Before the bell: Stocks lower after Alcoa, AMD, ahead of housing dataNike (NYSE: NKE) unveiled its Olympics 2008 line Monday, its largest effort for the games ever. Nike actually created products in every sport at the games despite not being an official sponsor of the games like its rival Adidas. As for the U.S. team, it will be attired in Polo Ralph Lauren (NYSE: RL) garb.
If Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was upgraded Monday, today it finds itself on the flip side with a downgrade from Morgan Keegan from Market Perform to Underperform. Ummmm, contrarian is one thing, but I'm not so sure about that one. AAPL shares are down nearly 1.5% in premarket trading.
Meanwhile, according to MarketWatch, Goldman Sachs has upgraded some brokers and asset managers, but is remaining cautious on regional banks, mortgage and specialty finance and REITs. American Express (NYSE: AXP), Metlife (NYSE: MET), Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE: BK), NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX) and several others all were upgraded to Buy. Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) and several others were cut to neutral.
As for Washinton Mutual (NYSE: WM), the WSJ now says its cash infusion could reach $7 billion. Meanwhile, Keefe Bruyette downgraded WM from Market Perform to Underperform.
Other notable downgrades include:
Soleil downgraded Garmin (NASDAQ: GRMN) from Buy to Hold and lowered the target price from $90 to $60.
Bear Stearns lowered Novartis (NYSE: NVS) from Outperform to Peer Perform.
Last but not least for now, Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX), in its ongoing effort since Schultz returned to the CEO role to spur sales especially in the U.S., will start serving up a new "everyday" brew Tuesday. To mark the launch of the "everyday" brew, Starbucks will give away free 8 oz. cups of Pike Place Roast at more than 7,000 U.S. stores beginning at 12 p.m. Tuesday for half an hour.
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