Filed under: Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Bad news, Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo! (YHOO), American Express (AXP)

MOST NOTEWORTHY: W.W. Grainger, American Express and Microsoft were today’s noteworthy downgrades:

• Baird downgraded W.W. Grainger Inc (NYSE: GWW) to Neutral from Outperform, citing concerns regarding the the federal lawsuit accusing the company of overcharging the U.S. Government.
• American Express Company (NYSE: AXP) was lowered to Market Perform from Outperform to reflect their assumption for a weaker economy.
• RBC Capital downgraded Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) to Sector Perform from Outperform citing Yahoo! Inc’s (NASDAQ: YHOO) rejection of its $31/share bid and a counteroffer of $40/share. The firm expects a deal to get done between $35.00-$40.00 per share, resulting in increased dilution.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Citigroup downgraded Telecom Italia SpA (NYSE: TI) to Hold from Buy.
• Thomas Weisel downgraded Zumiez Inc (NASDAQ: ZUMZ) to Market Weight from Overweight.
• Oppenheimer downgraded Independent Bank Corporation (NASDAQ: IBCP) to Underperform from Perform.

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