predesignate discursiveness: Stock Downgrades: Bear Hug for Hershey' s Kisses

Mount Whitney, at over 14,000 feet, is the highest summit in the contiguous United States but until Friday the?Dow?(^DJI) hadn?t seen that lofty level since Meredith Whitney downgraded?Citigroup?(C) in October 2007. Stocks are now on a roll, at least on this side of the Atlantic. Across the ocean Spain?s?Bankia?(PINK:BNKXF) ? whose headquarters tilt at an unnerving angle?? tumbled 25% on the week. Yet Europe, once again, can lean on America, with pride-of-Peoria?Caterpillar?(CAT) jumping 4.1% and?Oshkosh?(OSK) up $6.50. Super Bowl ads continued to work as a reliable contrary indicator.?
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Apple Inc. (AAPL), which?invented the genre in?1984, has now fallen 14.5% in 2013 and SodaStream?(SODA), which?sorta made its big game debut, slumped 6.7%. As for Anheuser-Busch?(BUD), its spots cost a cool $3.8 million for 30 seconds of airtime yet the stock, which suffered its steepest slide in four years on Thursday, has just incurred another ratings reduction.
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This morning in economics, factory orders for December are due at 10:00 a.m. Eastern. About half of the?S&P 500?(^GSPC) companies have now announced earnings, with today?s results are expected to include Anglo American Platinum?(PINK:AGPPY), Clorox?(CLX), Gannett (GCI), Humana?(HUM),?Leggett & Platt (LEG), Royal Caribbean Cruises?(RCL),?Sysco Corporation?(SYY), and Yum Brands (YUM).
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Anheuser-Busch InBev?(BUD): Shares are off sharply ahead of the open after the brewing giant was lowered to Neutral from Buy at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch.
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Aon plc?(AON): The insurance outfit, recently trading at all-time highs, is now Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan.
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Akzo Nobel?(PINK:AKZOY): Shares are now Reduce from Neutral at Nomura.
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Cash America?(CSH): Janney Capital cuts the pawn company to Neutral from Buy.
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Charles Schwab?(SCHW): The discount broker is reduced to Neutral from Buy at UBS.
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Chevron?(CVX): The oil giant, on a nice run recently, is lower in this morning?s pre-market activity after getting downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS.
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Columbia Sportswear?(COLM): Shares are slashed to Sell from Neutral at Citigroup.
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Guess??(GES): GES gets downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Buckingham Research.
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Hershey Foods?(NYSE:HSY): Goldman Sachs removes the confectionery company from its Conviction Buy List amid valuation concerns after recent share price strength .Its amended price objective is $86.
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Leapfrog?(LF): LF is lowered to Buy from Strong Buy at Ascendiant Capital Markets, which also takes its target price to $12 from $15. Sales of LeapPad 2, flying off the shelves over the holidays, seem to have slowed since.
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Merck?(MRK): Friday?s poorest performing blue chip is moved to Underweight from Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley
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Tiffany?(TIF): TIF is taken to Neutral from Buy at Monness Crespi & Hardt.
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Vodafone?(VOD): The British telecom titan is trading lower in London today after a Neutral-from-Buy slash at Citigroup.
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Wal-Mart?(WMT): JPMorgan moves the key?Dow?(^DJI) component to Neutral from Overweight, sending shares down this morning. Same-store sales comparisons are believed to have peaked due to pressures from the payroll tax increase, and the target is trimmed to $75 from $84.

(See also: New Stock Coverage: Sprint Stuck in the Starting Block and Stock Upgrades: Things Looking Better in the BlackBerry Patch.)

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Source: http://www.minyanville.com/trading-and-investing/stocks/articles/Stock-Downgrades253A-Bear-Hug-For-Hershey2527s/2/4/2013/id/47856

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