The U.S. dollar index is trading up 0.91% today, now at 82.226. The GSCI commodity index is down 2.1% at 611.06. WTI crude oil closed up 3.2%, at $93.99 a barrel. Brent crude trades up 2.9% at $102.83 a barrel. Natural gas is down 6.4% today at about $4.05 per million BTUs on a larger-than-expected build in U.S. inventories (more coverage here). Gold settled up 1.5% today at $1,467.60 an ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up more than 131 points to 14,831.58 (0.89%), the NASDAQ rose about 41 points (1.26%) to 3,340.62, and the S&P 500 rose 0.94% or nearly 15 points to 1,597.59.

There were a several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Yelp Inc. (NYSE: YELP) raised to ‘market perform’ at Northland Securities; Invesco Ltd. (NYSE: IVZ) raised to ‘buy’ at Sterne Agee; Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE: ACI) raised to ‘equal weight’ at Morgan Stanley; Genco Shipping & Trading Ltd. (NYSE: GNK) cut to ‘underperform’ at Credit Suisse; and SolarCity Corp. (NASDAQ: SCTY) cut to ‘neutral’ at Goldman Sachs.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night resulted in some price moves today, including these as of the last half hour of trading: Archer Daniels Midland Co. (NYSE: ADM) is down fractionally at $33.58; Avis Budget Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CAR) is up 1.4% at $28.85; CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS) is up 2.6% at $47.62 after posting a new 52-week high of $48.30 earlier today; Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) is up 5.6% at $28.97 (more coverage here); JDS Uniphase Corp. (NASDAQ: JDSU) is up 4% at $13.02; Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) is up 1.5% at $57.09 after posting a new 52-week high of $57.88 earlier today (more coverage here); Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ: STX) is up 7.5% at $39.71 after posting a new 52-week high of $39.92 earlier today; Tesoro Corp. (NYSE: TSO) is up 5.8% at $53.83; Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) is up 5.7% at $175.44 after posting a new 52-week high of $179.66 earlier today; Alpha Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: ANR) is down 4.2% at $7.16 (more coverage here); Cigna Corp. (NYSE: CI) is up 4.2% at $68.10 after posting a new 52-week high of $68.87 earlier today; Goldcorp Inc. (NYSE: GG) is down 0.6% at $28.67(more coverage here); and Monster Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: MWW) is up 8.3% at $4.64.

Before markets open tomorrow morning we are scheduled to hear earnings reports from American International Group Inc. (NYSE: AIG), Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD), Kraft Foods Group Inc. (NASDAQ: KRFT), LinkedIn Corp. (NYSE: LNKD), SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR), Automatic Data Processing Inc. (NYSE: ADT), and Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE: DUK).

Some standouts among heavily traded stocks today include:

MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) is up 6.7% at $14.73 after posting a new 52-week high of $14.90 earlier today. The hotel and casino operator posted a surprise profit on the strength of its Macau business.

Halcon Resources Corp. (NYSE: HK) is down 9% at $5.72. The independent energy company reported poor earnings this morning.

ING U.S. Inc. (NYSE: VOYA) is up 5.7% at $20.62. The U.S. insurance arm of Dutch giant ING held its IPO today. More coverage here.

Stay tuned for Friday. Fed Governor Daniel Tarullo and Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker are giving speeches. We have also noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

• 8:30 a.m. – Non-farm payrolls and employment situation
• 10:00 a.m. – Factory orders
• 10:00 a.m. – ISM non-manufacturing index

Allergan Inc. (NYSE: AGN) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Lazard after this week’s weakness.

Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE: ACI) was raised to Equal Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley.

CNH Global N.V. (NYSE: CNH) was named Bull of the Day as emerging markets are driving increased food demand according to Zacks Investment Research.

Invesco Ltd. (NYSE: IVZ) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Stern Agee.

LifeLock Inc. (NYSE: LOCK) was reiterated as Buy with a $12.50 target by Canaccord Genuity. The firm called it “Locked and loaded for more good quarters; stock seems too cheap down here.”

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (NYSE: PBR) was reiterated Outperform at Credit Suisse.

PrivateBancorp Inc. (NASDAQ: PVTB) was raised to Strong Buy from Outperform at Raymond James.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: REGN) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at JMP Securities.

