The U.S. dollar index rose 0.55% today, now at 82.825. The GSCI commodity index is up 0.3% at 646.50, with commodities prices mixed again today. WTI crude oil closed up 1.2% today, at $94.81 a barrel, after rising above $95 early this morning. Brent crude trades up 0.5% at $108.20 a barrel. Natural gas is down 1.5% today at about $3.87 per million BTUs. Gold settled down fractionally today at $1,604.50 an ounce, after sinking to below $1,590 an ounce on the news from Cyprus.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down about 64 points to 14,447.99 (-0.44%), the NASDAQ fell nearly 10 points (-0.30%) to 3,235.30, and the S&P 500 fell -0.33% or about 5 points to 1,551.70.

There were a several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including BlackBerry (NASDAQ: BBRY) cut to ‘neutral’ at Goldman Sachs; Whole Foods Market Inc. (NASDAQ: WFM) cut to ‘neutral’ at Piper Jaffray; J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) cut to ‘underperform’ at BMO Capital Markets; Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA) started as ‘overweight’ at J.P. Morgan and started as ‘buy’ at Goldman Sachs; and Airgas Inc. (NYSE: ARG) cut to ‘underperform’ at BofA/Merrill Lynch.

Earnings reports since markets closed last Friday resulted in several price moves today, including these: Apollo Group Inc. (NASDAQ: APOL) is up 6.8% at $18.20 (more coverage here); Dollar General Corp. (NYSE: DG) is up 1.8% at $50.96 (more coverage here); and JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO) is down 11.7% at $3.67 (more coverage here).

Before markets open tomorrow morning we are scheduled to hear from Focus Media Holding Ltd. (NASDAQ: FMCN), Sonic Corp. (NASDAQ: SONC), and U.S. Auto Parts Network Inc. (NASDAQ: PRTS).

Some standouts among heavily traded stocks today include:

Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) is down 5% at $1.33. The network and communications company had no news today, but heavy volume might indicate some (small) profit-taking.

BlackBerry (NASDAQ: BBRY) is down 4.3% at $14.27. The smartphone maker was downgraded this morning and last week’s U.S. launch was mostly a yawn. More coverage here.

Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) is up 5.2% at $5.98. The daily deals company also had no news today, but could still be basking in the afterglow of last week’s first-ever Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) gift card offer.

Stay tuned for Tuesday. We have noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

• 8:30 a.m. – Durable goods orders
• 9:00 a.m. – S&P Case-Shiller home price index
• 10:00 a.m. – New home sales
• 10:00 a.m. – Conference Board consumer confidence index
• 10:00 a.m. – Richmond Fed manufacturing index
• 11:30 a.m. – 4-week bill auction
• 1:30 p.m. – 2-year note auction

On a GAAP basis, EPS totaled $0.12, which excludes a restructuring charge of $44.1 million and a credit of $6.4 million related to favorable resolution of legal matters. GAAP EPS in the same quarter a year ago was $0.49.

Apollo reported degreed enrollment down 15.5% year-over-year for the second quarter, and a decline of 20.1% in new degree-student enrollment. Both figures are worse than the first quarter losses.

At the end of the first quarter, the company forecast full year revenue of $3.65 billion to $3.75 billion and annual operating income of $500 million to $550 million. Apollo Group stuck with those forecasts today.

The company’s CEO said:

Higher education is rapidly evolving as workforce demands and technological innovations drive change in our global economy. We are further positioning our organization and brand with our continued commitment to help students acquire real workplace skills, achieve their academic goals, and — through the power of education — realize their career aspirations.

Apollo’s operating income fell from $103.7 million in the second quarter of 2012 to just $29.8 million in the second quarter of 2013. At that rate, once the company stops restructuring, operating income and EPS could evaporate.

The company also noted a new $250 million share buyback program authorized by its board last Friday. There is no expiration date on the authorization.

Apollo’s shares are up about 5.6% in premarket trading today, at $17.99 in a 52-week range of $15.98 to $43.80. Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of $25.70 before today’s report.

