Employment Data Stuns Wall Street.

Employment Data Stuns Wall Street. The U.S. employment data for December was released this morning and the results stunned Wall Street. Wall Street economists had estimated that the economy would generate 196,000 new jobs down from Novembers 203,000 jobs. The actual results can in far less, at a terrible 74,000. The unemployment rate fell to 6.7% down from 7%, but analysts say that the decline was due to people giving up on looking for work. The latest data is giving more ammo to those who believe that President Obama’s economic policies are deeply flawed.

Upgrades:

Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF): Janney Capital raised their rating from Neutral to Buy and placed a target price of $49.00 on the company.

Baidu (BIDU): Maxium raised their rating from Hold to Buy and placed a target price of $200.00 on the company.

Macy’s (M): Goldman Sachs raised their rating from Neutral to Buy and raised their target price from $54.00 to $65.00.

Downgrades:

Baker Hughes (BHI): Iberia lowered their rating from Outperform to Sector Perform.

Fossil Group (FOSL): KeyBanc lowered their rating from Hold to Underweight and placed a target price of $100.00 on the company.

Pacific Sunwear (PSUN): Janney Capital lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral.

Pfizer (PFE): Cowen lowered their rating from Outperform to Market Perform.

Schlumberger (SLB): Iberia lowered their rating from Outperform to Sector Perform.

Total SA (TOT): BNP Paribas lowered their rating from Outperform to Neutral.

Whole Foods Market (WWFM): Cleveland Research lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral.

Coverage Initiated:

Micron Tech (MU): Argus initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $31.00.

Precision Cast Parts (PCP): Cleveland Research initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $320.00.

TRW Automotive (TRW): FBR Capital initiated coverage with a Market Perform rating and target price of $75.00.

Visteon (VC): FBR Capital initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and target price of $100.00.

Earning Reports:

Alcoa (AA): Reported EPS of $0.04 missing estimates by -$0.02.

Barracuda Networks (CUDA): Reported EPS of $0.01 beating estimates by +$0.01.

Helen of Troy (HELE): Reported EPS of $1.16 beating estimates by +$0.07.

Infosys (INFY): Reported EPS of $50.32 beating estimates by +3.58.

PriceSmart (PSMT): Reported EPS of $0.71 missing estimates by -$0.03.

Markets: 
Futures at 8:57: Dow +0.20%. S&P +0.07%. Nasdaq +0.24%. Crude +1.64% to $93.18. Gold +0.78% to $1239.20. U.S. 10 Year +17/32 to 2.905%.

Europe: London +0.90%. Paris +0.69%. Frankfurt +0.70%. 

Asia: Japan +0.20% to 15912. Hong Kong +0.26% to 22846. China -0.71% to 2013. India +0.22% to 20758. 

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

New Year, New “Dogs of the Dow.”

New Year, New “Dogs of the Dow.” With the New Year comes a list of the new “Dogs of the Dow.” This year’s list of the 10 “Dogs of the Dow” looks a lot like the list from 2013. The list consists of the 10 highest yielding stocks in the Dow Jones Index. This year the top honor goes to AT&T (T) with a yield of 5.3%, followed by Verizon (VZ) with a dividend yield of 4.4%. Other companies making the Dog list this year include Merck (MRK), Intel (INTC), Pfizer (PFE), McDonald’s (MCD), Chevron (CVX), General Electric (GE), Cisco (CSCO) and Microsoft (MSFT). Collectively, this year’s “Dogs of the Dow” have a dividend yield of near 4%. Last year the “Dogs” outperform the market with a return of 33%.

Upgrades:

Cadence Design Systems (CDNS): Needham raised their rating from Hold to Buy and placed a target price of $16.00 on the company. Pre-market: 14.51 +0.50 (3.57%)

Infosys Ltd (INFY): HSBC raised their rating from Neutral to Overweight.

Metlife (MET): Janney Capital raised their rating from Neutral to Buy. Pre-market: 53.19 0.00 (0.00%)

Downgrades:

Chubb (CB): Janney Capital lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral.

General Electric (GE): Oppenheimer lowered their rating from Outperform to Perform.

