When it comes to the Internet, few consumers are willing to pay for services -- especially during the current economic hard times. Yet, there are still some websites that are able to get people to fork over their hard-earned money. One example is Ancestry.com (NASDAQ: ACOM), which provides extensive data and tools to research family histories.

In fact, this week the company hit another milestone: an IPO. Ancestry.com issued 7.4 million shares at $13.50 each. The expected price range was $12.50 to $14.50.

In wealth management circles, Robert McCann is a pro. After all, he ran Merrill Lynch's financial advisory business -- known as the "thundering herd" -- which is now part of Bank of America (NYSE: BAC).

However, he left in January and wanted another opportunity. But there was a problem: he had a noncompete. So, with the help of skillful attorneys, he was able to reach some type of settlement.

Here are some highlights from last week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• AirTran Holdings Inc. (NYSE: AAI) reported its third consecutive quarterly profit and will increase capacity.
• Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) shares soared after it reported very strong Q3 numbers.
• Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) reported stellar Q4 results, driven by the popularity of Macs and iPhones.
• BlackRock Inc. (NYSE: BLK) Q3 earnings soared, due in part to a tax benefit, and assets managed grew.
• Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM) revenue surged sequentially but note the would be flat going forward.
• Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) beat Q3 earnings expectations and shares rose though revenue slumped.

During the past year, Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) went from near-death to profitability. Yes, Wall Street can be extremely resilient.

In its latest quarterly report, Morgan Stanley posted a profit of $757 million, or $0.38 per share. This was far below the company's results in the same period a year ago, which came to $7.7 billion, or $6.97 per share (keep in mind there was a large one-time gain for this quarter).

Verisk Analytics isn't a catchy name but it has caught the interest of investors. The data analytics company was able to issue 85.25 million shares at $22 each for its IPO, raising a cool $1.9 billion. So far in today's trading, the shares of the company are up 30% to $28.59.

Basically, Verisk helps businesses deal with risk, with the main focus on property & casualty exposures. For example, the company's models can help predict the loss of a building due to a fire.

Last week, we saw Shanda Games Ltd. (NASDAQ: GAME) raise a cool $1 billion in its IPO.

And today, there was another big-time offering: Talecris Biotherapeutics Holdings picked up $950 in its IPO (issuing 50 million shares at $19 each). This is the second largest IPO of 2009.

Talecris is one of the largest producers/marketers of plasma-derived protein therapies, dealing with things like chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP), primary immune deficiencies (PI), alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, bleeding disorders, and severe trauma.

On Friday, Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) filed suit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan against rival Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) for allegedly breaching a credit-default swap agreement. The suit seeks unspecified damages.

The complaint alleges that Morgan Stanley, which recently announced that its CEO will step down, failed to live up to its obligations regarding the 2006 agreement. Citigroup's Citibank unit says it entered into CDS with Morgan Stanley to protect the bank against losses from a revolving credit line that it entered into with a collateralized debt obligation known as Capmark VI. The CDO was scheduled to mature in 2038, but its performance declined substantially after July 2006 as a result of the global financial crisis.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says everyone in the trenches knows we're better off now -- only the academics disagree.

Am I nuts, or am I missing something? One year after the financial system was brought to its knees, we are back in the mid-9000s and we have taken off the table massive bank risk and are well on our way to recovery.

I keep listening to people like Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz say the banking system is worse off now and I say to myself, "That's just stupid and wrong and anti-empirical and actually just silly." Anyone who knows what's really going on has to feel this way. And where was Stiglitz when some of us were running around trying to save things?

When the financial world was coming apart last year, it seemed that Morgan Stanley's (NYSE: MS) CEO, John Mack, was making prudent strategic decisions. That is, he tried to lower the overall risk-taking at the firm. Mack had to contend with a deteriorating balance sheet, angry shareholders, a steep drop in business and intrusive regulators.

This was in stark contrast to Mack's prior strategy. If anything, he was a risk junkie. And yes, he made some huge bets on real estate investments that turned sour. In fact, they almost destroyed Morgan Stanley. But somehow Mack was able to wrangle a $9 billion investment from Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group. There was also a TARP loan for $10 billion (which was actually paid back).

