The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down about 11 points to 12,705.41 (-0.09%), the NASDAQ rose more than 11 points (0.4%) to 2,859.68, and the S&P 500 rose 0.11% or nearly 1.5 points to 1,325.54.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) raised to ‘overweight’ at JPMorgan; Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (NYSE: EW) cut to ‘neutral’ at Credit Suisse; AK Steel Holding Corp. (NYSE: AKS) cut to ‘underperform’ at BofA/Merrill Lynch; Steel Dynamics Inc. (NASDAQ: STLD) cut to ‘neutral’ at BofA/Merrill Lynch; and Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM) started as ‘buy’ at Canaccord Genuity.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) is up nearly 24% at $66.30; Education Management Corp. (NASDAQ: EDMC) is down -17% at $21.19; Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ) is down -0.6% at $24.62; Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) is up 2.2% at $60.88 after posting a new 52-week high of $61.93 earlier today; Beazer Homes USA Inc. (NYSE: BZH) is up 3.2% at $3.27; Boston Scientific Corp. (NYSE: BSX) is down -3.9% at $5.85; Brinks Co. (NYSE: BCO) is down -17.5% at $24.43; Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (NYSE: DO) is up 0.35% at $63.29; Lear Corp. (NYSE: LEA) is down -1.2% at $42.48; Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK) is down -0.3% at $38.51; Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO) is down -0.3% at $15.71; and Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIAB) is down -0.9% at $46.53.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) is up nearly 18% at $12.49 after posting a new post-IPO high of $12.91 earlier today. The social games company got a big boost from Facebook’s IPO filing. Our coverage is here.

MediciNova Inc. (NASDAQ: MNOV) is up nearly 31% at $2.47. The company received a favorable patent notice for a multiple sclerosis treatment device.

Response Genetics Inc. (NASDAQ: RGDX) is up more than 27% at $1.50. The drug maker announced the private placement of about 5.3 million shares at $1.50/share, about 28% higher than last night’s closing price.

BioScrip Inc. (NASDAQ: BIOS) is up more than 15% at $6.73. The pharmacy services provider has sold a portion of its assets to Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG) for $225 million.

Ur-Energy Inc. (AMEX: URG) is down more than -13% at $1.22. The uranium miner has issued 1.5 million shares of new stock to agents who will attempt to sell at CDN$1.00.

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

• 8:30 a.m. – Non-farm payroll report
• 10:00 a.m. – Factory orders
• 10:00 a.m. – ISM non-manufacturing (services) index

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Paul Ausick

We have provided estimates from Thomson Reuters on each and offered commentary and guidance on some of these companies.  More detailed previews will be available Tuesday morning for the reports due after the closing bell:

Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET) estimates are $0.98 EPS and $8.49 billion.  Watch the medical loss ratio here as it seems to be in quarters past that insurance outfits have been making more money than they were supposed to be making once the new healthcare laws go into effect.  With shares around $44, the year high is $46.01.

The Allstate Corporation (NYSE: ALL) will prove if it has everyone in good hands or not.  Thomson Reuters has estimates of $0.97 EPS.  With shares around $29, its 52-week range is $22.27 to $34.40.

AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) has now seen shares bounce 60% off of the bottom and that is despite the recent news that Facebook is taking much of the new advertising market share.  Estimates are $0.16 EPS per Thomson Reuters data but we just saw $0.28 noted in a Dow Jones preview yesterday.  That being said, we are staying out of this one.

BMC Software Inc. (NASDAQ: BMC) is expected to post $0.82 EPS on almost $556 million in sales.

Capstead Mortgage Corp. (NYSE: CMO) is not a market moving stock, but investors who are into the world of high-yielding mortgage REITs will be watching.  The estimate is $0.41 EPS (actually FFO) and the next dividend will be likely dependent upon that report.  Its dividend yield screens north of 13% today.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) is a cult stock if there every was one and now its valuation is close to $11.5 billion and the stock is within 2% of its all-time high. Thomson Reuters has a consensus of $1.83 EPS and $591.1 million in sales.  For 2012, the estimates are $8.68 EPS and 2.7 billion in revenues.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) is another huge cult stock down on its luck from recent highs.  The stock is still down by more than half.  Thomson Reuters has estimate at $0.36 EPS and $1.06 billion in sales.