The U.S. dollar index fell 0.42% today, now at 82.392. The GSCI commodity index is down 0.6% at 644.55, with commodities prices mixed today. WTI crude oil closed up 1.4% today, at $93.71 a barrel, to finish the week down just 0.1%. Brent crude trades up 0.2% at $107.66 a barrel. Natural gas is down 1% today at about $3.94 per million BTUs after rising above $4.00 briefly. Gold settled down 0.5% today at $1,606.10 an ounce, but finished the week up 0.9%, the third straight week the yellow metal has closed higher (more gold coverage here).

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up nearly 91 points to 14,512.26 (0.63%), the NASDAQ rose more than 22 points (0.70%) to 3,245.00, and the S&P 500 rose 0.72% or about 11 points to 1,556.89.

There were a several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Kohl’s Corp. (NYSE: KSS) cut to ‘sell’ at Deutsche Bank; LinkedIn Corp. (NYSE: LNKD) started as ‘sector perform’ at RBC Capital; Beam Inc. (NYSE: BEAM) started as ‘hold’ at Stifel Nicolaus; ADTRAN Inc. (NASDAQ: ADTN) raised to ‘market perform’ at Raymond James; and Family Dollar Stores Inc. (NYSE: FDO) raised to ‘buy’ at Deutsche Bank, but cut to ‘neutral’ at Citigroup.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night resulted in several price moves today, including these: Silver Wheaton Corp. (NYSE: SLW) is up 0.9% at $31.26; Vringo Inc. (NYSEMKT: VRNG) is up 0.4% at $2.85; Darden Restaurants Inc. (NYSE: DRI) is up 1.2% at $49.55; and Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) is up 2% at $69.24 (more coverage here).

Before markets open Monday morning we are scheduled to hear from Apollo Group Inc. (NASDAQ: APOL), Dollar General Corp. (NYSE: DG), and JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO).

Some standouts among heavily traded stocks today include:

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) is up 11.4% at $10.10 after posting a new 52-week high of $10.27 earlier today. The semiconductor maker reported results that were better than expected and snagged a few upgrades from analysts as well.

Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) is up 11% at $59.48 after posting a new 52-week high of $60.25 earlier today. The sports apparel company reported better-than-expected earnings, but missed revenues on lower sales in China. More coverage here.

BlackBerry (NASDAQ: BBRY) is down 8% at $14.85. The smartphone maker’s newest phone was launched in the U.S. today, but analysts expect a fizzle. More coverage here.

Stay tuned for Monday. New York Fed President William Dudley and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke are giving speeches. We have also noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

• 8:30 a.m. – Chicago Fed national activity index
• 10:30 a.m. – Dallas Fed manufacturing survey
• 11:30 a.m. – 3- and 6-month bill auctions

Have a great weekend!

Marin provides a cloud-based digital advertising management platform that competes with similar offerings from Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) and other, privately held firms. The company lists Macy’s Inc. (NYSE: M), Apollo Group Inc. (NASDAQ: APOL), Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) and Symantec Corp. (NASDAQ: SYMC) among its customers and says it has business relationships with Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU), Bing from Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT), Google, Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) and Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO).

Once more, it appears that underwriters have left money on the table. The initial share price rise gives the brokers’ customers a nice profit, but the company ends up with less cash than it could have banked.

Shares are currently trading at $17.65, up about 26% over the offering price.

The U.S. dollar index fell 0.13% today, now at 82.092. The GSCI commodity index is down 0.4% at 640.41, with commodities prices mostly higher again today. WTI crude oil closed up 0.8% today, at $90.82 a barrel. Brent crude trades up 1.5% at $111.69 a barrel. Natural gas is down 0.4% today at about $3.52 per million BTUs. Gold settled up 0.2% today at $1,574.90 an ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up more than 126 points to 14,253.77 (an all-time closing high) (0.89%), the NASDAQ rose about 42 points (1.32%) to 3,224.13, and the S&P 500 rose 0.96% or more than 14 points to 1,539.79.