Renewable Energy Group Inc. (NASDAQ: REGI) was reiterated Buy and the price target was raised to $12 from $9 by Canaccord Genuity.

Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ: STX) was raised to Buy from Hold at Needham.

Superior Energy Services Inc. (NYSE: SPN) was raised to Buy from Hold at Jefferies.

Yelp Inc. (NYSE: YELP) was raised to Market Perform at Northland Securities.

Merrill Lynch gave a list of stocks expected to breakout even if the “Sell in May and Go Away” theme arises this year. Jefferies also has its top buy ratings for the tech, media, and telecom (TMT) sectors ahead of next week’s Jefferies Annual 2013 TMT Conference.

See also: Top Analyst Downgrades and Cautious Calls from Wall Street

The U.S. dollar index is trading down 0.28% today, now at 81.521. The GSCI commodity index is down 0.9% at 624.44. WTI crude oil closed down 2.6%, at $91.03 a barrel, following a massive increase in commercial inventories (more coverage here). Brent crude trades down 2.4% at $99.89 a barrel, as the spread between WTI and Brent now falls below $10 a barrel (more coverage here). Natural gas is down 0.4% today at about $4.32 per million BTUs. Gold settled down 1.8% today at $1,446.20 an ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down about 139 points to 14,700.95 (-0.94%), the NASDAQ about 30 points (-0.89%) to 3,299.13, and the S&P 500 fell -0.93% or nearly 15 points to 1,582.70.

There were a several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Biogen Idec Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB) removed from “Conviction Buy” list and cut to ‘neutral’ at Goldman Sachs; Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE: FCX) raised to ‘buy’ at Nomura; Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) raised to ‘buy’ at Nomura; Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) added to “Conviction Buy” list at Goldman Sachs; and Oil States International Inc. (NYSE: OIS) cut to ‘underperform’ at BMO Capital Markets and cut to ‘market perform’ at Raymond James.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night resulted in some price moves today, including these as of the last half hour of trading: Affymetrix Inc. (NASDAQ: AFFX) is down 8% at $3.35; Bankrate Inc. (NYSE: RATE) is up 14.7% at $15.46; Leap Wireless International Inc. (NASDAQ: LEAP) is down 3.2% at $5.54; Spectrum Brands Holdings Inc. (NYSE: SPB) is down 4.6% at $53.44; Trulia Inc. (NYSE: TRLA) is up 13.1% at $32.86; Vanguard Health Systems Inc. (NYSE: VHS) is down 8.3% at $13.41; ADT Corp. (NYSE: ADT) is down 6.9% at $40.65; Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) is down 2.1% at $19.14 (more coverage here); Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA) is up 1.2% at $41.81 (more coverage here); Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) is up 4.4% at $77.38; James River Coal Co. (NASDAQ: JRCC) is up 32.8% at $2.19; Mastercard Inc. (NYSE: MA) is down 2.3% at $540.47; Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) is down 2.1% at $59.68 (more coverage here); and Viacom Corp. (NASDAQ: VIAB) is up 3.2% at $66.01 after posting a new 52-week high of $69.00 earlier today.

Before markets open tomorrow morning we are scheduled to hear earnings reports from Archer Daniels Midland Co. (NYSE: ADM), Avis Budget Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CAR), CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS), Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB), JDS Uniphase Corp. (NASDAQ: JDSU), Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS), Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ: STX), Tesoro Corp. (NYSE: TSO), Visa Inc. (NYSE: V), Alpha Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: ANR), Cigna Corp. (NYSE: CI), Goldcorp Inc. (NYSE: GG), and Monster Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: MWW).

Some standouts among heavily traded stocks today include:

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) is up 13.1% at $3.19. The chipmaker had no big news today, although it did introduce two new microprocessors and made some pricing changes that indicate that the company’s pricing may have stabilized.

Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) is up 3.4% at $3.36 after posting a new 52-week (and 5-year) high of $3.39 earlier today. The satellite radio company posted a second consecutive high today, continuing to feast off yesterday’s earnings report.

Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK) is down 2.8% at $45.67. The drug maker slid on its lackluster earnings results and took a slice out of its sales and earnings targets for the rest of the year.

