CBO Says Obamacare Leads to Job Loss

CBO Says Obamacare Leads to Job Loss. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, Obamacare will lead to a sharp decline in the number of hours worked equating to 2 million full-time jobs by 2017. We have already seen companies hiring part time workers instead of full time workers due to the law. Now the CBO says the law will cause some lower income workers to limit their hours to avoid losing federal subsidies provided by Obamacare.  House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner said in a statement. "The president's healthcare law creates uncertainty for small businesses, hurts take-home pay, and makes it harder to invest in new workers. The middle class is getting squeezed in this economy, and this CBO report confirms that Obamacare is making it worse."

Upgrades:

Archer Daniels Midland (ADM): Scotia Capital raised their rating from Sector Perform to Outperform. Pre-market: 38.47 +0.24 (0.63%)

Archer Daniels Midland (ADM): Citigroup raised their rating from Neutral to Buy and placed a target price of $45.00 on the company. Pre-market: 38.47 +0.24 (0.63%)

Becton Dickinson (BDX): Raymond James raised their rating from Underperform to Market Perform.

BlackRock (BLK): Susquehanna raised their rating from Neutral to Positive and raised their target price from $321.00 to $348.00. Pre-market: 289.74 -0.01 (0.00%)

Church & Dwight (CHD): BMO Capital raised their rating from Market Perform to Outperform and raised their target price from $65.00 to $71.00.

Zillow Inc. (Z): CRT Capital raised their rating from Fair Value to Buy. Pre-market: 78.76 +0.15 (0.19%)

Downgrades:

Eaton Corp (ETN): MKM Partners lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral. Pre-market: 67.58 -1.07 (-1.56%)

Sirius XM (SIRI): Wunderlich lowered their rating from Buy to Hold and lowered their target price from $4.20 to $3.80.

Coverage Initiated:

Deckers Outdoors (DECK): B Riley initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $98.00. Pre-market: 75.58 -0.17 (-0.22%)

Laboratory Corp. (LH): Maxim initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $110.00.

Earning Reports:

AFLAC (AFL): Reported EPS of $1.40 beating estimates by +$0.01. After Hours: 62.00 +0.53 (0.86%)

Cognizant Tech (CTSH): Reported EPS of $1.15 in-line with estimates. Pre-market: 92.25 -4.76 (-4.91%)

Estee Lauder (EL): Reported EPS of $1.09 beating estimates by +$0.03. Pre-market: 69.40 +0.21 (0.30%)

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK): Reported EPS of $0.30 in-line with estimates. Pre-market: 52.05 +1.15 (2.26%)

Humana (HUM): Reported EPS of -$0.19 missing estimates by -$1.12.

Merck (MRK): Reported EPS of $0.88 missing estimates by -$0.01. Pre-market: 54.28 +0.77 (1.44%)

Time Warner (TWX): Reported EPS of $1.17 beating estimates by +$0.01. Pre-market: 62.50 +0.10 (0.16%)

Markets: 

Futures at 7:55: Dow -0.16%. S&P -0.27%. Nasdaq -0.21%. Crude +0.58% to $97.75. Gold +0.62% to $1259.00. U.S. 10 Year +6/32 to 2.612%.

Europe: London +0.27%. Paris -0.05%. Frankfurt -0.17%. 

Asia, Japan +1.23% to 14180. Hong Kong -0.60% to 21269. China closed. India +0.24% to 20261. 

#RLPaler #WealthManagement #EarningReports #AnalystsRatings #TopWealthManager #PreMarket #WallStreet

Morning Coffee Pre-Market Wall Street News

European Commission Lowers EU GDP Forecast. The European Commission has lowered its 2014 GDP forecast for the eurozone forecast to 1.1% from 1.2%. Germany, Belgium, Estonia and Ireland’s economy should grow in 2014. While they warned that Spain, Greece, Italy and Portugal will experience much weaker growth. Unemployment for the eurozone is expected to remain high at 12.2%. Inflation should remain low at 1.5%. The European Commission also expects that the eurozone's economy will shrink -0.4% this year.

