Morning Spy: Coffee Stocks Soar (GMCR, PEET, REE, RGR, GNC, GS, C, CS)

The markets are trading fractionally higher on Thursday. Investors may be reacting to the initial jobless claims report, which showed claims fell below 400,000 for the first time since April 1.

Today’s Top tickerspy Indexes:

Coffee Stocks (up 11.9%, see graph): Shares of Green Mntn Coffee Roaster (GMCR) are screaming higher after the company reported third quarter earnings of 49 cents per share, which beat analyst estimates by 14 cents. Also performing well today is the Packaged Food Stocks Index. Shares of Peet’s Coffee & Tea (PEET) are trading higher on average volume.

Rare Earth Stocks (up 4.7%, see graph): Shares of Rare Element Resources (REE) are leading the Index higher after Global Hunter Securities initiated the stock with a buy rating and a $18.50 price target.

Recreational Product Stocks (up 4.4%, see graph): Shares of Sturm Ruger (RGR) are leading the Index higher after the company announced second quarter earnings of 57 cents per share, which was 15 cents better than analyst expectations.

Fitness and Dieting Stocks (up 4.0%, see graph): Shares of GNC Holdings (GNC) are leading the Index higher after the company reported earnings of 39 cents per share, which was 7 cents better than analyst consensus.

Today’s Top Market Headlines

Ikea’s Factory Workers Vote to Join Union: A vote by Ikea’s U.S. factory workers in Virginia to join a union may boost labor as organizers seek to reverse record-low membership at companies.

Meda at 15-Month High Still Seen Rising 30% in Sweden Drug Deal: Real M&A: Meda, the Swedish drugmaker that climbed to a 15-month high on takeover speculation, may cost bidders at least 30 percent more in an acquisition.

Goldman Sachs, Citigroup Scrap $1.5 Billion CMBS Sale That S&P Won’t Rate: Goldman Sachs Group (GS) and Citigroup (C) scrapped a $1.5 billion commercial-mortgage bond sale after Standard & Poor’s said it wouldn’t rate the notes.

Future Of Banks Dims As Credit Suisse Cuts 2,000 Jobs: The world’s largest financial firms were supposed to recover after the credit crisis and the unprecedented support they received from the world’s largest governments. But things have not turned out so well if recent job cuts are any indication. Credit Suisse Group (CS) will be laying off 2,000 jobs.

U.S. Banks Bracing for Downgrade Don’t See Panic in Repo Credit Markets: U.S. banks searching for hints of credit-market distress ahead of next week’s deadline to raise the debt ceiling are finding few signs of panic so far.

Tags: C, CS, GMCR, GNC, GS, PEET, REE, RGR