Analyst upgrades:

• Citigroup upgraded Capital One (NYSE: COF) to Buy from Hold as it believes the credit cycle is starting to recover for U.S. credit cards and an improving economy will support bank credit stabilization. The firm raised its target on shares to $44 from $28.
• JPMorgan upgraded Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) to Overweight from Neutral on valuation and believes the stock market recovery will serve as a catalyst.
• Deutsche Bank upgraded F5 Networks (NASDAQ: FFIV) to Buy from Hold after its channel checks indicated a sooner-than-expected order ramp and stabilizing pricing trends. The firm raised its target on shares to $46 from $39.
• COTT Corp. (NYSE: COT) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
• Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) was upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Barclays.
• Illinois Tool Works (NYSE: ITW) was upgraded to Conviction Buy from Neutral at Goldman.

Today's growth being seen in Chicago Purchasing Managers was totally dwarfed by what is still an overbought US stock market. Another big drop in Shanghai and a drop in other major overseas stock markets sealed the fate today. The bears scored another win, but this is just a 'day-two' victory after literally eight or nine days of straight DJIA wins....

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 9,498.93 -45.27 (-0.47%)
S&P 500 1,020.76 -8.17 (-0.79%)
Nasdaq 2,009.06 -19.71 (-0.97%)

Top Analyst Upgrades
Top Analyst Downgrades

Analyst upgrades:

• FBR Capital upgraded Frontline (NYSE: FRO) to Market Perform from Underperform to reflect the company's above-average day rates and alleviated near-term financing pressures. The firm raised its target on shares to $23 from $14.
• Baird upgraded Varian Medical (NASDAQ: VARI) to Outperform from Neutral and said checks at ESTRO meeting indicate European radiation therapy market demand will remain "respectable" in 2010 and that launch of Unique could drive incremental demand in developing markets. The firm has a $49 target on shares.
• Goldman believes GameStop (NYSE: GME) Street expectations are beatable and valuation is attractive. The firm upgraded shares to Conviction Buy from Neutral and has a $28 target.
• Borg-Warner (NYSE: BWA) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
• KKR Financial (NYSE: KFN) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at JMP Securities.
• Cathay Pacific (OTC: CPCAY) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.

From TheStreet.com Network

• Bernanke to Get Second Term
• Citi's No. 1 Investor Not Selling Now

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says the Fed chairman saw we were in extreme deflation and prevented us from being brought down.

Ben's back!

Hey, it wasn't such a given, especially on the day when we had the jaw-dropping appointment of Denis Hughes, the president of the New York AFL-CIO, named as chairman of the New York Federal Reserve.

When the smoke is cleared you know that Ben Bernanke and not any other official before or after is going to be credited with recognizing what Lehman was and stood for. Bernanke was recessive and complacent pre-Lehman. He presided over an important debating society. He measured things and kicked them around.

A report today in The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) states that Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is on the verge of a major hiring push. Sources close to the bank holding company said that Morgan Stanley is planning to expand its ranks by as many as 400 new positions in the trading and sales departments, with the hires to be evenly split between the two areas.

Reportedly, Morgan Stanley is embarking on the hiring spree as it attempts to rebuild its position in fixed-income trading, emerging markets, and foreign exchange. So far this year, the banking issue has added approximately 200 employees to its payroll.

As seen on the Blackstone Group's (NYSE: BX) latest earnings conference call, the firm is trying to find ways to diversify its platform beyond buyouts (this is no fluke as other firms, like KKR, are doing the same thing). One of the areas of interest is actually hedge funds.

To this end, Blackstone made a big hire this week, bringing Byron Wien on board as the vice chairman of Blackstone Advisory Services. Actually, he is leaving Pequot Capital Management Inc., which is a hedge fund that is in the process of closing down (assets were as high as $15 billion). The firm is now faces an SEC investigation regarding trading in Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) stock. This is according to a report in the Wall Street Journal [a paid publication].