John Thain -- whom you may recall as the man who presided over the spectacular implosion of Merrill Lynch -- is looking to have some new business cards printed up. Over the weekend, CIT Group (CIT) officially announced that its board of directors has elected Thain as chairman and CEO.

Due to his controversial past, the decision to elect Thain wasn't an easy one. After shelling out a small fortune to tart up his office digs at Merrill Lynch -- and doling out lofty bonuses amid the bank's hasty takeover by Bank of America (BAC) -- Thain became something of a poster boy for Wall Street excesses.

Specifically, KBW lowered its forecast from $360 to $350, while Susquehanna chopped its price target from $370 to $345. Shares of CME finished Thursday at $269.29, so both brokerage firms are still anticipating some healthy gains from the stock during the next year. In fact, both targets exceed the equity's average 12-month price target of $342.35, as reported by Thomson Reuters, which implies expected upside of more than 27% from yesterday's close.

Corning (GLW - option chain) stock is trading lower today after the company said it expects to see modest growth in sales and earnings in 2010, but did not offer specific forecasts. Analysts are expecting the company to earn $1.75 per share in 2010 on revenue of $6.28 billion, up from $1.28 per share and $5.4 billion, respectively. If you think this stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on GLW.

This morning, GLW opened at $18.10. So far today the stock has hit a high of $18.24 and a low of $16.96. As of 12:10, GLW is trading at $17.65, down 60 cents (-3.3%). The chart for GLW looks bullish and S&P gives GLW a positive 4 STARS (out of 5) buy ranking.

While the bar is set pretty high, MasterCard has a solid history of topping consensus expectations -- the company has bested Wall Street's earnings predictions in each of the previous four reporting periods. Despite MasterCard's solid history on the earnings front, though, pessimism is heavy as investors await the firm's fourth-quarter results.

YRC Worldwide (YRCW) is preparing to release its fourth-quarter results, with the company's earnings report scheduled to hit Wall Street before the market opens on Friday, Feb. 5. Analysts are expecting YRCW to swallow a loss of $1.74 per share, wider than the company's year-ago loss of $1.63 per share.

The transportation issue has fallen short of consensus earnings expectations in each of the previous four quarters, which may explain why bearish speculation is on the rise in the days leading up to YRCW's report.

The International Securities Exchange (ISE) reports that traders on Friday bought to open 5,064 puts on MGM, compared to just 1,009 calls. In other words, traders purchased roughly five times more puts than calls.

In fact, MGM now sports a 10-day ISE put/call volume ratio of 1.25, which ranks higher than 97.5% of other such readings taken during the past year. This lofty ratio reveals that speculative investors have rarely scooped up puts over calls at a faster pace.

Procter & Gamble (PG - option chain) shares rose Thursday after the company said it earned $4.66 billion, or $1.49 per share during its second quarter, with revenue coming in at $21 billion. Analysts had forecast a profit of $1.40 per share on revenue of $21.07 billion. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on PG.

PG opened at $61.67. In morning trading, the stock hit a low of $61.58 and a high of $63.31. As of 11:20, PG was trading at $62.27 up 1.46 (2.4%). The chart for PG looks bullish and S&P gives PG a positive 4 STARS (out of 5) buy ranking.

U.S. Steel (X - option chain) stock is trading lower today after the company reported a fourth-quarter loss of $267 million, or $1.86 per share, on revenue of $3.35 billion. Analysts were expecting a loss of $1.44 per share on revenue of $3.09 billion. The company also forecast a first-quarter loss in line with fourth quarter results, whereas analysts are forecasting a loss of 44 cents per share. If you think this stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on GE.

This morning, X opened at $52.66. So far today the stock has hit a high of $53.40 and a low of $50.37. As of 12:00, X is trading at $51.11, down $5.12 (-9.1%). The chart for X looks bearish and S&P gives X a negative 2 STARS (out of 5) sell ranking.