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

• 7:30 a.m. – Challenger job-cut report
• 8:30 a.m. – International trade
• 8:30 a.m. – New claims for unemployment benefits
• 8:30 a.m. – Productivity and costs
• 10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly natural gas storage report
• 4:30 p.m. – Fed balance sheet and money supply

Among the obvious stocks hurt by the collapse are PC makers Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ), Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL), Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT), Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD). The drop in sales probably hit Microsoft worst of all this morning, after the company’s stock was downgraded to Sell by analysts at Goldman Sachs. There are several other stocks, though, that will be hurt by the fall in PC sales.

Chip stocks that are taking some lumps today include Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA), down about 2%, and Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: MRVL), down about 1%. Nvidia’s graphics chip business and Marvell’s disk drive controller shipments are both in jeopardy from falling PC shipments.

Disk drive makers Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ: STX) and Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC) are both being hit by the lack of PC shipments. Seagate’s shares are down 3.8% and Western Digital’s shares are down about 3% this morning. Storage systems giant EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) is down less than 1%, but its business depends less on PC sales than on sales of servers and mainframe computers.

HP’s first quarter shipments were down by 23.7% year-over-year in the first quarter, according to IDC, while Dell shipments fell nearly 11%. Among other PC makers, Acer’s shipments fell more than 31%, and Asus shipments dropped nearly 20%. Not a pretty picture.

Microsoft shares have been hit hard, down 5% to $28.78, in a 52-week range of $26.26 to $32.89. An IDC executive noted, “[T]he Windows 8 launch not only failed to provide a positive boost to the PC market, but appears to have slowed the market.” That’s terrible news for the software giant that cannot seem to break into the smartphone and tablet markets and grab any kind of serious market share.

HP’s shares are down about 6%, at $20.96 in a 52-week range of $11.35 to $25.40. The company managed to hold off Lenovo to maintain its position as the world’s largest PC maker, but that is probably cold comfort today.

Dell is down just 0.5%m at $14.14 in a 52-week range of $8.69 to $16.61. Dell’s price is propped up by the outstanding buyout offer from founder Michael Dell and his partners. But the company’s largest business is clearly in serious trouble.

The team at UBS reports that information technology executives tell them that storage technology is undergoing more change now than in the past 10 years cumulatively. In their opinion, increasing use of flash drives is the most important trend for the next few years. The question whether flash is a disruptive or sustaining innovation is critical to assessing whether incumbent vendors can successfully adapt or whether storage upstarts will displace them.

Flash is an important new technology for the enterprise that will reduce, though not eliminate, the need for hard disk storage. NAND flash supply, though not sufficient to replace a high percentage of all hard drives, is enough to have a significant high-end enterprise impact.

So who will be the first to integrate flash to their storage products. The likely candidates are, of course, the industry leaders.

EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC), which closed yesterday at $24.30, has a Thomson/First Call price target of $30. Many firms believe the stock is very undervalued as its large ownership percentage of VMware Inc (NYSE: VMW) is not fully appreciated.

NetApp Inc (NASDAQ: NTAP) is another storage firm likely to incorporate flash to their product line. With industry leading network storage solutions, NetApp closed yesterday at $34.55 and has a Wall St. consensus price target of $40.

UBS also expects that International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM), Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) and Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) will incorporate these new technologies in an effort to win back storage share. But UBS is of the opinion that these companies face an uphill battle in this storage war.

There is also the question of who could lose in this proposition? If there is lower demand for hard drives, both Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC) and Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ: STX) could lose market share. This could make for an interesting pair trade. Investors buy the stock of EMC or NetApp and sell short an equal amount of shares in one of the disk drive makers.

The bottom line for investors is new technology that expands capacity and capability will always win. Integrating flash to storage is an example of the kind of new technology that can help change the face of an industry.

While patents are coming out of more areas, only a handful of cities create most of patents in the U.S. According tothe study, more than half of patents are developed in just 20 metropolitan areas. Based on the data provided by Brookings, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the 10 metropolitan areas with the most average patents per million residents between 2007 and 2011.