JDS Uniphase Corporation (NASDAQ: JDSU) still has a huge shareholder base that got buried in the first big tech bubble.  At $12.75, the 52-week range is $8.59 to $29.12.  Thomson Reuters has a consensus of $0.10 EPS and $390.9 million.

Las Vegas Sands Corporation (NYSE: LVS) is also within striking distance of a near-term high as shares are currently around $49.00 against a 52-week range of $36.05 to $50.68.  The consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters are $0.57 EPS and $2.46 billion in sales. 

NASDAQ OMX Group Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ) is a value stock when it comes to the exchanges and it is not supposedly trying to do any crazy merger right now.  At $25.00 the 52-week range is $20.32 to $29.71.  The consensus estimate is $0.62 EPS and $417.8 million. 

QUALCOMM Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM)is within striking distance of its yearly high as shares are around $58.80 and the 52-week range is $45.98 to $59.84.  Thomson Reuters has estimates of $0.90 EPS on $4.57 billion in revenues. Next quarter estimates are $0.89 EPS and $4.49 billion in sales.  Keep in mind that if it rallies much more than the current $98.8 billion market cap will be $100 billion.

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The CBSX has now entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the NSX to expand the CBOE footprint.  In the release, it states that the CBSX will operate the NSX as a separate exchange but it will have savings from consolidating its data systems and its business operations.  While the deal is subject to SEC approval, this exchange merger  is tiny compared to acquisitions and mergers in exchanges.  The CME Group Inc. (NYSE: CME), NYSE Euronext, Inc. (NYSE: NYX), NASDAQ OMX Group (NASDAQ: NDAQ) and others have all made far larger acquisitions in the world of exchanges.

The CBOE offers trading in more than 7,600 equities and exchange traded funds listed on exchanges in the U.S. and the NSX has offices in Jersey City, New Jersey and in Chicago. If you look at the NSX equity trading volumes just for September, it looks as though the exchange averages more than 40 million shares per day. It noted that the September 22 trading data was 273,773 trades representing some 63,438,371 shares.  The September 16 trading data showed ‘only’ 170,684 trades but with a trading volume 90,568,375 shares.

CBOE shares are down 0.5%% at $26.21 on the news today and the 52-week trading range is $19.60 to $29.77.  Keep in mind that the CBOE has only been public since summer of 2010, and back then it was trading at just over $30.00 per share.

It is too soon to tell how this will alter Wall Street profit and sales targets.  Thomson Reuters currently has estimates of $1.53 EPS on sales of just over $510 million for 2011, but the deal is not expected to close until the fourth quarter.  The 2012 estimates are $1.74 EPS on about $557 million in sales.  Thomson Reuters also has a consensus price target of almost $26.50 on the stock.

JON C. OGG

The head of the World Bank says the global economy has entered a danger zone. (Reuters)

General Motors (NYSE: GM) and Chrysler extend talks with the UAW. (Reuters)

Government officials say the EU may reach a credit crunch. (Reuters)

Reuters poll: economists think there is a one-in-three chance the economy will hit a recession. (Reuters)

Groupon’s IPO is back on schedule. (Reuters)

Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) new products get no support from Wall St. (Reuters)

Facebook delays its IPO until late 2012. (Reuters)

Avis (NASDAQ: CAR) drops its bid for Dollar Thrfty (NYSE: DTG); Hertz (NYSE: HTZ) will not buy the company. (Reuters)

Head of Nasdaq (NASDAQ: NDAQ) again objects to merger of NYSE (NYSE: NYX) and Deutsche Boerse. (Reuters)

More clients leave EU banks for U.S. ones. (WSJ)

SEC expands its examination of mortgage-backed securities. (WSJ)

U.S. banks begin to loan money to companies with lower credit ratings. (WSJ)

U.S. manufacturing losing steam again. (WSJ)

Sharp says it would lower targets for tablet PC sales. (WSJ)

Aol (NYSE: AOL), Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) and MSN (NASDAQ: MSFT) to sell advertising as a group to combat Google (NASDAQ: GOOG). (WSJ)

SAIC (NYSE: SAI) cleared of insider trading violations. (WSJ)

Gulf drilling increases again. (WSJ)

Verizon (NYSE: VZ) says Irene cost it $250 million. (WSJ)

The College Board says SAT scores dropped in all but three states. (WSJ)

Italy approves austerity plans. (WSJ)

Toyota (NYSE: TM) joins U.S. universities in safety studies. (WSJ)

