The consumer discretionary group is in-line with the broader market in early trade. The retail group is also in the green with the Retail HOLDRS Trust (RTH) 0.2% and the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT) 0.4%. Trading higher following guidance: HAIN +0.8%... Trading lower following earnings/guidance: MM -4.8%, GCI -1.7% Other notable mentions: EBAY flat (eBay's Paypal unit to cut 3% of workforce, according to reports), Leaders: BIG 1.6% and GES 1.2% (ticking higher, Barron's discusses that BIG, CRL, GES, TEX could be targets for private equity), EDU 8.8% (announces filing of annual report on Form 20-F for Fiscal Year 2012; upgraded to Outperform at Oppenheimer). Laggards: FDO -0.6% (names Jocelyn Wong Senior Vice President, Marketing - Chief Marketing Officer).
Analyst related: Upgrades: LOW 1.9% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA/Merrill), COST 0.3% (upgraded to Market Perform from Underperform at BMO Capital)... Downgrades: PLCE -1.7% (downgraded to Above Average from Buy at Caris), TZOO -1.4% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Ascendiant), HAS -2.8% (downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman), CBS -0.6% (downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Atlantic Equities), KO -0.3% (downgraded to Underperform from Outperform at Credit Agricole)... Misc: CHS 1.8% (Hearing positive mention at Janney)






