Analyst downgrades: GWW, AXP and MSFT

MOST NOTEWORTHY: W.W. Grainger, American Express and Microsoft were today's noteworthy downgrades:

Baird downgraded W.W. Grainger Inc (NYSE: GWW) to Neutral from Outperform, citing concerns regarding the the federal lawsuit accusing the company of overcharging the U.S. Government.
American Express Company (NYSE: AXP) was lowered to Market Perform from Outperform to reflect their assumption for a weaker economy.
RBC Capital downgraded Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) to Sector Perform from Outperform citing Yahoo! Inc's (NASDAQ: YHOO) rejection of its $31/share bid and a counteroffer of $40/share. The firm expects a deal to get done between $35.00-$40.00 per share, resulting in increased dilution.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

Citigroup downgraded Telecom Italia SpA (NYSE: TI) to Hold from Buy.
Thomas Weisel downgraded Zumiez Inc (NASDAQ: ZUMZ) to Market Weight from Overweight.
Oppenheimer downgraded Independent Bank Corporation (NASDAQ: IBCP) to Underperform from Perform.

Tags: American Express, AmericanExpress, AXP, downgrades, GWW, IBCP, Independent Bank, IndependentBank, inthenews, Microsoft, MSFT, Telecom Italia, TelecomItalia, TI, W.W. Grainger, W.w.Grainger, Yahoo!, YHOO, Zumiez, ZUMZ