• HSBC downgraded shares of Royal Bank of Scotland (NYSE: RBS) to Neutral from Overweight on valuation and believes any revision to the terms of the government equity investment could lead to dilution and book value erosion.
  
• Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) was cut to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan due to its high PC exposure.
  
• STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM) was cut to Underperform from Buy at Merrill Lynch as they believe 2009 consensus estimates are too high.
• JMP Securities downgraded Movado (NYSE: MOV) to Market Perform from Outperform.
• CGG Veritas (NYSE: CGV) was lowered to Underweight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
  
• Merrill downgraded eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) to Underperform from Neutral.

Analyst initiations:

• Suntrust initiated AmSurg (NASDAQ: AMSG) with a Neutral rating, citing reimbursement pressures, competition, lack of commercial pricing power and modest operating cost inflation.
  
• Oppenheimer initiated Idenix Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: IDIX) with a Perform rating and believes shares are fairly valued at current levels.
  
• Cross Country Healthcare (NASDAQ: CCRN) was initiated at Soleil with a Hold rating and $15 target. The firm believes Florida, the company's most important market, is still in the early stages of a turnaround.
• FedEx (NYSE: FDX) was assumed with a Neutral rating and $75 target at Credit Suisse.
  
• Penn National (NASDAQ: PENN) was started at Morgan Stanley with an Equal Weight rating.
  
• Craig-Hallum initiated CH Robinson (NASDAQ: CHRW) with a Neutral rating and $45 target.