MARKET UPDATEStocks
are having a hard time finding their footing today in just about all
markets. DJIA futures are down about 1% and S&P futures are down
0.9%. Europe is lower as the UK's FTSE is down 1.1%, Germany's DAX is
down about 1.3%, and France's CAC is down 1.3%. Asian stocks were
lower as well with Japan's NIKKEI 225 down 1.4% and Hong Kong's Hang
Seng was down by -1.2%.
Bonds are trading slightly lower in
prices this morning with the 10-Year Treasury yield at 3.51% and the
30-Year yield is 4.335%.
Commodities are lower this morning.
Crude is down what looks to be $2.00 per barrel for WTI Crude around
the $65.00 mark. Gold is indicated down 1% around the $922.00 per
ounce mark.
ECONOMIC & MACRO EVENTS
These are today’s top economic data:
8:15 AM EST Monetary Reserves
10:00 AM EST ISM Non-Manufacturing
10:00 AM EST Conference Board Employment Trends
ANALYST UPGRADES & DOWNGRADES
Upgrades
Franklin Resources (BEN) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
KLA-Tencor
(KLAC), Novellus Systems (NVLS) and Lam Research (LRCX) were all three
Raised to Neutral from Underperform at Credit Suisse.
Nordstrom (JWN) Raised to Neutral and off Conviction Sell List at Goldman Sachs.
Oshkosh (OSK) Raised to Buy at KeyBanc.
Seagate Tech (STX) Raised to Buy at BofA/Merrill.
Sprint (S) Raised to Buy at Auriga.
Western Digital (WDC) Raised to Buy at BofA/Merrill.
Downgrades
Citrix Systems (CTXS) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Discovery Labs (DSCO) Cut to Underperform at Jefferies.
Eaton Vance (EV) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
Federated Investors (FII) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
FPL Group (FPL) Cut to Underperform at Credit Suisse.
Rackspace (RAX) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
BULLISH EVENTS
Wells
Fargo (WFC) is reportedly going to delve deeper into the securities
side of the operation. Shares are actually down almost 1% in early
indications rather than up, but this appears to be more because of the
market than from the banking firm's brokerage and securities
prospects.
Rio
Tinto (RTP) is selling its U.S. packaging operations for about $1.2 billion.
The cash and stock sale is to Bemis (BMS), a food and beverage
packaging company.
Covanta Holding (CVA) is acquiring the North American portfolio of
Veolia Environnement's waste incineration contracts held by the water,
waste, transport and energy services company. The total is said to be
$450 million, including $30 million in debt assumption.
PetSmart (PETM) was given a very positive article in Barron's. The
publication noted that the pet and animal supplies destination held up
very well for spending in the recession, and noted that its stock has
played dead and that the company is making all the right moves against
competition.
Cummins
(CMI) is reportedly recalling about 400 laid off workers at the
Columbus facility that manufactures Dodge Ram engines as the company
received commitments from Chrysler for the 2010 Dodge Ram.
BEARISH EVENTS
J2 (JCOM) was listed in Barron's as a top short-sale candidate this
weekend. This is a repeat to the call a year ago, although the research
firm SHORT ALERT said it still has room to fall.
Matrixx
Initiatives (MTXX) announced that it expects additional lawsuits to be
filed against the company after its FDA warning. Shares have already
been crushed once on the news.
IMAX
(IMAX) has enjoyed a strong performance this year and is close to
52-week highs. The Short Alert group named in Barron's said that IMAX
was not necessarily an outright short but listed it as one of the more
dangerous 'runner-up' candidates.
Fuqi International (FUQI) was named as this Monday's #1 to the IBD 100.
This stock has risen nearly 5-fold from the lows of the market earlier
this year, yet there is no fresh news after the weekend.
Rackspace
Hosting, Inc. (RAX) is heading lower if pre-market indications hold.
Goldman Sachs has downgraded the rackspace and hosting solutions
provider based upon valuations.