Downgrades:

Blackberry (BBRY): CIBC lowered their rating from Sector Perform to Underperform and lowered their target price from $12.00 to $5.00. Pre-market: 6.61 +0.12 (1.77%)

Humana (HUM): Monness Crespi lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral. Pre-market: 94.00 -0.13 (-0.14%)

Kellogg (K): Deutsche Bank lowered their rating from Buy to Hold and lowered their target price from $68.00 to $65.00.

St Jude Medical (STJ): Bernstein lowered their rating from Outperform to Market Perform and placed a target price of $62.00 on the company. Pre-market: 57.01 -1.88 (-3.19%)

UnitedHealth (UNH): Monness Crespi lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral. Pre-market: 68.38 -0.57 (-0.83%)

Wellpoint (WLP): Monness Crespi lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral.

Coverage Initiated:

Twitter (TWTR): CRT Capital initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $40.00.

Earning Reports:

AOL (AOL): Reported EPS of $0.55 beating estimates by +0.04. Pre-market: 40.38 +1.66 (4.29%)

Cognizant Tech (CTSH): Reported EPS of $1.13 beating estimates by +0.03. Pre-market: 90.30 +3.45 (3.97%)

CVS Caremark (CVS): Reported EPS of $1.09 beating estimates by +0.07. Pre-market: 63.15 +1.17 (1.89%)

Emerson (EMR): Reported EPS of $1.18 beating estimates by +0.07. Pre-market: 65.29 -2.08 (-3.09%)

Mosaic (MOS): Reported EPS of $0.51 missing estimates by -$0.04. Pre-market: 45.83 -0.90 (-1.93%)

Markets: 
Futures at 6:20: Dow -0.34%. S&P -0.28%. Nasdaq -0.35%. Crude -0.19% to $94.44. Gold +0.11% to $1316.00 U.S. 10 Year -6/32 2.631%. 

Europe: London -0.60%. Paris -1.13%. Frankfurt -0.61%. 

Asia, Japan +0.17% to 14225. Hong Kong -0.65% to 23039. China +0.35% to 2157. India -1.25% to 20975. 

#RLPaler #WallStreet #StockMarket #WealthManagement #EarningReports

Morning Coffee Pre-Market Wall Street News

IBM Furloughs Workers. IBM (IBM) announced that it will have a majority of its U.S. hardware workers to take a week off at lower pay.  This announcement comes as the company tries to slash costs in the face of weak sales. IBM's hardware sales slumped 17% year-over-year in Q1 and 12% in Q2. The company’s sales have been hurt by falling UNIX server demand as companies shift their IT hardware spending towards cloud-service companies.

Upgrades:

Fiserv (FISV): First Analysts raised their rating from Equal Weight to Overweight.

Old Dominion Freight (ODFL): RBC Capital raised their rating from Sector Perform to Outperform.

Downgrades:

American Eagle Outfitters (AEO): B. Riley lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral and lowered their target price from $26.00 to $17.50.

American Eagle Outfitters (AEO): Brean Capital lowered their rating from Buy to Hold.

IBM (IBM): Credit Suisse lowered their rating from Neutral to Underperform and lowered their target price from $200.00 to $175.00.

Sony (SNE): Hudson Square lowered their rating from Buy to Hold.

Unilever (UN/UL): JPMorgan lowered their rating from Overweight to Neutral.

Coverage Initiated:

CDW Corp (CDW): William Blair initiated coverage with an Outperform rating.

CDW Corp (CDW): Raymond James initiated coverage with an Outperform rating.

CDW Corp (CDW): Stifel initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $24.00.

Earning Reports:

Cognizant Tech (CTSH): Reported EPS of $1.07 beating estimates by +$0.02.