Honda (NYSE: HMC) to push its hybrid cars in China. (WSJ)

New companies cut start-up staffs in half. (WSJ)

Most U.S. IPO listings from this year are underwater. (WSJ)

Germany and France say they expect Greece to stay in the eurozone. (NYT)

China wants to improve trade relationships with the EU if it buys government debt from nations in the region. (NYT)

U.S. mortgage applications rise as rates fall. (FT)

Ebay (NASDAQ: EBAY) to expand it payment options. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

It turns out that the bulk of financial institutions are at a disadvantage as well.  An outfit called Liquidnet, an institutional marketplace, noted that about two-thirds of institutions are worried about HFT, led by global firms and in the U.S. and in Europe.

Liquidnet conducted a Institutional Voice Survey that polled 630 institutional asset management firms in its contact list, which are said to manage a sum of more than $13 trillion and who have about 70% of the assets managed in the United States.  This year’s data is based upon more than 300 responses.  The results: “strong conviction among the vast majority of long-only traders that HFT is a negative for institutional investors trading in large size…”

Liquidnet went on to say that investors are “clearly concerned that their long-term investment styles are at odds with the speculative, nano-second profit taking approach utilized by high frequency traders.”

As far as more detailed figures, Aite Group and Tabb Group gave studies saying “almost 75 percent of overall daily equities trading can be attributed to high frequency trading.”  In short, the machines and programs are just buying and selling shares back and forth to each other all day long.

The results showed that (at the top five global institutions) there were 73% of the traders who regarded HFT as a high-priority market-structure issue.  North American traders were at two-thirds concerned, while 60% of European respondents were concerned, and more than 50% of Asia Pacific traders were concerned.

At the beginning of the summer we talked about the new angle of trading stocks in one-billionth of a second.  That was the nanosecond trading.  The flipside is the market risks: imagine if one billion orders came to the market in a second.  The only good news is that the odds that you could ever see that take place would take too much money.

If you are Joe Retail, you have no chance at fighting these HFTs.  They get to execute ahead of you, they get to trade sub-penny (try turning in an order with a decimal of less than a penny – like $23.143 – and see what happens), and they have been able to do flash trades in the past.

The only good news we have ever really been able to come up with in a market where there is this much computerized trading is that at least in times of difficulty a retail investor can be assured that there is a better chance that there will be a bid or ask out there in more active stocks.

If Liquidnet is right, now it is not just Joe Retail who is worried about the impact of the markets under the wave of HFTs.

Just do not ask NYSE Euronext, Inc. (NYSE: NYX) nor Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ) to come to your aid.  If there is really anywhere close to 75% of the trades coming from HFT, they are loving that these entities exist.  Imagine what might happen to share trading volume if these HFTs disappeared.  THat wouldn’t be good for the NYSE nor for NASDAQ.

Follow the money…

JON C. OGG

This last week’s top analyst calls of the week were in the following: Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI); Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL); Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT); Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO); Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW); Dunkin’ Brands Group (NASDAQ: DNKN); Lennar Corporation (NYSE: LEN); Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU); Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: MSI); NASDAQ OMX Group (NASDAQ: NDAQ); SodaStream International Ltd. (NASDAQ: SODA); The Talbots Inc. (NYSE: TLB); Teavana Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: TEA); Tesoro Corporation (NYSE: TSO); and TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO).

Just a week ago we evaluated the myth of The Curse of September, and so far that myth is not bucking the trend seen in the two years before this one.  We saw Credit Suisse trim GDP and the S&P 500 for 2011 and 2012, via the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE: SPY).  We even saw hedge fund bearish sentiment reach an extreme high, something which usually is a calling card for a reversal by contrarian investors.  There were quite a few analyst calls with big impacts this last week.

Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) was initiated with coverage this last Tuesday with a BUY rating and a $16.00 target at Citigroup.  What makes this call so interesting is not just that the pullback this week brought it back down to $11.42 for 40$ upside to the new target.  The consensus price target is $14.35.  What is interesting here is that the $16 target is close to the cycle highs back in 2008 before the meltdown started.  With a great game line-up and with a steady revenue stream from monthly subscriptions, it makes you wonder if there is really that much upside.  That is a “Street High” target.