There were a several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) started as ‘outperform’ at RBC; Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) raised to ‘buy’ at Cantor Fitzgerald; Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLF) cut to ‘market perform’ at BMO; Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) started as ‘outperform’ with a price target of $48 at Credit Suisse; and Apollo Group Inc. (NASDAQ: APOL) raised to ‘hold’ at Deutsche Bank (more coverage here).

Earnings reports since markets closed last night resulted in several price moves today, including these: Checkpoint Systems Inc. (NYSE: CKP) is up 7% at $12.40 after posting a new 52-week high of $12.70 earlier today; Constellation Energy Partners LLC (NYSEMKT: CEP) is down 5% at $1.72; and American Apparel Inc. (NYSEMKT: APP) is up 18.6% at $1.53.

Before markets open tomorrow morning we are scheduled to hear from Gevo Inc. (NASDAQ: GEVO), Qihoo 360 Technology Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: QIHU), Smith & Wesson Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: SWHC), Verifone Systems Inc. (NYSE: PAY), American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (NYSE: AEO), Big Lots Inc. (NYSE: BIG), Fresh Market Inc. (NYSE: TFM), Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: HOV), Staples Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS), and Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NYSE: STP).

Some standouts from today include the following stocks:

MGIC Investment Corp. (NYSE: MTG) is up 24.4% at $5.20 after posting a new 52-week high of $5.37 earlier today. The insurance company continues to be in favor with investors who believe the housing market is poised for a strong comeback.

Cree Inc. (NASDAQ: CREE) is up 13.6% at $50.80 after posting a new 52-week high of $52.35 earlier today. The maker of LED lighting introduced a new product today that has been called “groundbreaking.”

Vodafone Group plc (NASDAQ: VOD) is up 5.3% at $26.71. The mobile carrier is reported to be in talks again with Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) regarding a merger or Verizon buyout of Vodafone’s stake in Verizon Wireless. More coverage here.

Stay tuned for Wednesday. Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser and Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher are giving speeches. We have also noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

• 7:00 a.m. – Mortgage Bankers Association purchase applications
• 8:15 a.m. – ADP employment report
• 10:00 a.m. – Factory orders
• 10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly petroleum status report
• 2:00 p.m. – Federal Reserve Beige Book
• 3:00 p.m. – Treasury STRIPS

While things continue to be very rough here for this for-profit online educator, one analyst is looking through the tea leaves and sees some light at the end of the tunnel.

Deutsche Bank has raised its analyst rating to a somewhat cautious Hold from a prior Sell rating. We would note that most traders and investors consider a Hold rating in negative light, but that is not the case when the upgrade involves removing a formal Sell rating.

The firm has talked about a distressed valuation over enrollment and placement issues, as well as the ongoing regulatory reviews. Deutsche Bank is not exactly calling for improvement. The firm’s take is that there is limited downside as of now, even if the enrollments continue to decline.

As this is a Hold rating, the price target is immaterial. It is always interesting when a brokerage firm tries to call a bottom after a highly extended period of negative trends. It also requires for investors and traders to recall one caveat about a light at the end of a tunnel. Sometimes that light is truly the end of the tunnel. Sometimes that light is a freight train headed your way.

Apollo Group shares are up 5.8% at $17.154 on the upgrade today, against a 52-week trading range of $15.98 to $43.80.

A.G. Mortgage Investment Trust (NYSE: MITT) started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) started as Outperform with $48 target at Credit Suisse.

Altera Corp. (NASDAQ: ALTR) named bear of the day due to weakening demand for its products and increased competition at Zacks Investment Research.

Apollo Group Inc. (NASDAQ: APOL) raised to Hold at Deutsche Bank.

Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLF) cut to Market Perform at BMO.

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc. (NASDAQ: CBRL) reiterated Buy and raised price target by $10 to $88 at Argus.

EV Energy Partners L.P. (NASDAQ: EVEP) raised to Outperform with $57 target at Credit Suisse.

Flowers Foods Inc. (NYSE: FLO) named Bull of the Day because of growing market share and expanding margins at Zacks Investment Research.

Health Insurance Innovations Inc. (NASDAQ: HIIQ) started as Outperform with $17 price target at Credit Suisse.