CVS Caremark (CVS): Reported EPS of $0.97 beating estimates by +$0.01.

DISH Network (DISH): Reported EPS of -$0.02 missing estimates by -$0.56.

Emerson (EMR): Reported EPS of $1.04 beating estimates by +$0.06.

Fossil (FOSL): Reported EPS of $1.10 beating estimates by +$0.16.

Henry Schein (HSIC): Reported EPS of $1.23 missing estimates by -$0.01.

MGM Resorts (MGM): Reported EPS of $0.04 beating estimates by +$0.01.

Tenet Healthcare (THC): Reported EPS of $0.66 missing estimates by -$0.05.

Tidewater (TDW): Reported EPS of $0.68 missing estimates by -$0.09.

Markets: 
Futures at 8:37: Dow -0.14%. S&P -0.16%. Nasdaq +0.04%. Crude +1.00% to $106.87. Gold -1.08% to $1288.30. U.S. 10 Year -4/32 2.657%

Europe: London -0.01%. Paris +0.15%. Frankfurt -0.11%. 

Asia, Japan +1.00% to 14401. Hong Kong -1.34% to 21924. China +0.49% to 2061. India -2.34% to 18,736. 

Morning Coffee Pre-Market Wall Street News

Leaders Defend Detroit Bankruptcy

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) and Kevyn Orr, the emergency manager and bankruptcy lawyer that was appointed to run the city, both put the city’s bankruptcy blame squarely on the city. The city has been run by Democrats for decades.  At its height Detroit had over 1.8 million citizens, now the city has less than half that many citizens leaving abandoned burned out homes and a $19 billion debt in its wake. The city had once even been considered as a finalist for the Olympics.

The Republican Governor stood by his decision over the weekend on Face the Nation saying that “It’s not about just more money, it’s about accountable government.” He went on to talk about the mismanagement and corruption within the local government. Currently former Detroit Major Kwame Kilpatrick is serving a jail sentence for racketeering, wire fraud, Mail fraud, and obstruction of justice.

Some Wall Street analysts and investors are watching very closely since there are several other major U.S. cities with similar financial problems including : Chicago which has an unfunded pension liability reported to be at least $19 billion and Los Angeles with a liability estimate to be as much as $30 billion.

Upgrades:

Alcatel-Lucent (ALU): Raymond James raised their rating from Outperform to Strong Buy and placed a target price of $3.50 on the company.

Cognizant Tech (CTSH): Goldman Sachs raised their rating from Neutral to Buy and placed a target price of $90.00 on the company.

Downgrades:

Autoliv (ALV): Buckingham lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral and lowered their target price from $68.00 to $63.00. Pre-market: 80.97 -1.16 (-1.41%)

Crocs (CROX): Wedbush lowered their rating from Outperform to Neutral and maintained their target price of $18.00.

Honeywell (HON): Nomura lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral and raised their target price to $88.00.

H&R Block (HRB): BTIG lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral.

Nokia (NOK): Oppenheimer lowered their rating from Perform to Underperform.

TD Ameritrade (AMTD): BMO Capital lowered their rating from Outperform to Market Perform and placed a target price of $26.00 on the company.

Towers Watson (TW): Deutsche Bank lowered their rating from Buy to Hold and raised their target price from $80.00 to $93.00.

VF Corp (VFC): Credit Suisse lowered their rating from Outperform to Neutral and lowered their target price from $208.00 to $188.00.

