PRE-MARKET UPDATE
Stocks are firm this morning with both DJIA and S&P futures up about 0.4% in pre-market trading. Europe is up marginally with the FTSE, DAX, and CAC all up around 0.1% so far in their trading day. Asia was mixed, with Japan's NIKKEI 225 up +1.8% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng down by -0.8%. Keep in mind that today is quarter-end for funds and money managers, so the last minute window dressing might be a factor after the Russell rebalance effect was seen last week. Bonds are firm this morning with little news to digest until tomorrow and Thursday. 10-Year Treasury yield is 3.50% and the 30-Year yield is 4.305%. Commodities are indicated higher with oil up in more Nigerian unrest.
ECONOMIC & MACRO EVENTS
These are today’s top economic data:
S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index at 09:00 EST
Chicago PMI at 09:45 EST
Dow Jones Economic Sentiment Index at 09:45 EST
Consumer Confidence (June) at 10:00 EST
Earnings: Exfo (EXFO), FSI Int'l (FSII), Park Electrochemical (PKE), Schnitzer Steel (SCHN), Sealy (ZZ).
ANALYST UPGRADES & DOWNGRADES
Upgrades
Amazon.com (AMZN) Raised to Outperform at Cowen.
Coach (COH) Started as Outperform at Robert W. Baird.
FedEx (FDX) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.
Intrepid Potash (IPI) Started as Outperform at RBC.
Nordstrom (JWN) Started as Outperform at Robert W. Baird.
Qualcomm (QCOM) Started as Outperform at BMO Capital Markets.
Urban Outfitters (URBN) Started as Outperform at Robert W. Baird.
Downgrades
Gap Inc. (GPS) Started as Neutral at Robert W. Baird.
Nokia (NOK) Started as Underperform at BMO Capital Markets.
Southern Co. (SO) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Starwood (HOT) Cut to Market Perform at Wachovia.
BULLISH EVENTS
Emulex (ELX) has a new twist to the Broadcom attempted buyout saga. Emulex has been rebuffing all offers, and now Broadcom has lifted its offer to $11.00 per share to acquire Emulex.
Biogen Idec (BIIB) was hit hard yesterday because of its 10th reported case of the brain disease PML in its MS medication called TYSABRI. Traders may be looking for a bounce today as these cases are rare and the stock has usually recovered from these post-PML news drop levels with a couple days.
Comcast (CMCSA) is aiming at launching a competing WiFi or WiMAX service for 3G broadband access. This is aimed at competing against AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint.
Apollo Group Inc. (APOL) is trading up after the online university giant repoorted earnings. It beat earnings estimates and announced its first quarter with over $1 billion in revenues. Shares are up 4% in early indications.
Geron Corporation (GERN) may be a high flying stem cell stock today. The company announced that GE Healthcare and Geron Announce signed an exclusive global agreement to commercialize Stem Cell drug discovery technologies. This is to develop and commercialize cellular assay products derived from human embryonic stem cells for use in drug discovery, development and toxicity screening.
BEARISH EVENTS
Abbott (ABT) lost a jury verdict ordering it to pay $1.67 billion to a J&J unit. This is one of he larger verdicts, although Abbott has said it will appeal the verdict and the penalty.
AMR Corp. (AMR), the parent of American Airlines, is getting hit in a boutique call. Argus has cut an already-cautious Hold rating down to a Sell rating. If oil keeps rising each morning, that will also act as an overhang to airline stocks like AMR.
Clearwire (CLWR) traded lower by almost 6% last night on the announcement that Comcast is going to roll out its own new wireless 3G broadband services. The interesting notion here is that Comcast will be using the Clearwire network in some areas of the country.
Exelon (EXC) may trade lower after reports indicate that Exelon may raise its offer to try to acquire NRG. The belief is that Exelon will have to significantly boost its offer to buy the company and thus risk a dilutive acquisition.
Local.com (LOCM) secured a $10 million credit facility from Square 1 Bank to be used for expansion of the company from methods of potential acquisitions and to fund strategic growth initiatives.
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