Joy Global (JOY): Goldman Sachs lowered their rating from Neutral to Sell and placed a target price of $52.00 on the company. Pre-market: 55.00 -1.36 (-2.41%)

Micron Tech (MU): RBC Capital lowered their rating from Outperform to Sector Perform and maintained their target price of $19.00. Pre-market: 21.19 -0.47 (-2.17%)

Prudential Financial (PRU): Janney Capital lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral. Pre-market: 90.76 0.00 (0.00%)

Sprint (S): Stifel lowered their rating from Hold to Sell. Pre-market: 10.08 -0.32 (-3.08%)

Coverage Initiated:

Bank of Montreal (BMO): RBC Capital initiated coverage with an Outperform rating.

Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS): RBC Capital initiated coverage with an Outperform rating.

Canadian Imperial Bank (CM): RBC Capital initiated coverage with a Sector Perform rating.

Toronto Dominion Bank (TD): RBC Capital initiated coverage with an Outperform rating.

Markets: 

Futures at 8:38: Dow +0.20%. S&P +0.20%. Nasdaq +0.06%. Crude -0.31% to $95.13. Gold +0.24% to $1228.20. U.S. 10 Year -3/32 to 3.004%.

Europe: London +0.28%. Paris +0.66%. Frankfurt +0.41%. 

Asia: Japan +0.69% to 16291. Hong Kong -2.25% to 22817. China -0.31% to 2083. India -0.18% to 20851. 

#RLPaler #WallStreet #PreMarket #WealthManagement #EarningReports #AnalystsRatings #DogsoftheDow

Morning Coffee Pre-Market Wall Street News

Home Prices Rise. Home prices in May rose the most in seven years according to CoreLogic. Prices were up +12.2% compared to May of last year and up +2.6% from April. This was the largest increase since February 2006. Excluding distressed sales, which include foreclosures and short sales, prices were up +11.6% on a yearly basis. The analysts on Wall Street forecast prices will rise by another +2.9% in June for a yearly gain of +13.2%. Nevada saw the biggest price increases, followed by Arizona , California,  Hawaii and Oregon.

Upgrades:

JPMorgan Chase (JPM): Raymond James raised their rating from Outperform to Strong Buy and raised their target price from $55.00 to $64.00. Pre-market: 52.65 +0.16 (0.30%)

Las Vegas Sands (LVS): ISI Group raised their rating from Neutral to Buy.

Quicksilver (ZQK): B. Riley raised their rating from Neutral to Buy and placed a target price of $9.25 on the company.

Downgrades:

Accenture (ACN): Argus lowered their rating from Buy to Hold. Pre-market: 71.21 -0.89 (-1.23%)

Barrick Gold (ABX): Jefferies lowered their rating from Buy to Hold and lowered their target price from $30.00 to $14.00.

Newmont Mining (NEM): Jefferies lowered their rating from Hold to Underperform and lowered their target price from $30.00 to $18.00.

Pfizer (PFE): Standpoint Research lowered their rating from Hold to Sell. Pre-market: 27.56 -0.22 (-0.79%)

Tractor Supply Co (TSCO): Nomura lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral. Pre-market: 114.89 -1.49 (-1.28%)

Coverage Initiated:

Groupon (GRPN): Wunderlich initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $11.00.

Ryder Systems (R): Wunderlich initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $72.00.

Earning Reports:

Acuity Brands (AYI): Reported EPS of $0.97 beating estimates by +$0.10. Pre-market: 79.00 +3.07 (4.04%)

Constellation Brands (STZ): Reported EPS of $0.38 missing estimates by -0.03. Pre-market: 52.38 -0.77 (-1.45%)     

      

Markets: 
Futures at 8:18: Dow +0.01%. S&P -0.07%. Nasdaq +0.14%. Crude +0.35% to $98.33. Gold -0.14% to $1254.00.

Europe: London -0.45%. Paris -0.74%. Frankfurt -1.05%. 

Asia: Japan +1.78% to 14099. Hong Kong -0.70% to 20659. China +0.57% to 2007. India -0.58% to 19464. 

Morning Coffee Pre-Market Wall Street News

World Markets Continue Decline. Stock markets worldwide are continuing to sell off. In China stocks fell -5.3%. In mid-day trading European markets are down -1% or more. U.S. stock futures are also looking at a lower opening this morning. Also caught in the wake of the selloff are commodities which are also lower. The sell off started last week when Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said the Fed would end its QE policy by mid 2014. Bond prices are also getting hit bring the 10-year Treasury yield to a two-year high of 2.61%.

Upgrades:

Advanced Micro (AMD): FBR Capital raised their rating from Market Perform to Outperform and raised their target price from $3.00 to $5.50.

