American International Group Inc. (NYSE: AIG) Raised to Outperform at Wells Fargo.

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) Raised to Equal-weight at Morgan Stanley.

Foster Wheeler AG (NASDAQ: FWLT) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.

Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE: HOG) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.

KBR Inc. (NYSE: KBR) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.

McDermott International Inc. (NYSE: MDR) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.

Noble Corp. (NYSE: NE) Reiterated Buy with $50 target at Argus.

Platinum Group Metals Ltd. (NYSE: PLG) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Randgold Resources Ltd. (NASDAQ: GOLD) target raised at Goldman Sachs.

Raymond James Financial Inc. (NYSE: RJF) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.

Saks Inc. (NYSE: SKS) Reiterated Buy with $14 target at Argus.

TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO) Started as Neutral at JPMorgan.

Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE: VLO) Raised to Top Pick at Citigroup.

Veolia Environnement S.A. (NYSE: VE) Raised to Buy at Nomura.

Westport Innovations Inc. (NASDAQ: WPRT) Started as Overweight at Piper Jaffray.

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JON C. OGG

RBS cuts 3,500 investment bank jobs. (Reuters)

RealtyTrac reports that foreclosures reached a four-year low in 2011. (Reuters)

International Monetary Fund senior executive Lipton sees no hard landing in China. (Reuters)

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) will delay it web TV plans. (Reuters)

The FCC may ask TV broadcasters to return unused spectrum so it can be auctioned to wireless carriers. (Reuters)

LG’s handset numbers rise in Q4 and the company says it will continue to invest in its wireless division. (Reuters)

Eastman Kodak (NYSE: EK) faces trouble with pension money it owes in the UK. (Reuters)

Raymond James (NYSE: RJF) will buy Morgan Keegan. (Reuters)

An oversupply of natural gas pushes prices to historic lows. (WSJ)

Carlyle’s three founders earned more than $400 million last year. (WSJ)

More senior bankers leave Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS). (WSJ)

CIT (NYSE: CIT) will no longer finance loans to Sears Holdings (NASDAQ: SHLD) suppliers. (WSJ)

Emerging market nations step up their activity as they sell more bonds. (WSJ)

The Environmental Protection Agency releases a list of plants that emit the most greenhouse gases. (WSJ)

Food prices in India fall. (WSJ)

The Fed Beige Book says holiday sales helped the economy at the end of last year. (WSJ)

President Obama to propose tax cuts for companies that bring jobs back from overseas. (WSJ)

Economists surveyed by the Wall Street Journal say Europe is the greatest threat to U.S. expansion. (WSJ)

Daniel Alegre, Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) chief in Asia, says the company will press for more market share in China. (WSJ)

Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) finds an unapproved fungicide in orange juice products. (WSJ)

Hotels establish a booking site to compete with Priceline (NASDAQ: PCLN). (WSJ)

Industry researchers Gartner and IDC say PC shipments fell in the past quarter. (WSJ)

Chevron (NYSE: CVX) says its fourth-quarter results were weak. (WSJ)

News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) may make a bid for the LA Dodgers. (WSJ)

Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE: ADM) will cut 1,000 jobs. (WSJ)

Coors Light passes Bud as the number two beer in the U.S. (WSJ)

Ford (NYSE: F) will introduce new models to try to salvage Lincoln. (WSJ)

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission tightens rules for swaps activity. (WSJ)

The eurozone will be challenged again as members refinance billions of dollars of debt early this year. (NYT)

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to announce programs to extend the mortgage payments of the unemployed. (NYT)

EU oil refiners cut ties with Iran. (FT)

China’s consumer inflation falls to 4.1%. (FT)

The head of Fiat says car makers must merge. (FT)

A move to safety cuts Treasury yields below 2%. (FT)

German December inflation slowed. (Bloomberg)

Delhaize Group, which owns Food Lion, will cut 5,000 jobs around the world. (Bloomberg)

Italy and Spain to offer 17 billion euro in debt sales. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

China’s trade growth hits a two-year low in December. (Reuters)

Philips warns of Q4 weakness because of trouble in Europe. (Reuters)

The SEC wants banks to disclose more about eurozone debt on their balance sheets. (Reuters)

Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) Xbox sales are strong during the holidays. (Reuters)

Raymond James (NYSE: RJF) may buy Morgan Keegan. (Reuters)

Brocade (NASDAQ: BRCD) receives buyout bids. (Reuters)

The number of corporations with tax-free status rises. (WSJ)

Germany’s debt yield turns negative. (WSJ)

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) will sharply cut its staff in Asia this quarter. (WSJ)

Sony (NYSE: SNE) will launch a “Crystal LED” TV that has better picture quality. (WSJ)

Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) offers details of its ultrabook plans. (WSJ)

The Fed says consumer borrowing rose in November, perhaps a sign that Americans are willing to take on debt again. (WSJ)

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services say health care spending rose only 3.9% in 2010. (WSJ)

The White House sets up a formal group to monitor China’s trade policies. (WSJ)

Germany and France say that if Greece cannot set terms with private owners of its debt, it will not receive aid. (WSJ)

Hostess Brands to file for Chapter 11. (WSJ)

BMW and Audi will increase the number of models they sell in the U.S. (WSJ)

Volkswagen cancels its buyout of Porsche. (WSJ)

Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN) lowers the price at which people get purchase rewards. (WSJ)

Apple’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) CEO makes $378 million in 2010. (WSJ)

Nokia (NYSE: NOK) will count on the U.S. market for a large part of its potential resurrection. (WSJ)