Click here to see the 10 most innovative cities

According to Jonathan Rothwell, associate fellow at Brookings Institution who co-authored the study, the most important criterion in determining whether a metro area produces many patents is whether the area is home to major research institutions, especially those with highly regarded programs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Rothwell pointed out that the metro areas where patents are granted tend to have high levels of attainment in STEM fields.

While the proximity of STEM programs appears to be critical, Rothwell noted that only 2% of patents are actually granted to people who work in university settings. Meanwhile nine out of 10 patents come from U.S. corporations. Instead of generating patents, these universities create workforces with the necessary skills to find employment or even start companies in the area.

Companies that file patents regularly such as International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) and Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) dominate employment in many of these innovative metro areas. The top 100 patent owners account for one-third of all patent holders. Recently, patent growth has taken place in smaller companies focusing on fields such as software engineering, Rothwell said.

The effect that patenting has had on these metropolitan areas is evident. Economic growth in these areas occurred at  faster rate than the national average between 1980 and 2010, according to the study. For instance, productivity, measured by gross domestic product per worker, grew 3.3% annually in San Jose, one of the most innovative cities, during those years, compared to 1.4% nationwide.

In addition, these areas generally have higher median household incomes, compared to the country as a whole. 24/7 Wall St. also found that likely is due to higher educational attainment and the availability of higher-wage jobs.

Rothwell explained that the success of cities that have a focus on innovation should send a message to planners. “It is maybe a warning to cities that have focused their public spending efforts and development efforts on things like stadiums and convention centers that are really about increasing consumption in the metropolitan areas but don’t really contribute to the fundamental capacity to create new technologies, inventions or industries,” Rothwell said.

Based on the data provided by the Brookings Institution, 24/7 Wall St. identified the 10 metro areas with the highest number of patents filed per million people between 2007 and 2011. For each of those metro areas, we reviewed the average number of patents granted annually during that period and the fields where these patents were produced. We also looked at the higher-education institutions in the metro areas with top-ranked science programs at universities, according to the National Research Council. The top employers in the region were noted to reflect what organizations were likely filing the patents.

These are the 10 most innovate metropolitan areas in the country.

The U.S. dollar index fell 0.1% today, now at 79.208. The GSCI commodity index is up 0.8% at 675.95, with commodities prices mixed today. WTI crude oil closed down 0.5% today, at $97.49 a barrel, but up 6.1% for the best January since 2006 (if you’re an oil trader). Brent crude trades up 0.5% at $115.52 a barrel. Natural gas is up 0.2% today at about $3.34 per million BTUs following a smaller-than-expected draw on stocks (more coverage here). Gold settled down 1.2% today at $1,662.00 an ounce, down 0.8% for the month of January and the fourth consecutive monthly loss for the yellow metal (more gold coverage here).

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down nearly 50 points to 13,860.58 (-0.36%), the NASDAQ fell less than 1 point (-0.01%) to 3,142.13, and the S&P 500 fel -0.26% or nearly 4 points to 1,498.11.

There were a several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Hess Corp. (NYSE: HES) cut to ‘neutral’ at UBS and cut to ‘hold’ at SocGen; Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ: STX) cut to ‘underweight’ at Barclays; Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) reiterated as ‘buy’ and price target raised to $83 at Canaccord Genuity; Fusion-io Inc. (NYSE: FIO) raised to ‘buy’ at Lazard, cut to ‘neutral’ at J.P. Morgan and Credit Suisse; and Comerica Inc. (NYSE: CMA) cut to ‘underperform’ at Bernstein.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night resulted in several price moves today, including these: Citrix Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CTXS) is up 9.8% at $73.54; ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) is down 4.7% at $58.21 (more oil company coverage here); Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) is up 4.3% at $15.74; Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) is up 0.4% at $31.37 (more coverage here); JDS Uniphase Corp. (NASDAQ: JDSU) is up 17.7% at $14.59; Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) is up 6.7% at $54.99 (more coverage here); Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET) is down 1.3% at $48.31; Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO) is up 0.1% at $33.72 (more coverage here); AutoNation Inc. (NYSE: AN) is up 8.3% at $48.46; Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL) is down 2.9% at $107.63; Dunkin’ Brands Group Inc. (NASDAQ: DNKN) is up 2% at $36.51 after posting a new 52-week high of $40.00 earlier today; Mastercard Inc. (NYSE: MA) is up 0.3% at $517.41 after posting a new 52-week high of $535.35 earlier today; PulteGroup Inc. (NYSE: PHM) is down 1.9% at $20.66 (more coverage here); Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC) is down 12.1% at $88.55; and United Parcel Service Inc. (NYSE: UPS) is down 2% at $79.57 (more coverage here).

