Non-farm payrolls came in higher than analysts' forecasts and the unemployment rate fell to 8.8%. That good news sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average to a new 2011 high. At midday the Dow was up 78 points to 12,397 -- as reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Except for a brief sell-off to the 11,500 level, the market has moved quickly to regain lost ground and is now at new highs. Last week the USDA's crop report was bullish for grains. It's not surprising that Caterpillar (CAT) led the charge, up 1.7%. But there are always some losers. Office Depot (ODP) fell 11% after reporting a fourth quarter loss and Krispy Kreme Doughnuts (KKD), which also had a fourth quarter loss, fell 17%.

The market hit a high for 2011 today after the unemployment rate fell to 8.8% and after the economy created about 216,000 jobs. The Institute of Supply Management showed a slight drop for March, but investors were positive most of the day. Selling in the last 90 minutes of the day felt a bit surprising -- but that may be nothing more than pre-weekend profit taking.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow Jones: 12,376.72 +56.99 (0.46%)

Nasdaq: 2,789.60 +8.53 (0.31%)

S&P500: 1,332.41 +6.58 (0.50%)

U.S. stock futures are lower this morning as unrest continues in the major oil-producing state of Libya. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 100 points to 12,275.00, while those for the S&P 500 index dropped 16.6 points to 1,325.60. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 declined 36 points to 2,359.00.

U.S. stocks closed higher on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining 0.59% the Nasdaq 100 index rising 0.08% and S&P 500 index gaining 0.19%. U.S. markets were closed on Monday for the Presidents' Day holiday.

Data on Case-Shiller home prices for February will be released at 9 a.m. ET. However, the February Conference Board consumer-confidence survey will be released at 10 a.m. ET.

Analyst Upgrades

• Boeing (BA) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Alcoa (AA) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• BP (BP) to outperform from market perform at Raymond James.
• Office Depot (ODP) and Staples (SPLS) to buy from neutral at Janney Capital.
• ON Semiconductor (ONNN) to buy from hold at Citigroup.
• Kennametal (KMT) and Polyone (POL) to buy from hold at KeyBanc.
• Airgas (ARG) to outperform from market perform at William Blair.
• EchoStar (SATS) to neutral from underperform at Macquarie.

Analyst Upgrades

• Goldman upgraded BP (BP) to buy from neutral.
• STEC (STEC) was upgraded to buy from hold at Needham.
• MCG Capital (MCGC) was upgraded to buy from hold at BB&T.
• Corporate Office (OFC) was upgraded to market perform from underperform at FBR Capital.
• Citigroup upgraded K-Sea Transportation (KSP) and Post Properties (PPS) to hold from sell.
• BofA/Merrill upgraded Embraer (ERJ) to buy from underperform.
• Wilmington Trust (WL) was upgraded to neutral from underperform at Macquarie.
• Parkway Properties (PKY) was upgraded to hold from sell at Stifel Nicolaus.

When a stock rallies 7% after the company announces the CEO is resigning, it's easy to tell he wasn't doing a good job. This is part of the case for Office Depot (ODP) this morning. The retailer announced Steve Odland, Chairman and CEO of ODP since 2005, will resign effective November 1. Neil Austrian will become the interim chairman and CEO while ODP looks for a permanent replacement.

"We thank Steve for his contributions to our Company, beginning in 2005, and through one of the toughest economic climates in memory. During his tenure, the Company grew and achieved record revenues and profits, and we have seen some improvement in margins coming out of the depths of the recession," the company said in a statement.

Analyst Upgrades

• JPMorgan upgraded Anadarko Petroleum (APC) to overweight from neutral on valuation as it views the recent pullback in shares as excessive. Despite upgrading, the firm lowered its target for shares to $82 from $90.
• Oppenheimer upgraded Office Depot (ODP) to perform from underperform and upped its target for shares to $7 from $3 after raising its estimates for companies in the Office Products Retail space. The firm expects trends to accelerate for the sector due to moderating unemployment pressures. In conjunction with the upgrade, Opco raised its target for OfficeMax (OMX) to $26 from $21 and target for Staples (SPLS) to $30 from $28. Both stocks remain outperform rated.
• C.K. Cooper upgraded iRobot (IRBT) to buy from hold with a $30 price target following the company's analyst day.
• Seadrill (SDRL) was upgraded to buy from hold at Jefferies.
• Vodafone (VOD) was upgraded to neutral from reduce at Nomura.