The number of alternative fuel cars on display at the Detroit Auto Show rises sharply. (NYT)

Unicredit has trouble raising money even at high yields; other European banks may face similar problems. (NYT)

The U.S. increases the tempo of its investigations into MF Global. (NYT)

China’s exports grow, but import data is tepid. (NYT)

More smart TVs will be operated by voice recognition. (FT)

Renault and Nissan to boost U.S. production and make cuts in Europe. (FT)

Deutsche Telekom and Groupon (NASDAQ: GRPN) to set a joint venture for mobile platforms. (FT Germany)

Some Wall St. companies may freeze pay. (Bloomberg)

A slowing of China’s imports underscores concerns about a global slowdown. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

The Flame Index started as a research tool in 2008 at the NY Innovation Design Lab (nyidlab). It was used as a general metric to evaluate companies and their risk in the media. Publicly traded Fortune 500 companies are used as a measure to calculate an overall market of negative news and the companies are ranked within that market.

Data and ranking provided by the Flame Index.

Bank of New York Mellon was hit by negative coverage of a problem of how it handled mortgage securities paperwork

The Flame Index started as a research tool in 2008 at the NY Innovation Design Lab (nyidlab). It was used as a general metric to evaluate companies and their risk in the media. Publicly traded Fortune 500 companies are used as a measure to calculate an overall market of negative news and the companies are ranked within that market.

Data and ranking provided by the Flame Index.

• Animal Health (AHII) Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
• Blue Nile (NILE) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
• Fossil (FOSL) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
• Health Net (HNT) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
• HSN (HSNI) Started as Underweight at JPMorgan.
• IPCS (IPCS) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
• Louisiana-Pacific (LPX) Cut to Neutral at Banc of America.
• Microchip Technology (MCHP) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
• Palm (PALM) Cut to Market Perform at Morgan Keegan.
• Penwest Pharmaceuticals (PPCO) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
• Raymond James Financial (RJF) Cut to Underperform at Wachovia.
• Southern Copper (PCU) Cut to Sell at Deutsche Bank.

Jon C. Ogg
November 5, 2008

• Alliance Bernstein (AB) Raised to Outperform at KBW.
• Arkansas Best (ABFS) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
• Con-Way (CNY) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
• Dick’s Sporting Goods (DKS) Started as Overweight at Lehman.
• Franklin Resources (BEN) Cut to Market Perform at KBW.
• Kennametal (KMT) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
• Old Dominion Freight Line (ODFL) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
• Otter Tail (OTTR) Raised to Outperform at Baird.
• Pzena (PZN) Cut to Underperform at KBW.
• Raymond James Financial (RJF) Cut to Market Perform at KBW.
• St. Joe (JOE) Cut to Market Perform at KBW.
• T. Rowe Price (TROW) Cut to Underperform at KBW.
• YRC Worldwide (YRCW) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.

Jon C. Ogg
September 22, 2008

The dog ate their homework.

TDAmeritrade (AMTD), Oppenheimer (OPY), Raymond James (RJF), and several other discount brokers and financial firms have a novel and spurious defense. Since larger banks and brokerage companies made the market in auction-rates, the small investment houses were as much victims as their customers were. According to The Wall Street Journal, "The brokerages say they were merely sellers of auction-rate securities, which differentiate them from the investment banks that ran the auctions."

The reasoning is a cynical disavowing of responsibility. It rests on the logic that the managements at firms like TDAmeritrade never read the fine print when they took on the right to sell auction-rates. In other words, they were morons and dupes.

The argument is senseless. The smaller firms took on the risks and rewards of marketing auction-rates just as they do stocks, bonds, or mutual funds. Imagine Raymond James saying that it wants to blame Morgan Stanley (MS) for the poor performance of one of the MS mutual funds. If a Raymond James customer loses money in a fund managed by Morgan, all parties understood that there was some risk. And, Raymond James made a commission selling that investment to its customer.It would not ask Morgan to make the client whole.

Oppenheimer and its peers knew exactly how the auction-rate markets worked. They almost certainly sold the paper to their clients as "cash equivalents". Now they would like to wash their hands of the matter. Ignorance is not an excuse, particularly when it is a facade.

Douglas A. McIntyre

• BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE: BJ) Raised to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan.
• Compuware (NASDAQ: CPWR) Raised to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan.
• Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) Raised to Outperform from Neutral at R.W.Baird.
• General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) downgraded to Underperform at Merrill Lynch.
• Johnson Controls (NYSE: JCI) Cut to Underperform at Goldman Sachs.
• Raymond James Financial (NYSE: RJF) Raised to Outperform at KBW.
• Smuckers (NYSE: SJM) Raised to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank.
• SuperGen (NASDAQ: SUPG) Raised to Market Outperform at Rodman & Renshaw.
• UAL (NASDAQ: UAUA) Cut to Neutral from Buy and removed from CONVICTION BUY LIST at Goldman Sachs.
• VeraSun Energy (NYSE: VSE) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.

Jon C. Ogg
July 2, 2008

USEC (USU) drops on high costs and plant closings. Sells off to $6.41 from 52-week high of $25.65.

Raymond James Financial (RJF) says market conditions are getting worse. Stock down to $23.65 from 52-week high of $37.60.

Tessera Technologies (TSRA) has patent lawsuit slowed up by ITC. Runs off to $22.15 from 52-week high of $46.43.

Healthways (HWAY) cuts outlook for this years. Shares move down to $28.43 from 52-week high of $71.22.

Douglas A. McIntyre