The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up about 6 points to 12,883.95 (0.04%), the NASDAQ rose nearly 12 points (0.41%) to 2,915.86, and the S&P 500 rose 0.22% or about 3 points to 1,349.97.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Yum! Brands Inc. (NYSE: YUM) cut to ‘neutral’ at Goldman Sachs; Demand Media Inc. (NYSE: DMD) cut to ‘underweight’ at Morgan Stanley; Annaly Capital Management Inc. (NYSE: NLY) cut to ‘market perform’ at FBR; Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) cut to ‘hold’ at Collins Stewart; and UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) cut to ‘sell’ at Deutsche Bank.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Agrium Inc. (NYSE: AGU) is up 2.16% at $82.95; CVS Caremark Corp. (NYSE: CVS) is up 1.18% at $43.59 after posting a new 52-week high of $44.08 earlier in the day; Ralph Lauren Corp. (NYSE: RL) is up 9.8% at $172.50 after posting a new 52-week high of $178.47 earlier today; Reynolds American Inc. (NYSE: RAI) is down -1.35% at $39.57; Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) is up 0.3% at $38.21 after posting a new 52-week high of $39.23 earlier today; Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) is up 0.95 at $41.34; Wyndham Worldwide Corp. (NYSE: WYN) is up 5.6% at $43.22 after posting a new 52-week high of $43.36 earlier today; and Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. (NASDAQ: BWLD) is up nearly 17% at $82.04 after posting a new 52-week high of $82.45 earlier today.

Our preview of tomorrow’s earnings releases is here. Also see our coverage of earnings for Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) due after markets close today

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Ceasars Entertainment Corp. (NASDAQ: CZR) is up more than 70% at $15.32. The casino owner completed its IPO today, with 1.8 million shares going out at $9/share. We have some issues with this IPO.

FriendFinder Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: FFN) is up nearly 33% at $1.95. The adult dating site had no news today, so this must just be more halo effect from Facebook — or something else.

Teekay Tankers Ltd. (NYSE: TNK) is down more than -12% today at $3.98. The shipping company this morning priced a secondary stock offering of 15 million shares at $4/share.

Akamai Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM) is up about 2% at $34.33. The internet company acquired a Canadian company today, and reports earnings after markets close today. We have more coverage here.

NeuroMetrix Inc. (NASDAQ: NURO) is down more than -17% at $0.95 after posting a new 52-week low of $0.94 earlier today. The medical device maker priced a secondary offering of 10.5 million shares at $1/share this morning.

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

• 8:30 a.m. – New unemployment benefits claims
• 10:00 a.m. – Wholesale trade report
• 10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly natural gas storage report
• 1:00 p.m. – Treasury 30-year bond auction
• 4:30 p.m. – Federal Reserve balance sheet and money supply

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President Obama to ask for a $1.2 trillion increase in the national debt ceiling. (Reuters)

China’s foreign currency reserves drop to $3.18 trillion, a sign that exports have slowed enough to change monetary policy. (Reuters)

Novartis (NYSE: NVS) will cut 2,000 jobs in the U.S. (Reuters)

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) stops iPhone sales in China when crowds become unruly. (Reuters)

Several buyers, including Delta (NYSE: DAL) and US Air (NYSE: LCC), may approach American Airlines parent AMR about a buyout. (Reuters)

Yields fall at Italy and Spain debt sales. (Reuters)

Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) may have retained Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) to look at strategic alternatives. (Reuters)

The Fed may force Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) to leave a number of businesses and some areas of the country. (WSJ)

Goldman Sachs approaches federal officials about buying the troubled bond portfolio of AIG (NYSE: AIG). (WSJ)

A strategic review of PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) by its board likely will not prompt the firing of its CEO, Indra Nooyi. (WSJ)

China sets new rules to make it easier for foreign investors to put capital into the country. (WSJ)

A Wynn Resorts (NASDAQ: WYNN) shareholder files suit about a possible donation the company made to a university in Macau. (WSJ)

Low retail sales raise concerns about the pace of the recovery. (WSJ)

An agency of the U.S. government pressures AMR to keep its pension plans intact. (WSJ)

Eurozone factory output drops in November, based on year-over-year numbers. (WSJ)

The government probes potentially illegal financial activities at Diamond Foods (NASDAQ: DMND). (WSJ)

Several lenders to Sears Holdings’ (NASDAQ: SHLD) suppliers want faster payments to those suppliers. (WSJ)

BMW and Mercedes increase production in the U.S. (WSJ)

Peugeot would like to form a broad alliance with another car company. (WSJ)

International bond investors largely believe a deal on Greek debt will be done, but not on the terms Greece expects. (WSJ)

China may invest some of its foreign reserves in stocks to get better returns. (WSJ)

Corn prices fall on new, higher estimates of U.S. production. (WSJ)

