Coverage Initiated:

Baxter Intl (BAX): Goldman Sachs initiated coverage with a Conviction Buy rating and target price of $86.00.

Earning Reports:

AOL (AOL): Reported EPS of $0.35 beating estimates by +$0.02.

Carlyle (CG): Reported EPS of $0.39 missing estimates by -$0.17.

Clean Harbors (CLH): Reported EPS of $0.38 missing estimates by -$0.19.

Duke Energy (DUK): Reported EPS of $0.87 missing estimates by -$0.07.

Huntington Ingalls (HII): Reported EPS of $1.12 beating estimates by +$0.17.

Kelly Services (KELYA): Reported EPS of $0.33 beating estimates by +$0.08.

Walt Disney (DIS): Reported EPS of $1.03 beating estimates by +$0.02.

Markets: 
Futures at 8:20: Dow -0.45%. S&P -0.45%. Nasdaq -0.31%. Crude +0.15% to $105.46. Gold -0.5% to $1275.40. U.S. 10 Year 3/32 2.634%.

Europe: London -0.89%. Paris +0.05%. Frankfurt -0.39%. 

Asia: Japan -4.00% to 13825. Hong Kong -1.53% to 21589. China -0.67% to 2047. India -0.36% to 18665.