Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) Raised to Accumulate at Standpoint.
Corinthian Colleges Inc. (NASDAQ: COCO) Cut to Hold at ThinkEquity.
First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Genuine Parts Co. (NYSE: GPC) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Itron Inc. (NASDAQ: ITRI) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Matrixx Initiatives Inc. (NASDAQ: MTXX) Raised to Buy at Roth Capital.
Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) Maintained Hold but Cut estimates at Citigroup.
Oilsands Quest Inc. (NYSE: BQI) Cut to Hold at Canaccord.
Rosetta Resources Inc. (NASDAQ: ROSE) Raised to Buy at SunTrust.
Sterling Bancshares (NASDAQ: SBIB) Raised To Buy From Neutral By SunTrust
Zep Inc. (NYSE: ZEP) Raised to Buy at Janney.

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JON C. OGG

These moves look huge when you consider that not a single of our defensive stocks is up and when not a single DJIA component is higher.  The DJIA was down about 250 points and took out 9,900 earlier, and the S&P 500 was down over 30 points and the NASDAQ down over 70 points at the peak.  We have added the reason for the move and color where applicable on each.

The first go to name in major uncertainty is the SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD).  The gains today of 0.4% at $121.60 may seem muted versus a 52-week range of $88.82 to $123.56, but that is because gold has soared in the last eight to nine months and some may be thinking that the world of gold may be petering out.  Others are not in that camp.

iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treas Bond (NYSE: TLT) is the other ETF which often goes inverse with stocks.  It is no inverse ETF, but it does represent the “flight to quality” trade in that it tracks the Barclays Capital U.S. 20+ Year Treasury Bond index.  It is up 0.9% at $100.91, and it hit a new 52-week high of $100.93 today.

Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE: NLY) is one of the crazy mortgage REITS that we recently featured in our “big value hunt” with either low P/E ratios or very high dividend yields.  The thought is simple… bonds are up, cost of borrowing is up as are portfolio holdings.  Unfortunately, you never know what its net portfolio of mortgages looks like on a day to day basis.  Shares are up 0.6% at $17.34 and the 52-week range is $14.09 to $19.74.  It shows up as having a 15%+ dividend, but that is very sporadic due to the nature of its business and its REIT status making it pay out some 90% of its taxable income to holders.

BP plc (NYSE: BP) has traded with a mind of its own, so it can’t be too shocking that shares are up when peers are down close to 2% and even when the USO ETF is down 3.2%.  BP’s ADR is up 1.9% at $27.57 on nearly 50 million shares traded.  Imagine if BP’s CEO really does get the boot.

Broadwind Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ: BWEN) is a runner on no formal news.  This one is up 3.3% at $2.48 on nearly 1.5 million shares.  Maybe providing products and services to the wind energy industry is not as dead as many thought after all.

Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: CYCC) is a runner on no formal news.  For a small-cap biotech it may not be unreasonable considering its recent addition into the Russell 3000.  Shares are up 6.5% at $1.81 on 2.6 million shares.  Keep in mind that the market cap is only about $48 million here.

Smithfield Foods Inc. (NYSE: SFD) is up, but this is on rumors (reports) that the meat producer could be a takeover target by Brazil’s JBS. Stay tuned. Shares are up 3.5% at $15.41, but this traded as high as $16.20 this morning and the 52-week range is $11.36 to $21.48.  The 4.7 million shares with about two hours of trading left is already twice-normal trading volume.

Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) has been a superb IPO for the day.  Shares priced above the range at $17.00 and the opening price was $19.00.  The day’s range so far is $17.54 (if real) to $20.00.  On last look the shares are at $19.90 on 12.7 million shares.  It has traded almost its whole float.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited (NASDAQ: TEVA) appears to be the sole gainer in the NASDAQ-100 at last look.  Bayer dropped a generic patent case over Yaz and Teva has seen several generic announcements in recent days.  Shares are up 1.75% at $52.20, and the 52-week range is $48.10 to $64.95.  Perrigo Co. (NASDAQ: PRGO) is the backside of Teva’s trade as it acquired exclusive sales and distribution rights to the OTC brand versions of Allegra and Allegra D-12 from Teva.  Perrigo shares are only now up 0.1% at $59.35, but shares were up at over $60.00 this morning and the 52-week range is $25.91 to $64.66.

Zep, Inc. (NYSE: ZEP) showed that its net profit was lower, but it still beat Wall Street’s expectations.  As this is a cleaning and maintenance solution products company for commercial and larger-scale markets, imagine how well this could have gone if the ticker-tape was in its direction.  Shares are up almost 3% at $17.69, and the 52-week trading range is $11.99 to $24.37.  Unfortunately, this barely made it over the minimum volume hurdle.

There are of course merger stocks which rise, but that is not sustainable in a single name.

JON C. OGG

La-Z-Boy (LZB) Shares in industry downgraded. $1.82 from 52-week high of $11.76.

Tennant (TNC) Still falling due to accounting concerns. Guidance cut. Shares downgraded. Falls to $13.70 from 52-week high of $43.94.

Sina (SINA) No news. China portal stock plunges to $20.20 from 52-week of $58.50.

Douglas A. McIntyre

• Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE: APC) Raised to Overweight from Equal-weight at Lehman.
• Fiserv (NASDAQ: FISV) Raised to Market Outperform from Market Perform at JMP Securities.
• IPC The Hospitalist (NASDAQ: IPCM) Cut to Market Perform from Outperform at Wachovia.
• Kroger (NYSE: KR) Raised to Overweight from Equalweight at Morgan Stanley.
• RadioShack (NYSE: RSH) Raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
• Reynolds American (NYSE: RAI)  Cut to Underweight from Neutral at JPMorgan.
• Safeway (NYSE: SWY) Cut to Equal-weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
• SanDisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) Cut to Market Underperform from Market Perform at JMP Securities.
• Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ: URBN) Cut to Equal-weight from Overweight at Lehman Brothers.
• Zep (NYSE: ZEP) started as Buy at KeyBanc Capital.

Jon C. Ogg
May 16, 2008

Jon Ogg produces and edits the "10 Stocks Under $10" newsletter and he does not own securities in the companies he covers.