Earning Reports:

Federal-Mogul (FDML): Reported EPS of $0.57 beating estimates by +$0.18. Pre-market: 11.28 +0.60 (5.62%)

Gannett (GCI): Reported EPS of $0.58 missing estimates by $0.01. Pre-market: 25.11 -1.25 (-4.74%)

Halliburton (HAL): Reported EPS of $0.73 beating estimates by +$0.01. Pre-market: 46.10 +0.27 (0.59%)

Hasbro (HAS): Reported EPS of $0.29 missing estimates by $0.05. Pre-market: 44.60 -0.78 (-1.72%)

Kimberly-Clark (KMB): Reported EPS of $1.41 beating estimates by +$0.02. Pre-market: 98.05 -1.44 (-1.45%)

McDonald's (MCD): Reported EPS of $1.38 missing estimates by $0.02. Pre-market: 97.77 -2.50 (-2.49%)

Markets: 
Futures at 8:30: Dow +0.05%. S&P +0.05%. Nasdaq +0.17%. Crude +0.30% to $108.37. Gold +2.02% to $1319.02.

Europe: London -0.24%. Paris +0.15%. Frankfurt -0.09%. 

Asia: Japan +0.47% to 14658. Hong Kong +0.25% to 21417. China +0.61% to 2005. India +0.05% to 20,159. 

Morning Coffee Pre-Market Wall Street News

Nike Beats Earnings Estimates. Sporting goods manufacture Nike (NKE) reported that their FQ4 earnings beat Wall Street expectations. Net profit at the company soared +22% to $668M, adjusted EPS came in at $0.76 while revenues climbed +7% to $6.7B. Sales in North American increased by +12% and revenues continued to grow in emerging markets.  The company saw a decline in both Japan and Europe, while China was flat. Pre-market: 61.10 -1.22 (-1.96%)

Upgrades:

Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY): BofA Merrill Lynch raised their rating from Neutral to Buy and placed a target price of $82.00 on the company. After Hours: 70.15 0.00 (0.00%)

Zumiez (ZUMZ): Wedbush raised their rating from Neutral to Outperform and raised their target price from $30.00 to $36.00. Pre-market: 28.25 +0.30 (1.07%)

Pacific Sunwear (PSUN): Wedbush raised their rating from Neutral to Outperform and raised their target price from $3.75 to $4.00. Pre-market: 3.41 +0.08 (2.40%)

Downgrades:

Accenture (ACN): UBS lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral and lowered their target price from $85.00 to $77.00. Pre-market: 73.50 -6.72 (-8.38%)

BAE Systems (BAESY): Deutsche Bank lowered their rating from Buy to Hold.

Owens Corning (OC): Citigroup lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral and lowered their target price from $48.00 to $43.00.

Coverage Initiated:

Cognizant Tech (CTSH): Societe Generale initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $74.00. Pre-market: 61.00 -2.10 (-3.33%)

Infosys (INFY): Societe Generale initiated coverage with a Hold rating and target price of $44.00. Pre-market: 41.50 +0.11 (0.27%)

Tesla Motors (TSLA): Wedbush initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and target price of $110.00. Pre-market: 110.02 +0.77 (0.70%)

Torchmark (TMK): RBC Capital initiated coverage with an Underperform rating and target price of $60.00. After Hours: 65.72 0.00 (0.00%)

Earning Reports:

Accenture (ACN): Reported EPS of $1.14 beating estimates by +$0.01. Pre-market: 73.50 -6.72 (-8.38%)

Finish Line (FINL): Reported EPS of $0.20 beating estimates by +$0.04. After Hours: 21.20 0.00 (0.00%)

Nike (NKE): Reported EPS of $0.76 beating estimates by +$0.01. Pre-market: 61.10 -1.22 (-1.96%)

Research in Motion (BBRY): Reported EPS of -$0.13 missing estimates by -$0.20. Pre-market: 11.91 -2.57 (-17.75%)

Markets: 

Futures at 6:25: Dow +0.19%. S&P +0.15%. Nasdaq +0.16%. Crude +0.24% to $97.27. Gold -0.65% to $1204.00. U.S. 10 Year +4/32 2.456%

Europe: London -0.05%. Paris -0.49%. Frankfurt -0.21%. 

Asia Japan +3.51% to 13677. Hong Kong +1.78% to 20803. China+1.50% to 1979. India +2.75% to 19396.