After markets close today and before they open tomorrow morning we are scheduled to hear from Bally Technologies Inc. (NYSE: BYI), Green Dot Corp. (NASDAQ: GDOT), Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN), Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX), Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM), Mattel Inc. (NYSE: MAT), Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK), National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NYSE: NOV), and Tyson Foods Inc. (NYSE: TSN).

Some standouts from today include the following stocks:

Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) is down 5.1% at $13.08. The smartphone maker changed its name to BlackBerry and launched two new smartphones yesterday, and got a slew of analysts’ downgrades this morning. More coverage here.

WMS Industries Inc. (NYSE: WMS) is up 51.3% at $24.77 after posting a new 52-week high of $25.30 earlier today. The gambling machine maker is being acquired by Scientific Games Corp. (NASDAQ: SGMS) for about $1.5 billion, or $26 a share, in cash.

Constellation Brands Inc. (NYSE: STZ) is down 19.1% at $31.68. The alcoholic beverage maker is collateral damage in a DoJ decision to axe Anheuser-Busch InBev SA’s (NYSE: BUD) acquisition of Mexico’s Grupo Modelo. More coverage here.

Stay tuned for Friday. Auto sales will be reported throughout the day. New York Fed President William Dudley is giving a speech. We have also noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

• 8:30 a.m. – Employment situation
• 8:58 a.m. – PMI manufacturing index
• 9:55 a.m. – University of Michigan/Thomson Reuters consumer sentiment index
• 10:00 a.m. – Institute for Supply Management manufacturing index
• 10:00 a.m. – Construction spending

Comerica Inc. (NYSE: CMA) cut to Underperform at Bernstein.

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) has taken three analyst downgrades this morning, and one boutique upgrade (FULL NOTE).

Fusion-io Inc. (NYSE: FIO) is down handily after earnings but was raised to Buy from Hold at Lazard. J.P. Morgan cut the rating to Neutral from Overweight and Credit Suisse cut the rating to Neutral from Outperform.

Hess Corp. (NYSE: HES) cut to Neutral at UBS and cut to Hold at Soc-Gen.

JDS Uniphase Corp. (NASDAQ: JDSU) raised to Buy at Needham.

Kimberly-Clark Corp. (NYSE: KMB) reiterated Buy and raised target by $6 to $98 at Argus.

Logitech International S.A. (NASDAQ: LOGI) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.

Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) reiterated Buy and raised target price to $83 at Canaccord Genuity.

Research In Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) cut to Underperform at Credit Suisse; S&P Equity Research cut RIM to Sell late Wednesday afternoon after the BB10 release.

Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF) cut to Underperform at Bernstein and cut to Neutral at Baird.

Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ: STX) cut to Underweight at Barclays.

Smithfield Foods Inc. (NYSE: SFD) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.

United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) reiterated Buy and raised target by $8 to $100 at Argus.

Deutsche Bank has raised its targets and estimates on many health care facility and hospital stocks around Obamacare now.

Well-known analyst Dick Bove is at a new firm and he has called this week for 30% upside in the major bank stocks.

The U.S. dollar index fell 0.28% today, now at 79.547. The GSCI commodity index is up 0.4% at 665.33, with commodities prices mostly higher again today. WTI crude oil closed up 1.2% today, at $97.57 a barrel. Brent crude trades up 0.7% at $114.18 a barrel. Natural gas is down 1.9% today at about $3.23 per million BTUs. Gold settled up 0.5% today at $1,660.80 an ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up more than 72 points to 13,954.57 (0.52%), the NASDAQ fell less than 1 point (-0.02%) to 3,153.66, and the S&P 500 rose 0.51% or nearly 8 points to 1,507.84.