Members of the 2006 Fed did not anticipate the housing collapse. (NYT)

CVS Caremark (NYSE: CVS) pays $5 million for charging too much for some drugs. (NYT)

Target (NYSE: TGT) will set up small Apple stores inside its retail locations. (NYT)

The creditworthiness of U.S. companies fell over the past 30 years, according to S&P. (FT)

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) and LG discuss a new TV project. (Bloomberg)

Eastman Kodak (NYSE: EK) approaches Citigroup (NYSE: C) for capital it might use as part of a bankruptcy. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up nearly 336 points to 12,101.92 (2.85%), the NASDAQ rose more than 80 points (3.19%) to 2,603.73, and the S&P 500 rose 2.98% or nearly 36 points to 1,241.22.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) cut to ‘neutral’ at JPMorgan. Other ratings actions today include F5 Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV) cut from ‘perform’ to ‘underperform’ at Oppenheimer; Urban Outfitters Inc. (NASDAQ: URBN) raised from ‘outperform’ to ‘Top Pick’ at FBR Capital; Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) added to ‘Strong Buy List’ at Zacks; and Baxter International Inc. (NYSE: BAX) lowered from ‘Top Pick List’ to ‘outperform’ and target price lowered from $61 to $58 at RBC Capital Markets.

Here are today’s post-earnings news reactions with prices during the last half-hour of trading: ConAgra Foods Inc. (NYSE: CAG) is up 4% at $26.18; General Mills Inc. is down about -1% at $39.19; Navistar International Corp. (NYSE: NAV) is up nearly 7% at $39.05; Sanderson Farms Inc. (NASDAQ: SAFM) is down -4% at $48.66; and Jefferies Group Inc. (NYSE: JEF) is up more than 22% at $14.46. After markets close today we get earnings from Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) and Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL). See our 360 coverage on Oracle here and coverage of the ConAgra and General Mills reports here.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Targacept Inc. (NASDAQ: TRGT) is down more than -35% at $5.01, after posting a new 52-week low of $4.92 earlier in the day. The pharmaceutical maker’s anti-depressant drug, developed in conjunction with AstraZeneca plc (NYSE: AZN) has failed a late-stage trial.

Cobalt International Energy Inc. (NYSE: CIE) is up nearly 38% at $13.81. The oil & gas exploration company has signed a production-sharing agreement for a block offshore of Angola. Cobalt owns 40% of the project and is the operator.

Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSIQ) is up nearly 33% at $2.93. The solar panel maker has sold about 86 megawatts of generation to TransCanada Corp. (NYSE: TRP) for approximately $455 million.

Prestige Brand Holdings Inc. (NYSE: PBH) is up nearly 21% at $11.27. The drug and cleaning supplies company paid $660 million for a selection of nonprescription drugs from GlaxoSmithKline PLC (NYSE: GSK).

Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: HOV) is up more than 18% at $1.50. The home builder is riding the wave of good news about new housing starts.

CVS Caremark Corp. (NYSE: CVS) is up about 9% at $39.85, after posting a new 52-week high earlier of $39.86. The healthcare company raised fiscal year guidance and boosted its quarterly dividend by 30%, to $0.1625/share.

Stay tuned for Wednesday. The most widely anticipated report for tomorrow is due at 8:30 a.m. from the National Association of Realtors, which will be revising its new home sales data from 2007 forward. Lower sales of up to -13% are expected. Here are other noteworthy events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

• 7:00 a.m. – Mortgage Bankers Association purchase applications
• 10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly petroleum status report
• 1:00 p.m. – 7-year Treasury note auction

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Read America’s 10 Highest Paid CEOs

Based on the annual CEO Pay Survey 2011 by GMI, 24/7 Wall St. identified the 10 highest paid CEOs. We then analyzed company performance of the highest paid CEOs to determine which pay packages were worth the investment.

Such a review about management compensation is by its nature subjective and different from a board’s reasoning. A board may take into account the long-term record of a CEO who has held his or her job for several years. The board might set a pay package based on an extraordinary year. The directors also may pay a CEO well just before he or she retires. 24/7 Wall St. has downplayed each of these factors, but has not eliminated them. Our judgment of “fairness” is based on what shareholders received in the year as the CEO’s compensation year. Our primary measurements are revenue growth, earnings growth and stock price change.

This is the 24/7 Wall St. list of the 10 highest paid CEOs for 2010 and an analysis of whether their compensations were worth the payments in terms of shareholder returns. All compensation considerations used to set pay, which include board of director criteria from each company, come from SEC-filed proxies.

BANK STAKE GAINS: Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) was listed as a larger position at 64.3+ million shares, higher by almost 4 million shares.  Keep in mind that there are also positions in warrants due 2018 and 2019 in the position at BofA.  Capital One Financial Corporation (NYSE: COF) was raised slightly to 22,200,000 shares worth $879.7 million, but the old stake of 21,100,000 shares worth $1.09 billion. 

