Citigroup (C) closed at $4.03. The U.S. Treasury Department said that it plans to sell additional 1.5B shares of C. Overall option implied volatility of 45 is below its 26-week average of 50, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

Pfizer (PFE) closed down 28 cents to $14.53. Pfizer is expected to report Q2 EPS on August 3. Call option volume of 157K contracts compares to put volume of 20K contracts. August and September put option implied volatility is at 28; December is at 31; verses its 26-week average of 28, according to Track Data, suggesting nondirectional price movement.

Options Update is by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

Is it time to dump dividend stocks before the Bush tax cuts expire? In 2001 and 2003 Bush, passed several tax relief bills that will automatically expire at the end of 2010. Obama campaigned against the tax relief packages and many Americans may be facing a huge tax increase as the package expires.

Dividend taxation is of particular concern to investors. Under the relief packages, dividends taxes were cut to 15%, but if the package expires, dividends may be taxed as ordinary income at levels up to 39.6%.

Analyst Upgrades

• Raymond James upgraded Research in Motion (RIMM) to outperform from market perform based on valuation. The firm has a $70 price target on the stock.
• Macquarie upgraded Halliburton (HAL) to outperform from neutral and has a $40 price target on the stock. The firm said recent pressure pumping activity is above their expectations and pricing has firmed.
• Canaccord upgraded Baldor Electric (BEZ) to buy from speculative buy, citing improving business trends and the upcoming mandatory transition to premium efficiency motors. The firm has a $47 price target on the stock.
• Wells Fargo upgraded Williams-Sonoma (WSM) to outperform from market perform.
• Medco Health (MHS) was upgraded to conviction buy from buy at Goldman.
• Repsol (REP) was upgraded to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.

"In the $780 billion global pharmaceutical industry, the world's largest drugmaker, Pfizer (PFE), stands out above its peers," Gene Marcial recently wrote on DailyFinance. "Why then does its stock look uninspired?" he asks.

His question is echoed today by Matthew Harper of Forbes: "Pfizer shares have dropped almost 25% from their peak in January. The steady decline continued even as Pfizer presented strong evidence for a lung cancer drug at a medical meeting this month."

News from the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer (PFE) could quickly stop the downward slide of that company's shares.

Early tests of Pfizer's cancer drug crizotinib, while only preliminary, have generated a fair amount of excitement among cancer treatment researchers. The drug, which targets a genetic factor among specific lung cancer patients, has reportedly been shown to reduce the size of tumors caused by that disease.

Pfizer Inc. (PFE), in a move which was not unanticipated, has announced that it intends to reduce it's workforce by as much as 18% over the next 18 months to five years. This announcement comes as the lead-in to important moves the company must make to remain competitive and profitable in the coming years.

Pfizer (PFE) was the darling of the 1990s. Well, so was Bill Clinton, and like Clinton, the company pops up now and again in the news, but none of it really matters.

Pfizer's premier product, Lipitor, comes off patent this year and will get hit by generic competition in 2011. This drug has $11 billion in sales, which will shrink to $4 billion or less, and with that could go $5 billion or so in profits.

Spring is finally here, which means it's time to break out the broom and dustpan for some spring cleaning.

But your home isn't the only thing that requires constant maintenance -- your portfolio does too.

And what better time than spring to get a fresh start by cleaning out the stocks that are sitting around collecting dust rather than making you money?