We have all been waiting to hear news that the housing market has rebounded, and we got a little indication that things were improving today as homebuilder sentiment rose this month to its highest level since September.

According to the National Association of Home Builders its index of builder confidence jumped two points in July to 17. This is the first time the index has hit 17 since last September.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has signaled that House negotiators would be open to a compromise regarding the income tax increase required for the universal health care program. And that's a good sign.

Pelosi said a proposed income tax increase on high-income Americans is "at the high end" and the rate could be reduced by "squeezing" more savings out of the health care system, Bloomberg News reported Thursday.

Apparently Daily Show host Jon Stewart isn't quite done with his Jim Cramer-bashing -- but in this case, he has a point. Dykstra filed for bankruptcy last week and then followed that up with a CNBC interview that made Sarah Palin's Katie Couric adventure look like the Gettysburg Address.

Stewart dug up a clip of Cramer lavishing praise on the former New York Met as "one of the great ones" in the investment business.

I'm Reiterating my Buy rating for Suncor Enegy (NYSE: SU) first recommended on February 25, 2009 at a price of $18.35.

Suncor's oil sands production increased 12% in Q1 or by 27,800 barrels per day, roughly in-line with expectations. Moreover, oil sands is the driver here, with the focus being Canada's Athabasca oil sands region: oil sands require a larger investment and hence a higher price, but the substantial sands resources of Canada will play a larger role in energy as the world's older, conventional oil fields continue to decline.

Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) reported earnings for the first quarter on Wednesday after the bell. The technology company devoted to programmable logic said sales fell by 5% on a sequential basis and by 23% on a year-over-year basis. Not a great start to an earnings report, huh? It gets worse. On an adjusted basis, Xilinx made 21 cents per share versus 31 cents per share in the first quarter of fiscal '09. According to TheStreet.com, that 21 cents was good for a beat by two pennies.

Today, however, the market doesn't seem to be feeling the performance. As of this writing, afternoon trading saw shares of Xilinx bid down by over 3.5% on very heavy volume.

I'm Reiterating my Buy rating for Honeywell International, Inc. (NYSE: HON) first recommended on February 25, 2009 at a price of $28.26.

The growth proposition for Honeywell remains intact. Large order backlogs by commercial airline manufacturers, including The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA), will support revenue in FY2009.

Today's jobless claims data came in strong enough that we would have expected further recovery, but the fears over all this CIT fallout weighed on investors' minds. Hank Paulson took his grilling. Homebuilders even started sounding less negative again. But then came reports that perma-bear Nouriel Roubini was finally throwing in the towel and showing that the recession would end. His report was what helped traders have comfort in buying stocks at the end of the day.

Here are the unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 8,709.02 +92.81 (1.08%)
S&P 500 940.54 +7.86 (0.84%)
Nasdaq 1,884.66 +21.76 (1.17%)

Top Analyst Upgrades
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The Sunshine State may be down but it's hardly out. I'm Reiterating my Buy rating for FPL Group (NYSE: FPL) first recommended on March 3, 2009 at a price of $43.30.

Here, the safety-plus-growth story continues. FPL provides electricity to about 4.5 million customers, covering nearly all of Florida's eastern seaboard, including the Gold Coast. The FY2009/FY2010 EPS estimates for FPL are $4.22 to $4.75.

Companion health care reform bills are winding their way through the U.S. House and Senate, and there's a very good chance we'll see substantive reform that achieves universal health care in the United States, with a vote on the landmark legislation as early as August.

Over the past few weeks at a golf course in the New York City area where I play golf, I've had a chance to speak with a number of physicians. Further, while underscoring that this is not a scientific poll, if the 'Totally Informal Laz Survey' is any indicator, doctors are willing to go along with cuts in government and insurance payments for various examinations, services, and tests, provided other stake holders --- insurance companies, hospitals, other providers, pharmaceutical companies, corporations, and the federal and state governments --- are called to make sacrifices, as well.

Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY) has become the largest consumer electronics chain in the U.S. be using a combination of discount pricing across the board and a store count presence that has whipped much of the competition. As always, growth by store opening can only last so long. But Best Buy has a trick up its sleeve for even more growth. Mostly, its plans lay in urban growth instead of suburban growth.

To accomplish this, the retailer is partnering with legendary professional basketball player Magic Earvin Johnson. Although part of its urban growth strategy will continue to involve specialty product retailing, the addition of a legend to its marketing arsenal is nothing short of a great idea. Just recently, Best Buy brought Johnson to Bloomington, Minnesota to talk at a sponsored kids' basketball tournament. Johnson's business involvement with many large national franchises like Starbucks and Burger King makes it easier for the retailer to center in on some of those locations Johnson's company owns as well.

I found an interesting slideshow over on U.S. News & World Report that takes a look at the cars that have been hurt the most by the recession. I was not surprised to see the likes of Chrysler, Dodge, Saturn, and Chevrolet on the list -- these brands have a good deal of problems. However, I was very surprised to see Toyota (TM) included in the list. This is Toyota folks, the car company that all car companies should emulate - right? Wrong. It appears that the car giant didn't expect the Toyota Tundra pickup to drag on sales as much as it has, which has dragged sales down. If there is one thing that American automakers know how to do, it is to build big, gas-sucking, diesel-belching, trucks. So don't tread in our realm, Toyota!

Here's a forecast that will knock your socks off. Professor Philip Verleger from the University of Calgary is predicting that oil will drop to $20 per barrel this year. This price was last seen in 2002.

He states that a surplus of 100 million barrels will accumulate by the end of the year.

Concerning the economy he said: "The economic situation is not getting better. Global refinery runs are going to be much lower in the fall. If the recession continues and its a warm winter, its going to be devastating."

Home foreclosure filings in the United States hit a record 1.9 million in the first half of 2009, according to RealtyTrac –-- on more than 1.5 million properties. Again, unemployment is one of the primary culprits, as a lack of income makes it pretty tough to bring a loan at risk of default up to date. The number of filings is up 9% from the second half of 2008 and up almost 15% from the same period last year.

Last month, foreclosure filings were up 5% relative to May and up 33% from June 2008. The month's action was the third highest on record, and it was the fourth month in a row in which there were filings on more than 300,000 properties.

"Inflationary fears and the desire to generate higher returns in non-dollar assets should boost BRIC stocks (Brazil, Russia, India and China)," says Chuck Carlson in his The DRIP Investor.

"Despite the run-up this year, BRIC stock markets are still reasonably valued. Russia, India, and Brazil all trade at price/earnings ratios similar to the U.S.

"And while China's stock market does trade at a premium to the U.S., China's economic growth will swamp that of the U.S. this year and for the foreseeable future.

Did anyone think that Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) would ever count 1.5 billion downloads of applications from its iPhone/iPod App Store? In a little over two years, the iPhone has become a worldwide mobile phenomenon, with three versions so far (the original, the 3G model and now the 3GS). In a little over a year, the App Store that carries 65,000 downloadable programs (give or take) has seen 1.5 billion program downloads.

What Apple has created is yet another ecosystem of products and services that mesh so well together that it can't help but be successful. Just like the iPod/iTunes universe that locked customers into a world where the hardware and software worked flawlessly, so does the iPhone/App Store combination. The competition has launched download stores as well, and even Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) has seen some slight success with its BlackBerry App World.