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage on BloggingStocks:

• Coinstar Inc. (CSTR) shares surged following stronger-than-expected Q1 earnings driven by DVD rentals.
• Humana Inc. (HUM) shares traded lower despite the report of better-than-expected earnings for Q1.
• IMAX Corp. (IMAX) reported strong Q1 results that easily topped consensus estimates, but shares declined.
• Kellogg Co. (K) topped Q1 earnings expectations and announced a share buyback program.
• Office Depot Inc. (ODP) Q1 earnings fell short of consensus estimates and same-store sales declined.

Office Depot, Inc. (ODP), whose colleagues include OfficeMax Incorporated (OMX) and Staples, Inc. (SPLS), was off by 1.4% at the time of this writing in afternoon trading. That put the share price below the $7 level. The stock is also well below the 52-week high of $9.19. What do the technical and fundamental factors tell us about the potential of this investment idea?

They're not telling us comforting things, in my opinion. The one-year chart doesn't look too bad. Like many other one-year charts, it shows a company that wants to head higher, albeit in a choppy way.

Tomorrow morning before the opening bell, office retailer Office Depot (ODP) will step into the earnings spotlight. The stock is more than 8% higher this morning thanks to investors' anticipation of solid results. This anticipation was further stocked by brokerage house Credit Suisse, which upgraded ODP to "neutral" from "underperform" this morning, citing tomorrow's earnings announcement.

In addition, Jefferies & Co. forecast an improvement in the company's fist-quarter sales. Let's take a look at the technical implications of the upgrade.

Staples (SPLS) issued Q3 results early this morning, and the market loved them. In afternoon trading, the stock was bid higher by over 6%, with awesome volume backing the trade.

According to the press release, total sales decreased 6%. Earnings per diluted share declined as well, dropping 7% on an adjusted basis to 39 cents. That was good enough, though, to beat expectations by a penny, as indicated by our preview piece.

For retailers that jumped on the social media bandwagon this year, the impact was salient. How could they not be? With many consumers already engaged with tools such as Twitter and Facebook, the sellers didn't have a choice but to engage them in this manner.

Social media has become another way for shoppers to compare deals and find the bargains that turn them on ... especially in a tough economic environment where making your dollar go further makes a profound difference. The rapid growth in these tools, especially this year, has made them a viable alternative for bargain hunters ahead of the holidays.

In his 'Master Trading' portfolio, Bernie Schaeffer uses fundamental, technical and sentiment metrics to select trades. Here's a trio of ideas from Schaeffer's Investment Research.

"I have initiated a long position in Office Depot (NYSE: ODP). Price action for ODP has been strong, with the equity gaining more than 108% year-to-date.

"Recently, the equity pulled back to its 20-day moving average. There is heavy out-of-the-money put open interest for ODP. An unwinding of the short positions related to this open interest could provide a tailwind for the stock.

Staples (NASDAQ: SPLS), a seller of office supplies and a competitor of chains such as Office Depot (NYSE: ODP), OfficeMax (NYSE: OMX), and Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT), reported Q2 earnings on Tuesday. Although they weren't that great, I can't say I felt they were a total disaster, either. I think the quarter was lackluster and indicative of the immense work ahead for management in terms of getting people into their stores and increasing sales per transaction.

According to the press release, total sales increased 9% and adjusted earnings per share declined 24% to 16 cents. That's a steep drop, but they did match analyst expectations. Staples used the increase it saw in free cash flow in a smart way: debt reduction. I approve of that move, to be sure.

For private equity investors, one of the worst sectors has been retailing. Just look at some of the failed deals: Goody's, Linens 'n Things, Mervyns, and so on.

Despite the carnage, it looks like private equity operators are seeing opportunity in the sector. For example, CCMP Capital Advisors recently agreed to pay $202 million for defunct Eddie Bauer.

And, this week we got another deal: BC Partners announced a $350 million direct investment in Office Depot (NYSE: ODP).