MGIC Investment Corp. (NYSE: MTG) raised to Overweight from Underweight at Barclays.

Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) started as Outperform at RBC.

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) raised to Buy at Cantor Fitzgerald.

HLC is the university’s institutional accreditor and the end result is that the peer review team determined that the University of Phoenix is not in compliance with Criterion One of the Criteria for Accreditation, Core Component 1d, and certain of the related Minimum Expectations. These points all relate to the university’s administrative structure and governance.

The team has now recommended that HLC place the University on Probation status as the University of Phoenix has insufficient autonomy in relation to its parent (Apollo Group) as far as its board of directors management independence.

Some good news was included: the team found that University of Phoenix was in compliance with substantially all other Criteria of Accreditation, including the criteria associated with academic matters and student services, and, with one recommendation of a follow up report, all the applicable Federal Compliance Program Components. It was also noted that this team “specifically noted that the University is well resourced and innovative and has many strengths, including a high level of relevant student services and technology and systems that benefit students and provide a consistent approach to facilitate learning across its programs and facilities.”

Some of this data had been telegraphed by the company before but on a lesser scale. It previously disclosed in January that the HLC had informed University of Phoenix that the draft review report would include a recommendation that the University be placed on Notice status. The problem is that this “Probation” is worse than the “Notice” status. Apollo said in the filing that the HLC did not explain why the recommendation changed from Notice to Probation.

The University of Phoenix did say that it intends to challenge and appeal this formal Probation recommendation while it works with HLC to reach an agreement on an appropriate governance model. The draft report also identified other areas of concern which will require future reporting and follow-up activities by the University. While those were not said to be the basis of the Probation, these include retention and graduation rates, sufficiency of Ph.D program faculty research activity, the reliance on federal student financial aid, assessment of student learning; and documenting credit hour policies and practices with regard to learning outcomes of learning teams.

Here is the problem for the university and for Apollo:

If the Probation recommendation is approved, the draft report recommends a probationary period through the Fall of 2014, with the requirement that University of Phoenix submit a probation report at that time demonstrating that the specified matters have been ameliorated. In addition, the draft report also recommends that University of Phoenix be required to submit within three months of any final decision by the HLC Board of Trustees with regard to the initial recommendation of Probation a plan delineating the manner in which it will achieve compliance with the specified conditions.

Apollo’s SEC filing also showed that its Western International University received from the review team a finding that this subsidiary is not in compliance with three of the Criteria for Accreditation, including governance. It recommended that Western International University be placed on Probation status as well.

The company warned,

If, after completing the review and appeal of the team and IACFC recommendations, HLC elects to impose the sanction of Probation, the reputation of University of Phoenix and/or WIU, as the case may be, could be adversely affected, which in turn may negatively impact their ability to recruit and enroll students and to recruit and retain faculty and staff. To the extent that the sanctions have this effect, our business could be materially and adversely affected. We intend to work vigorously and closely with HLC to address their concerns in due course, and the HLC peer review team for the University of Phoenix has indicated in its draft report that it is confident that its concerns can be successfully addressed by the University. However, if University of Phoenix should lose its institutional accreditation, our business would be substantially impaired and we would not be able to continue our business as it is presently conducted.

Apollo Group’s shares closed down 4% at $17.83 on the day at what was already a 52-week low as the prior range in the last year has been $18.36 to $52.05. Its market cap at the close was $2.01 billion and shares were indicated down about 2% more at about $17.50 in the after-hours trading session.

Investors need to know that Apollo is the leader of the for-profit sector of education. It has been a constant and deliberate target of attacks and the current climate of education under the “for-profit” status has been under attack.

For the for-profit education sector to compete and win in the world of education, it has a simple goal that will be difficult to overcome. The for-profit education sector needs to be able to offer the same education or better education at a better price and it needs to be able to get to the point that its placement rates and after graduation are close to the same as the non-profit education.

We would bring up a serious point here that will sound very sarcastic but it not sarcastic at all. If you pay for your education or that of your kids, or if you go take out a student loan… Does it feel like your non-profit university or college is not really out for a profit? That is what has been missing from the online and for-profit universities in their fight for relevance.

