• Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDSA) announced that it agreed to buy privately held East Resources for $4.7 billion in cash to increase its shale gas exposure in North America
• Prudential (NYSE:PRU) is reportedly trying to renegotiate its previous $35.5 bid for AIG’s (NYSE:AIG) Asian AIA unit, as major shareholder groups reportedly look to cut the offer by much as 15.5% to $30 billion
• Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) shares fell 0.2% Thursday, and were the only decliner on the DJIA, after executives told lawmakers its recall of Children’s Tylenol reflected only “remote” concerns of health risks
• Needham upgraded shares of OmniVision (NASDAQ:OVTI) to “strong buy” from “buy”
• Macquarie downgraded Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB) to “underperform” from “outperform”
• Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB) upgraded AmeriGroup (NYSE:AGP) to “buy” from “hold,” taking the price target to $42 from $38
• Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB) maintained its “buy” rating on Monsanto (NYSE:MON), but lowered its target price to $60 from $82
• Piper Jaffray (NYSE:PJC) and Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) both downgraded shares of Blue Coat Systems (NASDAQ:BCSI) on expected softening of European demand
