Morning Coffee Pre-Market Wall Street News

News Corp to Launch Sports Network. Reports say that News Corp. (NWSA) has plans to launch a new cable sports network in August. The network will initially feature MLB games, NASCAR, soccer and college football and basketball games. Disney’s (DIS) ESPN may have a difficult time keeping key contracts as News Corp’s Fox Sports 1, NBC (CMCSA), and CBS (CBS) all try to secure key programming. Pre-market: 29.60 +0.11 (0.37%)

Eurozone PMI Falls. The eurozone PMI for February fell to 47.9 in February from 48.6 in January, showing business activity in the area continues to decline.  The service index also fell from 48.6 to 47.9. So far the eurozone PMI data for Q1 points to the eurozone GDP shrinking -0.2% following the Q4 drop -0.6%.

Upgrades

Apollo Group (APOL): Deutsche Bank raised their rating from Sell to Hold and maintained a target price of $17.00.

Hess Corp (HES): ISI Group raised their rating from Neutral to Buy and placed a target price of $77.00 on the company. Pre-market: 69.95 +1.11 (1.61%)

Yahoo! (YHOO): Cantor Fitzgerald raised their rating from Hold to Buy and raised their target price from $21.00 to $26.00. Pre-market: 22.96 +0.26 (1.15%)

Downgrades

Standard Motor (SMP): BB&T lowered their rating from Buy to Hold.

Texas Roadhouse (TXRH): Miller Tabak lowered their rating from Buy to Hold.

Coverage Initiated

Agilent Technology (A): Credit Suisse initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and target price of $48.00.           

Markets: 
Futures at 8:19: Dow +0.33%. S&P +0.36%. Nasdaq +0.47%. Crude +0.59% to $90.63. Gold +0.58% to $1581.50.

Europe: London +0.89%. Paris +1.45%. Frankfurt +1.76%. 

Asia: Japan +0.27% to 11683. Hong Kong +0.10% to 22561. China +2.33% to 2326. India +1.40% to 19143.