BANK STAKES LOWERED OR ELIMINATED (partial): Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) was a much lower stake at 25.1 million shares worth $643 million versus a stake of 33.5 million shares worth some $1.395 billion a quarter earlier.  J. P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) was not even listed as a position, yet it was about 4.7 million shares at the June 30 report ( but there is still a warrant position).  Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) is a lower position of 23,847,900 shares worth $575 million versus the prior position of 33,600,000 shares worth $942 million. XL Group plc (NYSE: XL) was lowered as well to 23.675 million shares worth $445 million versus his previous larger position of 28.23 million shares worth $620 million. NYSE Euronext, Inc. (NYSE: NYX) was dropped from the positions entirely after being listed as 3 million shares a quarter before.

PAULSON’s OTHER LOWERED POSITIONS (partial): SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE: GLD) was cut by more than one-third down to 20,273,540 shares (now worth $3.2 billion) versus 31,500,000 shares worth nearly $4.6 billion previously. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (NASDAQ: TEVA) was cut by more than half to 1,976,900 shares worth $73.5 million from 4.18 million shares worth $201 million.  The stakes in FAMILY DOLLAR STORES INC. (NYSE: FDO) and the stake in MGM RESORTS INTERNATIONAL (NYSE: MGM) were also lowered by Paulson.  Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) was lowered to 15.2 million shares worth $340 million from 23.5 million shares worth $855 million a quarter earlier.

PAULSON’s NEW POSTIONS:  AMC Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: AMCX) is a new position of 5,000,000 shares worth $159 million, making Paulson a zombie fan for The Walking Dead.  Cephalon Inc. (NASDAQ: CEPH) is a new position of 3,684,000 shares worth some $297 million.  Covidien PLC (NYSE: COV) is a new position of 2,000,000 shares with some $88.2 million.  CVS Caremark Corporation (NYSE: CVS) was another new position of 2,500,000 shares worth almost $84 million.

Mylan, Inc. (NASDAQ: MYL) was a higher stake of 24,896,500 shares worth $423 million versus 14,940,000 shares worth $368 million previously.

Fortunately for Mr. Paulson, the markets have recovered handily since the end of September and the start of October.

JON C. OGG

American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) was over 151.6 million shares, SAME AS last quarter.
Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE: BK) was 1,793,915 shares, SAME AS last quarter.
CVS Caremark Corporation (NYSE: CVS) is a NEW POSITION of 5,661,000 shares worth $190.1 million.
Comdisco Holdings (NASDAQ: CDCO) was roughly 1.5 million shares, SAME AS BEFORE.
Coca Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) was right at 200 million shares, SAME AS BEFORE.
ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) is roughly 29.1 million shares, roughly the SAME AS BEFORE but it is still lower than previous quarters.
Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ: COST) 4,333,363 Shares, SAME AS last quarter after having lowered it before.
DirecTV (NASDAQ: DTV) is a NEW POSITION listed as 4,249,400 shares worth $ 179.6 million.
Dollar General Corporation (NYSE: DG) is a LARGER POSITION at 4.497 million shares worth some $169.8 million versus last quarter’s new position of 1,497,800 shares.  This one of our Top Stocks for the Next Decade.
Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) was 421,800 shares; SAME AS before but lower than the 1.276 million shares originally.
Gannett Co. (NYSE: GCI) was 1.74 million, SAME AS BEFORE but decreased in prior quarters.
General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE: GD) is a NEW POSITION of 3.064 million shares worth $174.3 million.
General Electric Corp. (NYSE: GE) is 7.777 million shares; SAME AS before.  Please note that this does not include the huge preferred shares from late in 2008 that are likely to be called from Buffett later this year.
GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) 1.51 million shares, SAME AS last quarter.
Ingersoll-Rand (NYSE: IR) was 636,600; SAME AS last quarter but still way down from prior reports.
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) is a NEW POSITION of 9.333 million shares worth $199.6 million. 
International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE: IBM)  is a NEW POSITION and we found out this morning that Buffett’s stake is nearly 64 million shares worth well over $10 billion with an average cost of about $170 per share.
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) was just over 37.4 million, a LOWER POSITION versus the 42.6 million shares the June quarter and way under the peak of 62 million shares at one point in prior quarters.
Kraft Foods (NYSE: KFT) was a LOWER POSITION at 89.7+ million versus 99,467,624 shares at the June quarter and way down from before selling during the Cadbury purchase.

Despite the revelation made this morning and despite the new positions in IBM and Intel, there is still data not represented in Berkshire Hathaway’s full holdings: Confidential information has been omitted from the Form 13F and filed separately with the Commission.  It looks as though Warren Buffett was again given permission to delay or omit some of the new holdings.

