Panic for people with Bitcoins

Panic for people with Bitcoins. One of the largest Bitcoin exchanges has disappeared causing the price of Bitcoins to tank. One of the world’s largest Bitcoin exchanges Mt Gox website is gone. Reports say that the company may have experienced a major security breach and is about to go bankrupt. A leaked document shows that 744,400 bitcoins worth $350M have been stolen from the company.

Upgrades:

Canadian Imperial Bank (CM): ResearchTeam raised their rating from Reduce to Hold.

Ensco PLC (ESV): ResearchTeam raised their rating from Reduce to Hold.

Hormel Foods (HRL): ResearchTeam raised their rating from Reduce to Hold.

McDonalds (MCD): ResearchTeam raised their rating from Reduce to Hold.

Nike (NKE): ResearchTeam raised their rating from Reduce to Hold.

Royal Bank of Canada (RY): ResearchTeam raised their rating from Reduce to Hold.

UnitedHealth (UNH): ResearchTeam raised their rating from Reduce to Hold.

Verizon (VZ): JPMorgan raised their rating from Neutral to Overweight and raised their target price from $54.00 to $57.00. Pre-market: 46.06 -0.17 (-0.37%)

Downgrades:

Sonoco Products (SON): S&P lowered their rating from 3 stars to 1 star.

Tenet Healthcare (THC): CRT Capital lowered their rating from Buy to Fair Value and lowered their rating from $51.00 to $41.50. Pre-market: 47.63 -0.70 (-1.45%)

Coverage Initiated:

Adobe Systems (ADBE): Susquehanna initiated coverage with a Positive rating and target price of $83.00. Pre-market: 68.83 +0.07 (0.09%)

Alaska Air (ALK): Stifel initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $100.00.

Delta Air Lines (DAL): Stifel initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $40.00.

Spirit Airlines (SAVE): Stifel initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $65.00. Pre-market: 56.00 +0.71 (1.28%)

Southwest Airlines (LUV): Stifel initiated coverage with a Hold rating.

United Continental (UAL): Stifel initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $60.00. Pre-market: 46.12 +0.02 (0.04%)

Earning Reports:

EOG Resources (EOG): Reported EPS of $2.00 beating estimates by +$0.05. Pre-market: 183.10 +2.70 (1.50%)

Home Depot (HD): Reported EPS of $0.73 beating estimates by +$0.03. Pre-market: 79.70 +1.83 (2.35%)

Macy’s (M): Reported EPS of $2.31 beating estimates by +$0.14. Pre-market: 51.64 -1.42 (-2.68%)

Office Depot (ODP): Reported EPS of -$0.03 missing estimates by -$0.07. Pre-market: 4.34 -1.01 (-18.88%)

Toll Brothers (TOLL): Reported EPS of $0.25 beating estimates by +$0.06. Pre-market: 38.30 -0.04 (-0.10%)

Markets: 
Futures at 7:43: Dow -0.13%. S&P -0.22%. Nasdaq -0.17%. Crude -0.89% to $101.90. Gold -0.38% to $1332.90. U.S. 10 Year 0/32 to 2.738%.

Europe: London -1.05%. Paris -0.53%. Frankfurt -0.50%. 

Asia: Japan +1.44% to 15051.6. Hong Kong -0.32% to 22317. China -2.05% to 2034. India +0.20% to 20844. 

#TopWealthManager #RLPaler #WallStreet #AnalystsRatings #EarningReports #FinancialPlanning 

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

Google Buys Boston Dynamics. Google (GOOG) has purchased Boston Dynamics, a manufacture of robots and software for the U.S. military and DARPA. Boston Dynamics is best known for their four legged robots on You Tube where Big Dog and Cheetah resemble something straight from a space sci-fi movie. Cheetah can run at speeds over 29 mph. Atlas is a humanoid robot able to traverse difficult terrain and designed to go where humans cannot. Pre-market: 1,063.80 +3.01 (0.28%)

Upgrades:

Blackberry (BBRY): Bernstein raised their rating from Underperform to Market Perform and placed a target price of $5.50 on the company. Pre-market: 6.18 +0.10 (1.64%)

Charles Schwab (SCHW): Evercore raised their rating from Underweight to Equal Weight.

Citigroup (C): Evercore raised their rating from Equal Weight to Overweight. Pre-market: 51.48 +0.51 (1.00%)

Exxon Mobil (XOM): Goldman Sachs raised their rating from Neutral to Buy and raised their target price from $96.00 to $109.00. Pre-market: 96.35 +1.04 (1.09%)

Fifth Third Bank (FITB): Evercore raised their rating from Equal Weight to Overweight.

Monster Beverage (MNST): RBC Capital raised their rating from Outperform to Top Pick and placed a target price of $77.00 on the company. Pre-market: 62.67 +1.21 (1.97%)

St Jude Medical (STJ): BMO Capital raised their rating from Market Perform to Outperform and raised their target price from $59.00 to $66.00.

