Before the bell: Futures lower ahead of CPI, after AMATStandard & Poor's lowered the credit rating on Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC) to A from A+, saying the outlook is negative.
Earnings season rolls on with results from J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) - $1.01 per share expected, Kohl's Corp. (NYSE: KSS) - 60 cents per shares expected, Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU) - 12 cents per share, Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) - 21 cents per share expected.
Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) confirmed yesterday the appointment of NYSE Euronext Chief Executive John Thain as its new CEO. MER shares are up nearly 1% in premarket trading after analysts wrote favorably of the appointment. Credit Suisse analyst Susan Roth Katzke upgraded Merrill to Outperform from Neutral. Sandler O'Neill & Partners LP analyst Jeff Harte also said Thain is "the right man for the job."
Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) still looking for its next leader.
TheStreet.com takes a long, hard look at Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), trying to decide whether it is recession proof.
IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced Wednesday it has a new initiative, staking out a major new source of business helping clients like banks or retailers manage data centers on a par with Internet players such as Google or Microsoft.
eWeek.com brings a research from Forrester calling desktop Linux a credible threat to Microsoft Corp.'s (NASDAQ: MSFT) Windows.
Private-label cereal maker Ralcorp Holdings Inc. (NYSE: RAH) will purchase Kraft Foods Inc.'s (NYSE: KFT) Post cereals unit. The deal includes stock valued at $1.65 billion (€1.12 billion) and that Ralcorp will also assume $950 million (€646.26 million) in debt, making the total deal worth about $2.6 billion.
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