Before the bell: SBUX, CSCO, C, F, GOOG ...

Posted Nov 1st 2007 8:44AM by Melly Alazraki
Filed under: Before the Bell, Earnings Reports, Analyst Reports, Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades, Google (GOOG), Apple Inc (AAPL), Cisco Systems (CSCO), Starbucks (SBUX), PepsiCo (PEP), Ford Motor (F), General Motors (GM), Citigroup Inc. (C), Economic Data

Before the bell: Rallying oil chokes Fed rate cut joy

Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) will launch today its "frappucino" bottled drinks in China with partner PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP). With this, the company is reaching beyond its iconic stores in marketing the brand in Chinese stores, shops - even Shanghai's subways. SBUX shares are gaining somewhat this morning, not bad considering the negative direction of the market.

Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) announced a multiyear, $16 billion investment in China to expand manufacturing, venture capital and education efforts. The ventures include a partnership with Alibaba Group. The company says its total commitments in China to date are $8.5 billion.

Citigroup (NYSE: C) stock is down over 4.6% in premarket trading (8:10) after CIBC World Markets downgraded Citigroup to Sector Underperformer from Sector Performer, citing capital concerns which could cause a dividend cut.

Car and truck sales will be reported today. According to a Goldman analyst, General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) sales probably rose about 2%. Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) sales probably declined 17%.

According to iPhone Atlas, there were a 144,000 installation of AppSnapp in 3 days. AppSnap is a third party app/jailbreak tool for Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone. Others are wondering whether the new release of Mac's operating system, Leopard, could be still be in beta as users encounter many problems.

Google Inc.'s (NASDAQ: GOOG) stock price passed through $700 for the first time to close at $707 yesterday after announcing plans for new products and services in new markets.

Tags: aapl, c, csco, f, gm, goog, inthenews, pep, sbux