The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up more than 83 points to 12,758.85 (0.66%), the NASDAQ rose nearly 32 points (1.14%) to 2,818.31, and the S&P 500 rose 0.87% or more than 11 points to 1,326.06.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) cut to ‘neutral’ at JPMorgan; Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) raised to ‘outperform’ at Oppenheimer; Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL) cut to ‘neutral’ at Macquarie; and Regions Financial (NYSE: RF) raised to ‘outperform’ at RBC Capital and cut to ‘neutral’ at BofA/Merrill Lynch. Znyga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) gets starting calls from four brokers: ‘overweight’ at Barclays and JPMorgan; ‘buy’ at Goldman Sachs; and ‘neutral’ at BofA/Merrill Lynch.

Earnings reports since markets closed on last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Apple is up 6.4% at $447.17, after posting a new 52-week high this morning of $454.45; Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) is up nearly 3% at $6.72; Altera Corp. (NASDAQ: ALTR) is up 1% at $40.54; Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) is down -0.6% at $15.60; ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) is down -0.9% at $70.01; Praxair Inc. (NYSE: PX) is down -2.8% at $106.05; Wellpoint Inc. (NYSE: WLP) is down -4.9% at $66.01; US Airways Group Inc. (NYSE: LCC) is up more than 18% at $7.59; and Xerox Corp. (NYSE: XRX) is down nearly -10% at $7.81.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Illumina Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN) is up more than 46% at $55.16. The genetic testing instrument maker is the target of a $5.7 billion hostile takeover offer from Roche Holdings AG.

Rubicon Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: RBCN) is down nearly -12% at $10.66. The LED lighting maker was downgraded from ‘buy’ to ‘hold’ at Needham yesterday on low demand.

Indiana Community Bancorp (NASDAQ: INCB) is up about 44% at $20.90 after posting a new 52-week high of $21.34 earlier. The bank holding company has agreed to be acquired by Old National Bancorp (NYSE: ONB) in an all-stock transaction.

Complete Genomics Inc. (NASDAQ: GNOM) is up 19% to $2.98. The DNA-sequencing company is getting a boost from the hostile takeover bid for Illumina.

NuVasive Inc. (NASDAQ: NUVA) is up about 19% at $16.31. The medical device maker had its shares stopped today following a report that it would not receive an injunction against selling a disputed product.

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

• 8:30 a.m. – Durable goods orders
• 8:30 a.m. – New claims for unemployment benefits
• 10:00 a.m. – New home sales
• 10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly natural gas storage report
• 4:30 p.m. – Fed balance sheet and money supply reports

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Paul Ausick

Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALXN) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) Cut to Equal-weight at Morgan Stanley.
Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) Maintained Neutral and cut target to $14 from $16 at Credit Suisse.
Hospira Inc. (NYSE: HSP) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML, but named Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Itron Inc. (NASDAQ: ITRI) Started as Outperform with $60 target at Credit Suisse; maintained Buy and $50 target at Canaccord Genuity.
Kindred Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE: KND) named as Value stock of the day at Zacks.
Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) Cut to Neutral at Citigroup (boy, how timely).
Praxair Inc. (NYSE: PX) Cut to Underperform from Buy at BofA/ML.
Range Resources Corporation (NYSE: RRC) Reiterated Sell at Canaccord Genuity.
Tim Hortons, Inc (NYSE: THI) Started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Urban Outfitters Inc. (NASDAQ: URBN) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) Cut to Market Perform at FBR.

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JON C. OGG

BHP Billiton (BHP) Started as Outperform at RBC.
Costco (COST) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Digital River (DRIV) Raised to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Goodyear Tire (GT) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Praxair (PX) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Pzena Investment (PZN) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Reynolds American (RAI) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Rockwell Automation (ROK) Cut to Underperform at Baird.
Vimpel Comm (VIP) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Vulcan Materials (VMC) Cut to Sell at Citigroup.

