Analyst downgrades: YHOO, GS and RATE

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Yahoo!, Goldman Sachs and Bankrate were today's noteworthy downgrades:

Banc of America downgraded shares of Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) to Neutral from Buy as they believe that even if shareholders accept Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) offer, the regulatory hurdles are significant.
Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) to Perform from Outperform as they believe the current valuation is not sustainable in a year when the company will probably deliver results that will not be substantially better than peers.
Jefferies lowered its rating on Bankrate (NASDAQ: RATE) to Hold from Buy on valuation, as they believe the run-up in shares reflects expectations for strong Q4 results and guidance.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

SiRF Technology (NASDAQ: SIRF) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies, to Market Weight from Overweight at Thomas Weisel and to Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Goldman downgraded Posco (NYSE: PKX) to Sell from Neutral.
Baird downgraded Associated Bancorp (NASDAQ: ASBC) to Neutral from Buy.

Tags: ASBC, Associated Bancorp, AssociatedBancorp, Bankrate, downgrades, Goldman Sachs, GoldmanSachs, GS, Microsoft, MSFT, PKX, Posco, RATE, SIRF, Sirf Technology, SirfTechnology, Yahoo!, YHOO