Morning Coffee Pre-Market Wall Street News

Consumer Spending Misses Estimates. The Commerce Department reported that personal spending for July rose 0.1% missing Wall Street economists’ estimates. Wall Street had expected personal spending to rise 0.3%. June’s numbers where revised higher to 0.6% from 0.5%. Personal income for July rose 0.1% in-line with estimates, but down from the prior months 0.3% reading. Consumer spending accounts for 70% of the economy. Job growth and wage gains are needed as interest rates on mortgages and home prices continue to rise.  If not, this could cause consumers to stop spending and detail to housing recovery.

Upgrades:

Apache Corp (APA): RBC Capital raised their rating from Sector Perform to Outperform and raised their target price from $93.00 to $99.00.

Deutsche Bank (DB): JPMorgan raised their rating from Neutral to Overweight.

Intel (INTC): Argus raised their rating from Hold to Buy and placed a target price of $28.00 on the company.

Downgrades:

Joy Global (JOY): BB&T lowered their rating from Buy to Hold.

OmniVision (OVTI): Northland Securities lowered their rating from Outperform to Market Perform.

OmniVision (OVTI): Craig-Hallum lowered their rating from Buy to Hold and lowered their target price from $24.00 to $18.00.

OmniVision (OVTI): Oppenheimer lowered their rating from Outperform to Perform.

Staples (SPLS): JPMorgan lowered their rating from Overweight to Neutral and lowered their target price from $17.00 to $15.00.

Vodafone (VOD): RW Baird lowered their rating from Outperform to Neutral. Pre-market: 32.03 +0.23 (0.72%)

Coverage Initiated:

Baidu (BIDU): JPMorgan initiated coverage with an Overweight rating and raised their target price from $115.00 to $165.00.

Earning Reports:

bebe Stores (BEBE): Reported EPS of -$0.14 missing estimates by -$0.01.

Big Lots (BIG): Reported EPS of $0.31 beating estimates by +$0.07. Pre-market: 35.35 +0.71 (2.05%)

Krispy Kreme (KKD): d EPS of -$0.14 missing estimates by -$0.02. Pre-market: 20.82 -2.41 (-10.37%)

OmniVision (OVTI): Reported EPS of $0.55 beating estimates by +$0.12. Pre-market: 16.17 -2.24 (-12.17%)

Pacific Sunwear (PSUN): Reported EPS of $0.02 beating estimates by +$0.02. Pre-market: 3.69 -0.23 (-5.87%)

Salesforce.com (CRM): Reported EPS of $0.09 beating estimates by +$0.02. Pre-market: 47.50 +3.85 (8.82%)

Yingli Green Energy (YGE): Reported EPS of -$0.33 in-line with estimates. Pre-market: 4.36 +0.16 (3.81%)

Markets: 
Futures at 8:07: Dow +0.11%. S&P +0.18%. Nasdaq +0.26%. Crude -0.87% to $107.83. Gold -1.12% to $1396.90. U.S. 10 Year -1/32 2.766%

Europe: London -0.45%. Paris -0.76%. Frankfurt -0.71%. 

Asia: Japan -0.53% to 13389. Hong Kong +0.12% to 21731. China +0.05% to 2098. India +1.19% to 18612. 

Morning Coffee Pre-Market Wall Street News

U.S. Housing Numbers Miss Estimates. The Commerce Department reported that July’s housing starts rose 5.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 896,000 units. Wall Street Economists had estimated that housing starts would come in at 900,000 units. June's numbers were revised upward to 846,000-units from the previously reported. Permits to build new homes increased 2.7% in July to a 943,000-unit pace also missing estimates. Economists had expected permits to rise to 945,000. Wall Street analysts are pointing to higher interest rates as the cause of the misses.

Upgrades:

Applied Materials (AMAT): DA Davidson raised their rating from Neutral to Buy and raised their target price from $15.00 to $18.00.

JetBlue Airlines (JBLU): Raymond James raised their rating from Underperform to Market Perform.

Pandora Media (P): Goldman Sachs raised their rating from Neutral to Buy and placed a target price of $27.00 on the company.

Wal-Mart (WMT): S&P raised their rating from 3 Stars to 4 Stars.

Downgrades:

Alcoa (AA): Bank of America Merrill Lynch lowered their rating from Neutral to Underperform and placed a target price of $8.00 on the company.

Colgate-Palmolive (CL): Argus lowered their rating from Buy to Hold.

General Mills (GIS): Jefferies lowered their rating from Hold to Underperform and lowered their target price from $45.00 to $44.00.

Noble Energy (NE): ISI Group lowered their rating from Strong Buy to Buy and placed a target price of $67.00 on the company.

Nordstrom (JWN): Sterne Agee lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral and placed a target price of $62.00 on the company.

Transocean (RIG): Johnson Rice lowered their rating from Overweight to Underweight.

Coverage Initiated:

Xcel Energy (XEL): UBS initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and target price of $30.00.

Earning Reports:

Applied Materials (AMAT): Reported EPS of $0.18 missing estimates by -$0.01.

Dell (DELL): Reported EPS of $0.25 beating estimates by +$0.01.

Nordstrom (JWN): Reported EPS of $0.93 beating estimates by +$0.05.

Markets: 
Futures at 9:01: Dow 0.00%. S&P +0.10%. Nasdaq +0.27%. Crude +0.08% to $107.44. Gold +0.34% at $1365.40. U.S. 10 Year -1/32 2.778%

Europe: London 0.00%. Paris +0.06%. Frankfurt -0.36%. 

Asia: Japan -0.75% to 13650. Hong Kong -0.10% to 22518. China -0.65% to 2068. India -3.97% to 18618.