First Solar (FSLR): Maxim raised their rating from Sell to Hold. Pre-market: 42.10 +0.73 (1.76%)

Downgrades:

Allergan (AGN): Sun Trust lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral and lowered their target price from $115.00 to $102.00. Pre-market: 89.19 -3.51 (-3.79%)

Deere & Co (DE): JPMorgan lowered their rating from Neutral to Underweight and placed a target price of $76.00 on the company. Pre-market: 80.83 -1.64 (-1.99%)

Walgreens (WAG): Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their rating from Buy to Hold and placed a target price of $49.00 on the company. Pre-market: 48.20 -0.51 (-1.05%)

Coverage Initiated:

Coca-Cola (KO): Sun Trust initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $47.00.

First Solar (FSLR): JPMorgan initiated coverage with an Overweight rating and target price of $64.00. Pre-market: 42.10 +0.73 (1.76%)

Pfizer (PFE): JPMorgan initiated coverage with an Overweight rating and target price of $33.00.

Sherwin-Williams (SHW): UBS initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $215.00. Pre-market: 173.10 0.00 (0.00%)

Markets: 
Futures at 6:20: Dow -0.7%. S&P -0.7%. Nasdaq -0.5%. Crude -0.1% at $93.62. Gold -0.8% to $1281.90.

Europe: London -1.5%. Paris -1.4%. Frankfurt -0.9%. 

Asia: Japan -1.3% to 13063. Hong Kong -2.2% to 19814. China -5.3% to 1963. India -1.2% to 18541. 

Morning Coffee Pre-Market Wall Street News

Japan Market Sells Off Again. For the second time in two weeks the Japanese market sold off.  In late trading the Nikkei (EWJ) fell -5.15%, bring the two week decline to over -14%. Traders point to fears that the Fed will end its QE program as well as the falling dollar-yen (FXY) as the cause of the volatility. (FXY) Pre-market: 96.79 +0.01 (0.01%)

Upgrades

Diamond Offshore (DO): JPMorgan raised their rating from Neutral to Overweight and placed a target price of $82.00 on the company.

Noble Corp (NE): Raymond James raised their rating from Market Perform to Outperform and placed a target price of $52.00 on the company.

Northrop Grumman (NOC): Goldman Sachs raised their rating from Neutral to Buy.

Republic Services (RSG): Wedbush raised their rating from Neutral to Outperform and raised their target price from $33.00 to $40.00.

SunPower (SPWR): Goldman Sachs raised their rating from Sell to Neutral and raised their target price from $13.00 to $18.00. Pre-market: 20.33 +0.69 (3.51%)

First Solar (FSLR): Goldman Sachs raised their rating from Neutral to Buy and placed a target price of $64.00 on the company.

Downgrades

Noble Corp (NE): JPMorgan lowered their rating from Overweight to Neutral and placed a target price of $43.00 on the company.

Stanley Black & Decker (SWK): Argus lowered their rating from Buy to Hold and placed a target price of $78.00 on the company.

Coverage Initiated

AT&T (T): BMO Capital initiated coverage with a Market Perform rating and placed a target price of $34.00 on the company.

Leap Wireless (LEAP): BMO Capital initiated coverage with an Underperform rating and placed a target price of $3.00 on the company.

Pfizer (PFE): Sun Trust initiated coverage with a Reduce rating.

Sprint Nextel (S): BMO Capital initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and placed a target price of $9.00 on the company.

Verizon Communications (VZ): BMO Capital initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and placed a target price of $55.00 on the company.

Coverage Reiterated/Price Target Changed

SEI Investments (SEIC): Stifel reiterated their Buy rating and raised their target price from $31.00 to $33.00.

Earning Reports

Big Lots (BIG): Reported EPS of $0.61 in-line with estimates. Pre-market: 34.90 -3.48 (-9.07%)

Costco (COST): Reported EPS of $1.04 beating estimates by +$0.01. Pre-market: 113.92 +0.97 (0.86%)

Joy Global (JOY): Reported EPS of $1.73 beating estimates by +$0.16. Pre-market: 54.82 -0.26 (-0.47%)

Tilly's (TLYS): Reported EPS of $0.08 beating estimates by +$0.01.

Markets: 
Futures at 8:31: Dow +0.24%. S&P +0.19%. Nasdaq +0.06%. Crude -0.58% to $92.60. Gold +1.02% to $1405.50.

Europe: London +0.17%. Paris +0.72%. Frankfurt +0.54%. 

Asia: Japan -5.15% to 13589. Hong Kong -0.31% to 22484. China -0.27% to 2318. India +0.34% to 20215.