MARKET UPDATE
Stocks are rebounding further this morning after indicating so much lower yesterday and ultimately recovering. DJIA futures are up 0.3% and S&P futures are up 0.25%. Europe is also trading higher as the UK's FTSE is 1%%, Germany's DAX is 0.65%, and France's CAC is up 0.55%. Asian stocks were the pessimists with Japan's NIKKEI 225 was down by -0.3% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down by -0.7%.
Bonds are slightly lower in price now that equities have firmed up. The 10-Year Treasury yield at 3.535% and the 30-Year yield is 4.365% in early indications.
Commodities are firm, but not recovering sharply. NYMEX WTI Crude has a bid at $64.40 in early trading, but this is still way down from last week's highs.
ECONOMIC & MACRO EVENTS
These are today’s top economic data:
8:55 AM EST Redbook Index
4:30 PM EST API Weekly Oil Inventories
Earnings: Ruby Tuesday, A. Schulman, International Speedway. Look for Alcoa tomorrow.
ANALYST UPGRADES & DOWNGRADES
Upgrades
Anadarko Petroleum (APC) Raised to Buy at BofA/Merrill Lynch.
Annaly Mortgage (NLY) STarted as Overweight at Barclays.
CenturyTel (CTL) Raised to Buy at UBS.
KeyCorp (KEY) Raised to Outperform at KBW.
Immunogen (IMGN) Started as Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Intel (INTC) Raised to Neutral at BofA/Merrill Lynch.
LSI Corp. (LSI) Raised to Buy at BofA/Merrill Lynch.
3M (MMM) Started as Buy at Jefferies.
Marvell Tech (MRVL) Raised to Buy at BofA/Merrill Lynch.
StatoilHydro (STO) Raised to Buy at BofA/Merrill Lynch.
Steel Dynamics (STLD) Raised to Buy at BofA/Merrill Lynch.
Downgrades
AmSurg (AMSG) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
BULLISH EVENTS
PepsiCo (PEP) is planning to spend about $3 billion in Russia for its next majoir organic expansion plans. It is joining Pepsi Bottling Group (PBG) for its three year expansion and build-out.
Cinedigm Digital Cinema Corp. (NASDAQ: CIDM) and AEG Network LIVE are partnering to bring Michael Jackson’s Memorial Service to Cinedigm digital cinema equipped theatres in 31 states live.
International Speedway (ISCA) is indicated higher after the NASCAR track and other auto raceway track owner beat earnings. It posted $0.35 EPS vs. $0.31 estimates. The company also reaffirmed $1.80 to $2.00 EPS for 2009, while estimates are $1.82. For a note it did say it was more comfortable with the lower end of its range due to the soft economy.
King Pharmaceuticals (KG) met with the FDA to discuss the Complete Response Letter regarding the New Drug Application for REMOXY. The company said that the outcome gave King with a clear path forward to resubmit the REMOXY NDA and to address all FDA comments in the Complete Response Letter and it anticipates the resubmission of the NDA could occur mid-year 2010. This is good for the ultimate plan, but that 2010 may spook some.
Orbotech (ORBK) announced that the US District Court in Eastern District of Wisconsin ruled on July 2 that it would grant the motion by Orbotech to dismiss the complaint filed against Orbotech by GE Healthcare. The Court ruled that the weight of both public and private factors support resolution of the action in the Israeli courts.
BEARISH EVENTS
Discover Financial (DFS) was trading down on last look. The company filed to sell up to $500 million in securities after yesterday's closing bell. While this bolsters its books and allows things to operate more easily, financings are generally still considered dilutive.
Alcoa Inc. (AA) is in trouble ahead of earnings. Yesterday's move downward only brought the same notion from a week and two weeks ago that investors are tempering the expectations ahead of earnings. If that continues, then there is another two trading sessions before the dip-buyers and "value" buyers will be stepping in.
AT&T is facing a wider look now by investors (along with Verizon-VZ) now that the Department of Justice has started looking into whether or not the larger telecom players have abused their power in recent years.
Palm Inc. (PALM) has confirmed that the Palm Pre smart phone will launch in Europe with O2 in the UK, Ireland and Germany exclusively on the O2 network, and in Spain exclusively on the Movistar network. The launch will be in time for the holidays. This is not bad, although some may have hoped for a mid-Q3 launch rather than 'in time for holidays' announced.
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