PAGE TWO…BUFFETT HOLDINGS ‘L to Z’

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JON C. OGG

Among NYSE stocks, the short interest in AMD (NYSE: AMD) fell 15% to 80.4 million shares. Shares sold short in embattled airline stock AMR (NYSE: AMR), the parent of American Airlines, dropped by 19% to 48.8 million. Rumors suggest the company may declare Chapter 11. Eastman Kodak (NYSE: EK) may also face bankruptcy. Shares short in the company fell 11% to 70.2 million.

Shares short in BP (NYSE: BP) were down 49% to 7 million. The short interest in struggling drug retailer Rite Aide (NYSE: RAD) dropped 11% to 61.1 million. Shares short in its competitor CVS Caremark (NYSE: CVS) were off 21% to 27.3 million.

In the medical sector, shares short in Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX) were down 19% to 39 million. The short interest in Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) fell 10% to 79.3 million.

The same pattern of abandonment of stocks in weak companies held true for Nasdaq-traded shares. The short interest in Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) dropped 23% to 60.6 million. The short interest in Level 3 (NASDAQ: LVLT) fell 8% to 168.6 million. Shares short in News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWSA) dropped 9% to 51.8 million. The short interest in Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) dropped 6% to 80.7 million. Shares short in Affymetrix (NASDAQ: AFFX) fell 32% to 6.0 million.

Notable increases in short interest included troubled wireless broadband company Clearwire (NASDAQ: CLWR). Shares sold short in the company rose 15% to 47.8 million. The short interest in Southwest Air (NYSE: LUV) was higher by 15% to 25.2 million.

Short interest as of October 14. Data from NYSE and Nasdaq.

Douglas A. McIntyre

We would normally group these alphabetically, but not today.  We grouped these in order of size and then we used an alphabetic order when it came to the same size of a buyback announcement.  The first group is the billions of dollars.

We then grouped the stocks by size again from the under $1 billion down to $500 million, and then we grouped the buybacks of under $500 million down to $200 million.  Usually we would cut the list off at buybacks of the $100 million and higher but the list was already too big so we cut the Buyback Kings off at $200 million for August.  Lastly, we have a chart at the very end tallying it all up…. Some $28.7 billion for just the $200 million and higher in new or expanded buyback announcements.  There were literally dozens of other buybacks that were closer to the $100 million mark and many more that were less than that.

The $1 billion and higher alone which were announced in August were as follows: Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE: LOW); CVS Caremark Corporation (NYSE: CVS); Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ: CELG); Covidien plc (NYSE: COV); Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU); Discovery Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: DISCA); Harris Corporation (NYSE: HRS); and Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE: LMT).

The convenience of online shopping and the ability to make price comparisons on the Internet has completely changed retail trends in the past decade. Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) and other e-commerce sites have already taken a significant lead. Amazon’s revenue in the latest quarter grew 51% to $9.9 billion. If revenue continues to increase at this rate, Amazon will become a $60 billion company next year. That is larger than Lowe’s or Best Buy, and it makes brick-and-mortar retailers shudder.

24/7 Wall St. has analyzed the effectiveness of the e-commerce operations at 25 huge, publicly traded retailers in the U.S. We looked at total revenue for 2010 based on SEC filings. We then considered each company’s web traffic for July 2011 based on data from Experian Hitwise, a research company that measures online audiences. We looked at the total traffic of each company and its share of traffic among the 25 retailers.

This list includes the worst ten retailers in terms of the ratio of annual revenue to the company’s share of Internet traffic among the retailers in July. A retailer with very large revenues but low Internet visits has done a poor job of getting more customers to shop online. Naturally, the largest online retailer, Amazon, received the best e-commerce effectiveness score of 2.1. The higher the score, the worse the performance.

Some of the results are to be expected. Pharmacies and home supply stores such as Home Depot and CVS Caremark do not do particularly well. It seems that although the companies have well-established e-commerce operations and sophisticated websites, people tend to shop for drugstore items and building materials by visiting physical locations. Still, these companies cannot ignore e-commerce, because people increasingly buy items of nearly any kind online.

The most notable result of the analysis is how poorly Walmart did, given its position as the number one retailer in the world and tremendous financial and merchandising resources. Walmart received one of the worst ranks among all the companies considered. Walmart.com is the second most visited e-commerce site on the Internet, based on Hitwise numbers. But the portion of Walmart’s sales that come from e-commerce are extremely small — less that 2%, or $6 billion, according to analysts from Wells Fargo Securities. Craig Johnson, president of Customer Growth Partners LLC, told Bloomberg, “Wal-Mart has been lagging in e-commerce, and the loss of two executives won’t help where the company’s going. It will be challenging for them to build the momentum they need.” The world’s largest retailer recently dismissed its two senior online executives.

The Ten Biggest Stores With No Online Shoppers