The World Economic Forum says that the United States is no longer the world’s most competitive economy. Switzerland has taken that role. The culprits for the weaker US position are its weakened financial markets and what the organization calls worsening macroeconomic stability, according to 24/7 Wall St.

Credit Suisse downgraded American International Group (NYSE: AIG) to underperform from neutral and slashed its price target to $15 from $30, saying there could be little value left for common equity holders after AIG has sold off its core businesses.

Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight by Morgan Stanley, which said food deflation and other headwinds that had been pressuring the company are dissipating.
Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT) said on Monday that it’s pursuing a takeover of Cadbury (NYSE: CBY) after the U.K. chocolate maker rejected a $16.7 billion bid. Kraft said a combination of the two companies would create a "global powerhouse" in snacks and confectionery with annual sales of more than $50 billion. Analysts, however, said the U.S. giant may need to significantly raise its offer. A counter-bid from Nestle and Hershey (NYSE: HSY) is also considered a possibility. –Marketwatch

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) shares rose 4.5 percent in premarket trading on Tuesday after a J.P. Morgan analyst raised his rating on the largest U.S. conglomerate to "overweight" from "neutral," reasoning that most of the possible bad news has been priced into the shares. "The stock continues to be held back by a persistent wall of worry" about the future of GE Capital, wrote analyst Stephen Tusa, in a note to clients, adding that GE is a stock "for which a little good news can still go a long way." –Reuters

Stocks Cheapest Since ‘89 Show Why Analysts Say Economists Wrong on Growth. Never before have Wall Street stock analysts diverged more with economists at their own firms over the outlook for earnings in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index. Profits for companies in the S&P 500 will rise 25 percent next year, according to the average estimate of more than 1,500 equity analysts tracked by Bloomberg. That’s 10.9 times faster than the expansion in gross domestic product foreseen by 53 economists surveyed last month. The ratio of income to GDP growth is the highest on record and compares with an average of 6.1, based on data compiled by Bloomberg going back 60 years. -Bloomberg

In the latest move to internationalize its currency, China unveiled a plan Tuesday to sell Yuan-denominated government bonds in Hong Kong, the first offering of Yuan sovereign debt outside mainland China. The Ministry of Finance said it will issue six billion Yuan ($878.5 million) worth of bonds in Hong Kong Sept. 28 to develop the city’s nascent Yuan-denominated bond market and promote the Yuan’s global status. The global financial crisis has deepened China’s concern about being dependent on a dollar-dominated financial system and has prompted it to step up its efforts to expand the Yuan’s role. –The Wall Street Journal

-Jutia Group