JON C. OGG

• Abbott Laboratories (ABT) $0.93 EPS versus $0.92 estimate; sees Q1 EPS $0.61 to $0.63 versus $0.65 estimates and sees 2008 EPS $3.20 to $3.25 versus $3.22 estimate.
• Advanced Energy Industries Inc. (NASDAQ: AEIS) traded down over 10% after after it lowered guidance.
• Air Products (APD) $1.16 EPS vs $1.13 estimates. 
• Apple Inc. (AAPL) trading down 10% after it posted $1.76 EPS on $9.6 Billion revenues; Estimates were $1.62 EPS on revenues of $9.47 Billion; Guidance for next quarter is $0.94 EPS and revenues $6.8 Billion versus estimates of $1.09 EPS on $6.98 Billion in revenues.
• Baidu.com (BIDU) announces the formal launch of its Japanese language search engine run by its Japanese subsidiary.
• CheckPoint Software (CHKP) trading up almost 5% after $0.46 EPS versus $0.45 est.; Revenues $206.7M vs. $202.3M est.;
• CNH Global (CNH) $0.50 EPS versus $0.60 estimate.
• Coach (COH) $0.69 EPS vs $0.68 estimate; noted weak mall traffic and decline in average transaction size.
• EntreMed (ENMD) is starting its Phase II study with its MKC-1 cell cycle inhibitor in ovarian cancer and advanced endometrial cancer.
• Ethan Allen (ETH) posted $0.70 EPS versus $0.68 estimate.
• Foster Wheeler (FWLT) trades ex-split to reflect a 2 for 1 stock split.
• General Dynamics (GD) $1.42 EPS vs. $1.41 estimate; sees 2008 EPS $5.55 to $5.65 versus $5.73 estimate.
• HOKU Scientific Inc. (HOKU) traded down 10% after earnings beat but guidance was deemed light.
• INX (INXI) awarded Department of Defense contract to provide up to $21 million in support  of a Cisco Systems network pact.
• Martek Biosciences (MATK) noted a December publication showed its DHA may help in late-onset Alzheimer’s, although NIH study results will be in 2010.
• Parametric (PMTC) $0.26 EPS vs. $0.23 estimate; sees next quarter $0.24 to $0.28 vs. $0.26 estimate; sees 2008 EPS $1.17 to $1.27 vs. $1.16 estimate (revenue in-line).
• Praxair (PX) $0.98 EPS vs $0.97 estimate.
• Qualcomm (QCOM) expanded relationship with Motorola for chipsets into certain UMTS 3G handsets in 2008 and 2009.
• RLI Corp. (RLI) $1.22 EPS versus $1.05 estimate.
• Rockwell Automation (ROK) $1.04 EPS vs. $1.01 estimates; guides 200 EPS $4.25 to $4.45 versus $4.38 estimate.
• Southwest Airlines (LUV) $0.12 EPS vs. $0.10 estimate ; reigned in 2008 growth plans to 4%-5% capacity.
• Texas Instruments Inc. (TXN) has posted earnings of $0.54 EPS and revenues of $3.56 Billion; analysts pegged at $0.52 EPS on $3.58 Billion in revenues; sees Next quarter $0.43 to $0.49 EPS on revenues of $3.27 to $3.55 Billion versus estimates of $0.45 EPS on $3.41 Billion in revenues.
• TJX Companies (TJX) was Jim Cramer’s retail pick on CNBC’s MAD MONEY last night.
• United Tech (UTX) $1.08 EPS vs. $1.06 estimate; sees 2008 $4.65 to $4.85 versus $4.85 estimate.
• Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) will begin Phase III evaluation of telaprevir for its lead investigational hepatitis C protease inhibitor.
• WellPoint (WLP) $1.51 EPS versus $1.51 estimate.
• Werner Enterprises (WERN) $0.28 EPS vs. $0.28 estimate.

Jon C. Ogg
January 23, 2008

• Air Products (APD) & Praxair (PX) were both downgraded to Neutral at JPMorgan.
• Amecia Movil SA (AMX) started as Overweight at HSBC.
• Gol Intelligent Airlines (GOL) downgraded from Neutral at Sell at UBS.
• MasterCard (MA) raised to Outperform at Keefe Bruyette Woods.
• 3M (MMM) & United Technology (UTX) both started as Neutral at Banc of America.
• Medarex (MEDX) downgraded from Outperform to Peer Perform at Bear Stearns.
• Newmont Mining (NEM) downgraded from neutral to Underweight at HSBC.
• UBS (UBS) raised to Outperform at Bear Stearns.
• Vimpel Communications (VIP) downgraded from Peer Perform to Underperform at Bear Stearns.
• Wrigley (WWY) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Lehman Brothers.

See full notes on Starbucks downgrade at Goldman Sachs.

Jon C. Ogg
December 11, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Apparently, some new company is out in the alternative energy and green tech sector if you trust the name, although you are on your own because they are on the OTC PINK SHEETS.  Global Warming Solutions (PINKSHEETS:GWSO) issued a corporate update.

Florida Power & Light Co. (NYSE:FPL) today asked the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) for permission to expand power production capacity at its currently operating Turkey Point and St. Lucie nuclear power plants.

Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Limited (NYSE:YGE) entered into a new mid to long term agreement with Wacker Chemie AG of Germany.  Wacker will supply Yingli Green Energy with polysilicon from 2009 to 2011. The total amount of polysilicon supplied will allow Yingli Green Energy to produce over 80MW of PV modules over the life of the agreement.

Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:OPTT) announced its results for the first quarter of its fiscal year ending April 30, 2008. Revenues were $556,000 compared with $305,000 in the three months ended July 31, 2006; net loss of $2.4 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2008 compared with a net loss of $1.7 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2007. Stock fell 3.2% to $13.27, still with a $135 million market cap.

PennFuture: Wind Energy Vital to Pennsylvania’s Economy, Environment and Public Health…. This is music to General Electric’s (NYSE:GE) ears as they are the top wind power turbine maker in North America. 

Northeast Advanced Vehicle Consortium signs contracts on Six New Fuel Cell Bus Projects with Federal Transit Administration:  State-of-the-Art Fuel Cell Buses to be deployed In Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York.  UTC Power, GE Research, New York Power Authority, Nuvera, Massport, CT Transit,  Ballard Power Systems, New Flyer, and others to be involved.  STOCK TICKERS: UTX, GE, BLDP.

Praxair, Inc. (NYSE: PX) and Foster Wheeler North America Corp., a US subsidiary of Foster Wheeler Ltd. (Nasdaq: FWLT) have signed a multi-year agreement that calls for the joint pursuit of certain demonstration projects that will incorporate clean coal technologies and integrated oxy-coal combustion systems into coal-fired electric generating plants to facilitate capture and sequestration of carbon dioxide (CO2).

Pure Biofuels Corp. (OTCBB:PBOF), a leader in the South American biofuel industry, today announced the closing of a $30 million round of private financing consisting of a $10 million convertible note and a $20 million secured credit facility.

Goldman Sachs today issued its new Super Spike price band for oil saying we are in Phase 2 of the cycle.  This now lays out the possibilities for up to $135 per barrel and up to $4.50 per gallon at the pump. Remember, this isn’t a prediction these go there, it’s just a range for super-spikes in prices based upon today’s conditions.  They did give new actual targets though, and the call is for higher prices to remain.

Jon C. Ogg
September 17, 2007

As a reminder, whether you prefer the term "Global Warming" or "Climate Change" is not the issue as far as 24/7 Wall St. covers it.  Green business has become big business, and this affects many public companies today.