There were a several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ: STX) cut to ‘sell’ at Ameriprise and cut to ‘equal weight’ at Evercore Partners; Tyson Foods Inc. (NYSE: TSN) raised to ‘buy’ at BofA/ML; Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) reiterated as ‘buy’ and price target raised to $64 at Argus; Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF) raised to ‘outperform’ at BMO; and Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) raised to ‘outperform’ at BMO.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night resulted in several price moves today, including these: Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) is down 2.4% at $19.83 (more coverage here); Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ: STX) is down 8.9% at $34.06; Steel Dynamics Inc. (NASDAQ: STLD) is up 2.8% at $15.42 (more steel coverage here); Boston Scientific Corp. (NYSE: BSX) is up 3.1% at $7.07 after posting a new 52-week high of $7.43 earlier today (more coverage here); D.R. Horton Inc. (NYSE: DHI) is up 12.3% at $23.93 after posting a new 52-week high of $24.03 earlier today; Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) is down 4.7% at $13.14 (more coverage here); Peabody Energy Corp. (NYSE: BTU) is up 5.7% at $26.59; Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) is up 3.6% at $27.82 after posting a new 52-week high of $27.84 earlier today; and Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) is up 12.3% at $43.60 after posting a new 52-week high of $43.77 earlier today (more coverage here).

After markets close today and before they open tomorrow morning we are scheduled to hear from Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) (preview here), Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM), Ryland Group Inc. (NYSE: RYL), Robert Half International Inc. (NYSE: RHI), ADT Corp. (NYSE: ADT), L-3 Communications Holdings Inc. (NYSE: LLL), Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) (more coverage here), Northrop Grumman Corp. (NYSE: NOC), and Southern Co. (NYSE: SO).

Some standouts from today include the following stocks:

Keryx Biopharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: KERX) is up 43% at $8.66 after posting a second-consecutive new 52-week high of $8.79 earlier today. The biopharma company reported better-than-expected results in trials of a new kidney drug on Monday and the glow is still golden.

VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW) is down 20.9% at $77.80 after posting a new 52-week low of $76.33 earlier today. The enterprise software company posted decent results last night, but the outlook sank shares today. (more coverage here)

OCZ Technology Group Inc. (NASDAQ: OCZ) is down 15.7% at $2.26. The solid-state drive maker crumbled on news that Seagate invested in another solid-state drive maker last night. Hopes had been high that the disk drive giant might acquire OCZ.

Stay tuned for Wednesday. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) concludes its two-day meeting today. We have noted the following event on the schedule (all times Eastern):

7:00 a.m. – Mortgage Bankers Association purchase applications
8:15 a.m. – ADP employment report
8:30 a.m. – GDP (consensus estimate calls for growth of 1%)
10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly petroleum status report
1:00 p.m. – 7-year Treasury note auction
2:15 p.m. – FOMC meeting announcement

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF) raised to Outperform at BMO.

American Greetings Corp. (NYSE: AM) named Bear of the Day at Zacks Investment Research.

Ashford Hospitality Trust Inc. (NYSE: AHT) started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Biogen Idec Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB) reiterated Buy with $160 price target at Argus.

BMC Software Inc. (NASDAQ: BMC) cut to Neutral at Cowen.

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) raised to Outperform at BMO.

Clean Harbors Inc. (NYSE: CLH) started as Buy at BB&T.

Digital Realty Trust Inc. (NYSE: DLR) cut to Neutral at BofA/Merrill Lynch.

Equinix Inc. (NASDAQ: EQIX) cut to Neutral at Citigroup.

Integrated Device Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: IDTI) reiterated Buy and target raised to $9 at Canaccord Genuity.

Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. (NYSE: LGF) named Bull of the Day at Zacks Investment Research.

Ruby Tuesday Inc. (NYSE: RT) cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ: STX) cut to Sell at Ameriprise and cut to Equal Weight at Evercore Partners.

Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) reiterated Buy and raised target to $64 from $60 at Argus.

Tyson Foods Inc. (NYSE: TSN) raised to Buy at BofA/Merrill Lynch.

VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW) was downgraded after soft guidance by multiple firms: cut to Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley, cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray, cut to Neutral at Stern Agee, cut to Hold at Topeka Capital abd cut to Neutral at MKM.