The company counts Macy’s Inc. (NYSE: M), Apollo Group Inc. (NASDAQ: APOL), Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE), and Symantec Corp. (NASDAQ: SYMC) among its customers, and says it has business relationships with Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU), Bing from Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT), Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB), and Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO). Marin identified competitors Google’s DoubleClick advertising platform, Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE), and other privately held firms.

Marin expects about 23.27 million shares to be outstanding following the IPO, a total which does not include about 4.9 million additional shares issued or issuable, not does the total include shares reserved for future issuance under an equity compensation plan.

The company currently claims about 400 employees and will trade on the NYSE under the ticker symbol MRIN.

The U.S. dollar index rose 0.23% today, now at 80.538. The GSCI commodity index is up 0.2% at 650.18, with commodities prices mixed again today. WTI crude oil closed essentially unchanged today, at $93.10 a barrel, following today’s report of a 1.3 million barrel increase in crude stocks (more coverage here). Brent crude trades down about 0.3% at $111.67 a barrel. Natural gas is down 3.2% today at about $3.12 per million BTUs. Gold settled dow 0.4% today at $1,655.50 an ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up about 2 points to 13,390.90 (0.47%), the NASDAQ rose about 14 points (0.45%) to 3,105.81, and the S&P 500 rose 0.26% or nearly 4 points to 1,461.01.

There were a several analyst upgrades and downgrades of note today, including Monsanto Co. (NYSE: MON) raised to ‘buy’ with a price target of $114 at Argus; Dunkin’ Brands Group Inc. (NASDAQ: DNKN) raised to ‘buy’ at Janney; Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) maintained as ‘underperform’ but price target raised to $68 at BofA/Merrill Lynch; Ralph Lauren Corp. (NYSE: RL) raised to ‘outperform’ at Macquarie; and Sysco Corp. (NYSE: SYY) cut to ‘underweight’ at Morgan Stanley.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night resulted in some price moves today, including these as of the last half hour of trading: Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) is unchanged at $9.10 (more coverage here); Apollo Group Inc. (NASDAQ: APOL) is down 7.4% at $19.39 (more coverage here); Constellation Brands Inc. (NYSE: STZ) is down 0.6% at $35.84 (more coverage here); Greenbrier Companies Inc. (NYSE: GBX) is up 3.6% at $17.89 (more coverage here); and Helen of Troy Ltd. (NASDAQ: HELE) is up 2.7% at $34.44.

After markets close today and before they open tomorrow morning we are scheduled to hear from Ruby Tuesday Inc. (NYSE: RT), Texas Industries Inc. (NYSE: TXI), and Supervalu Inc. (NYSE: SVU).

Some standouts from today include the following stocks:

Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSIQ) is up 18.6% at $4.39. The Chinese solar panel maker is leading solar stocks higher today, following a Chinese government announcement that the country will install 10,000 megawatts of solar power generation this year. More coverage here.

Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) is down 7.9% at $3.73. The mobile phone maker had no news today, but chatter about a cheap iPhone can’t be helping the stock price.

Clearwire Corp. (NASDAQ: CLWR) is up 7.7% at $3.15. The wireless carrier received a counter-bid from Dish Network Corp. (NASDAQ: DISH) to the offer from majority owner Sprint Nextel Inc. (NYSE: S). More coverage here.

Herbalife Inc. (NYSE: HLF) is up 3.8% at $39.82. The weight loss and nutritional supplement seller picked up a supporter today, with a large purchase of its stock by private equity firm Third Point LLC. Reuters reported late today that the SEC has opened an inquiry into the company. More coverage here.

Stay tuned for Thursday. Kansas City Fed President Esther George, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, and Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota are giving speeches. We have also noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

• 8:30 a.m. – New claims for unemployment benefit
• 10:00 a.m. – Wholesale trade
• 10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly natural gas storage report
• 1:00 p.m. – 30-year note auction
• 4:30 p.m. – Fed balance sheet and money supply