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) will cut 40,000 jobs (WSJ)

Nasdaq OMX (NASDAQ: NDAQ) will press its objections about the NYSE (NYSE: NYX) merger with Deutsche Borse (WSJ)

The SEC is close to a deal with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over their disclosure about sub-prime mortgage risks (NYT)

Solar company Solyndra is under criminal investigation over whether the company’s management mislead the government to get loans (WSJ)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Economic problems to be the focus of G7 meetings. (Reuters)

One Super Congress member threatens to quit over concerns about military budget cuts. (Reuters)

Twitter has 100 million active users and another 100 million who rarely used the service. (Reuters)

Concerns about Bernanke’s comments on the economy push stocks lower. (Reuters)

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) buys Zagat to compete in the local review market. (Reuters)

A large Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) shareholder pushes for changes on the board. (Reuters)

Nasdaq (NASDAQ: NDAQ) pushes opposition to the NYSE (NYSE: NYX) merger with Deutsche Boerse. (Reuters)

Small business at the center of Obama’s tax cut proposals. (WSJ)

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) may cut 40,000 jobs. (WSJ)

China’s inflation drops to 6.2%. (WSJ)

Walmart (NYSE: WMT) to bring back layaway plans. (WSJ)

A large patent bill passes the Senate. (WSJ)

Zynga uses behavior targeting to improve revenue. (WSJ)

OECD cuts growth estimates for the U.S. and EU. (WSJ)

Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) may reach a deal with California on internet taxes. (WSJ)

FDA approves use of anticoagulant drug Xarelto from Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) and Bayer AG. (WSJ)

Samsung to use more Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) based tablets as Google Android tablets face legal problems from Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL). (WSJ)

Mortgage rates hit an all-time low of 4.12%. (WSJ)

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may settle with regulators over their disclosures of problems with subprime mortgages. (NYT)

Google defends its huge use of electric power. (NYT)

ESPN extends its deal with the NFL for $15.2 billion. (FT)

Different goals of AT&T (NYSE: T) and Deutsche Telekom (NYSE: DT) could hurt efforts to get government approval of the T-Mobile deal. (Bloomberg)

Questions over valuation stall the VW merger with Porsche. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Abaxis, Inc. (NASDAQ: ABAX) maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE: BUD) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) Reiterated Buy with $19 target at Argus.
The Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Capital One Financial Corporation (NYSE: COF) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Career Education Corp. (NASDAQ: CECO) maintained Buy but cut target to $21 from $28 at Argus.
Dover Corporation (NYSE: DOV) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Humana, Inc. (NYSE: HUM) Reiterated Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
JDS Uniphase Corporation (NASDAQ: JDSU) Started as Hold at Kaufman Bros.
Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
NASDAQ OMX Group (NASDAQ: NDAQ) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
RF Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: RFMD) Started as Underperform with $5.50 target at BofA/ML.
Skyworks Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: SWKS) Started as Buy with $25 target at BofA/ML.
Tim Hortons Inc. (NYSE: THI) Reiterated Buy with $56 target at BofA/ML.
TriQuint Semiconductor, Inc. (NASDAQ: TQNT) Started as Underperform with $6.75 target at BofA/ML.
Wyndham Worldwide Corporation (NYSE: WYN) named value stock of the day at Zacks.

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JON C. OGG

These become the top analyst calls of the week.  This last week there were many such calls with keen insight and some which stand out from the pack… For better or worse.

This last week’s top research calls were in shares of the following: Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL); Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC); Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE: BSX); Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG); Human Genome Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI); Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE: JNPR); NASDAQ OMX Group (NASDAQ: NDAQ); Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE: NEM); Pandora Media, Inc. (NYSE: P); Priceline.com Incorporated (NASDAQ: PCLN); Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM); Seattle Genetics Inc. (NASDAQ: SGEN); Sequenom Inc. (NASDAQ: SQNM); SLM Corporation (NYSE: SLM); VIVUS Inc. (NASDAQ: VVUS); VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW); and World Fuel Services Corporation (NYSE: INT).

We have included the impact and pricing data on each, as well as added in some outside trading color if applicable.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was in the news after the departure of Steve Jobs as CEO.  What is interesting is that almost every research analyst out there came out and defended Apple saying that this was mostly factored in and that the prospects for Apple remain solid.  Here were some of the calls that we saw:

• Maintained Overweight at JPMorgan;
• Maintained Outperform at Credit Suisse;
• Maintained Buy at BofA/ML;
• Reiterated Buy at Canaccord Adams;
• Maintained Buy at Gabelli;
• Maintained Buy at Deutsche Bank.