Before the bell: Futures lower following Bernanke's inflation commentsAfter the 3G iPhone was finally announced Monday, with a price tag and a business model that could take the funky phone to the masses, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) ended lower on some profit taking. But have no fear. Already this morning, Citigroup raised Apple's price target to $287 from $248 with a Buy rating, and Lehman raised it to $234 from $202, maintaining its Overweight rating. Despite the stock trading higher in European markets, it's still not showing signs of recovery in premarket trading in the US.
ThinkPanmure initiated Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) with a Buy, claiming it is gaining market share over rival Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD). The analyst also said Intel is gaining prominence in the server, desktop and notebook markets.
Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) updated its desktop and notebook computers. It introduced Tuesday in Berlin a new ultra-thin portable, the Voodoo Envy, to rival Apple's MacBook Air. H-P also added a new version of a touch-screen desktop PC and 16 notebooks for consumers and businesses.
Gannett (NYSE: GCI) will write down its asset value by up to $3 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal. The Journal goes on to say this is a sign the company likely doesn't expect to fully recover from losses in its value. Gannett said it will take a second-quarter impairment charge of between $2.5 billion and $3 billion before taxes, more than its quarterly profits. Gannett isn't alone in this as other newspaper companies have already taken charges, like New York Times (NYSE: NYT), McClatchey (NYSE: MNI) and Lee Enterprises (NYSE: LEE).
Discover Financial Services Inc. (NYSE: DFS) is demanding more than $6 billion of damages from rivals Visa (NYSE: V) and MasterCard (NYSE: MA) for what it calls anti-competitive practices. Discover argued that Visa and MasterCard violated antitrust law and harmed Discover's business by preventing their member banks from issuing credit cards for Discover's network. Of course, Visa and MasterCard are disputing the claim.
McDonald's Corp (NYSE: MCD), Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE: WMT) and other restaurant and grocery chains have stopped selling red plum, red Roma, and red round tomatoes as U.S. health officials work to pinpoint the source of a Salmonella outbreak.
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