Taser International (TASR): JPMorgan raised their rating from Neutral to Overweight and raised their target price from $17.00 to $18.50. Pre-market: 16.05 +0.53 (3.41%)

Tiffany & Co. (TIF): Canaccord raised their rating from Sell to Hold and raised their target price from $65.00 to $85.00. Pre-market: 90.20 +0.89 (1.00%)

Verizon Communications (VZ): Maquarie raised their rating from Neutral to Outperform. Pre-market: 48.25 +0.41 (0.86%)

Downgrades:

PNC Financial (PNC): Evercore lowered their rating from Overweight to Equal Weight. Pre-market: 75.22 -0.16 (-0.21%)

Starbucks (SBUX): Stephens lowered their rating from Overweight to Equal Weight and lowered their target price from $95.00 to $85.00. Pre-market: 76.18 -0.17 (-0.22%)

Twitter (TWTR): SunTrust lowered their rating from Buy to Neutral and maintained their target price of $50.00. Pre-market: 57.95 -1.05 (-1.78%)

Twitter (TWTR): Wells Fargo lowered their rating from Market Perform to Underperform and maintained their target range of $36.00-$39.00. Pre-market: 57.95 -1.05 (-1.78%)

Coverage Initiated:

Cintas (CTAS): Credit Suisse initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and target price of $56.00.

Markets: 
Futures at 6:20: Dow +0.4%. S&P +0.4%. Nasdaq +0.5%. Crude +0.5% to $97.11. Gold -0.5% to $1228.50. U.S. 10 Year -3/32 2.856%.

Europe: London +0.5%. Paris +0.8%. Frankfurt +1.4%. 

Asia: Japan -1.6% to 15153. Hong Kong -0.6% to 23115. China -1.6% to 2161. India -0.3% to 20660. 

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

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. 

#RLPaler

Morning Coffee Pre-Market Wall Street News

Inflation Rose Less Than Expected. The Labor Department reported this morning that inflation rose less than expected in August.  The CPI rose only +0.1% in August versus the +0.2% increase in July. The core CPI, which excludes food and energy rose +0.1%. Wall Street economist had expected a +0.2% for both the CPI and Core CPI numbers.

Upgrades:

American States Water (AWR): Brean Capital raised their rating from Hold to Buy and placed a target price of $28.00 on the company.

Broadcom (BRCM): Susquehanna raised their rating from Neutral to Positive and raised their target price from $33.00 to $35.00. Pre-market: 27.33 +0.42 (1.56%)

Delta Airlines (DAL): JPMorgan raised their rating from Neutral to Overweight and raised their target price from $22.00 to $26.00. Pre-market: 23.64 +0.49 (2.12%)

FreightCar America (RAIL): Stephens raised their rating from Equal Weight to Overweight and raised their target price from $18.00 to $24.00. Pre-market: 19.96 +0.66 (3.42%)

Mead Johnson Nutrition (MJN): JPMorgan raised their rating from Neutral to Overweight and raised their target price from $78.00 to $88.00. Pre-market: 76.11 0.00 (0.00%)

US Airways (LCC): JPMorgan raised their rating from Neutral to Overweight and raised their target price from $18.00 to $26.00. Pre-market: 18.58 +0.51 (2.82%)

Verizon Communications (VZ): RBC Capital raised their rating from Sector Perform to Outperform and placed a target price of $54.00 on the company.

Downgrades:

Comstock Resources (CRK): Howard Weil lowered their rating from Sector Outperform to Sector Perform. Pre-market: 15.89 -0.12 (-0.75%)

ConAgra Foods (CAG): JPMorgan lowered their rating from Overweight to Neutral and lowered their target price from $36.00 to $33.00.

Kellogg (K): JPMorgan lowered their rating from Neutral to Underweight and lowered their target price from $65.00 to $60.00.

Steven Madden (SHOO): Wedbush lowered their rating from Outperform to Neutral and maintained their target price of $55.00.

Coverage Initiated:

Angie’s List (ANGI): Telsey Advisory Group placed a target price of $29.00 on the company. Pre-market: 20.83 +0.59 (2.92%)

Perrigo (PRGO): CRT Capital initiated coverage with a Buy rating and target price of $145.00.

Earning Reports:

Coty (COTY): Reported EPS of $0.03 beating estimates by +$0.01.

FactSet Research (FDS): Reported EPS of $1.20 beating estimates by +$0.01. Pre-market: 111.00 -1.25 (-1.11%)

Markets: 
Futures at 8:20: Dow +0.05%. S&P +0.01%. Nasdaq +0.11%. Crude -0.43% to $106.12. Gold +0.10% to $1319.00. U.S. 10 Year +7/32 2.841%.

Europe: London -0.49%. Paris -0.23%. Frankfurt -0.21%. 

Asia: Japan -0.65% to 14312. Hong Kong -0.31% to 23181. China -2.05% to 2186. India +0.31% to 19804.