Today was a dud from the start as profit takers were in there unloading gains as the impatient buyers try to gradually build positions in stocks they feel they have missed. For an earnings season trading day, this was a low-impact day. There was some negative consumer confidence data, but the Case-Shiller data showed signs that home prices are stabilizing.

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 9,096.42 -12.09 (-0.13%)
S&P 500 979.60 -2.58 (-0.26%)
Nasdaq 1,975.51 +7.62 (0.39%)

Top Upgrades and Downgrades

U.S. stock futures declined Tuesday morning after managing to close higher on Monday to extend the remarkable rally in the markets in the last two weeks. Today, more earnings are on tap, and investors will also focus on housing data coming out before the opening bell. Finally, there is a hearing about the energy trading that would be of interest to investors.

What on many investors' minds these past recent days is how long will the rally continue. The market, on Monday, on the one hand showed resilience following some disappointing earnings and pressures from sellers trying to cash in profits. On the other hand, the surprise climb in housing sales perhaps should have triggered a more convincing positive performance. While no doubt some would want to take some profit of the table in the coming days, more positive news from corporate results to economic data indicating a better third quarter could sustain markets.

Valero Energy (NYSE: VLO) closed at $18.31. VLO is expected to report Q2 EPS on July 28. Crude oil futures are recently up 0.82% to $68.61. VLO August call option implied volatility is at 38, puts are at 43; below its 26-week average of 61, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

MGM Mirage (NYSE: MGM) closed at $7.73. MGM is expected to report Q2 EPS on August 3. August option implied volatility is at 83; September is at 87; below its 26-week average of 110, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

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

• Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET) lowered its 2009 earnings guidance, initially sending the share price lower.
• Ciena Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN) reported a bigger-than-expected Q2 net loss as revenues sank.
• Collective Brands Inc. (NYSE: PSS) saw Q1 earnings and sales decline, but beat Wall Street estimates.
• Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) earnings prospects led Goldman Sachs analysts to increase its forecasts.
• Guess? Inc. (NYSE: GES) weak Q1 results topped estimates and it offered guidance that pleased investors.

Today was looking like a fairly quiet day with no solid direction, but the green shoots crowd got some actual good news on the jobs front. This was the first report since once in January where the massive army of continuing jobless claims actually fell. We also saw a positive report showing positive CEO Sentiment again for the month of May. Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 8,750.24 +74.96 (0.86%)
S&P 500 942.46 +10.70 (1.15%)
Nasdaq 1,850.02 +24.10 (1.32%)

Top Analyst Upgrades
Top Analyst Downgrades

Today was one of those days where stocks looked lower early in the morning, traded lower, and stayed there. Despite recovering from triple-digit losses in the DJIA earlier on, we still closed down 65.63 at 8.675.24 on the DJIA.

The S&P took a bigger hit by almost 13.00 at a lower level of 931.76. Bond prices rallied and we saw a 9 basis point drop in the 10-Year Treasury to 3.55%.

Here were today's top analyst upgrades, and there were several key downgrades as well.

Valero Energy (NYSE: VLO - option chain) stock is down big today after the company warned it expects to report a second-quarter loss of 50 cents per share. Analysts had forecast a profit of 74 cents per share. The company also said it plans to sell about 40 million shares of common stock to fund general corporate purposes and recent acquisitions. 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 VLO.

This morning, VLO opened at $19.64. So far today the stock has hit a low of $18.50 and a high of $19.79. As of 11:25, VLO is trading at $18.75, down $3.63 (-16.2%). The chart for VLO looked bullish before today while S&P gives VLO a positive 4 STARS (out of 5) buy ranking.

Analyst upgrades:

• FBR Capital upgraded KBW, Inc (NYSE: KBW) to Market Perform from Underperform as it sees increased capital-raising opportunities for small and mid-sized banks and believes the company's quarter is off to a strong start. The firm raised its target price to $23 from $18.
• Pali Capital upgraded Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) to Buy from Neutral on expectations the company's strategic shift towards advisory, distribution and retail will be monetized sooner than expected and its capital markets business is gaining traction. The firm set a $33 target on the stock.
• Baird upgraded Stericycle (NASDAQ: SRCL) to Outperform from Neutral and raised its target to $58 from $55 based on valuation predictable earnings, and its market leading platform.
• Apollo Investment (NYSE: AINV) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Keefe Bruyette.
• HSBC Holdings (NYSE: HBC) was lifted at Goldman to Buy from Neutral.
• Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Valero Energy (NYSE: VLO) closed at $20.50. VLO is scheduled to report Q1 EPS on April 28. Crude oil futures are recently up 1.51% to $49.59. VLO May option implied volatility of 63 is below its 26-week average of 73 according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB) closed at $46.23. SLB is scheduled to report Q1 EPS on April 24. May option implied volatility of 61 is below its 26-week average of 65, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

Readers of this space know that one of the preferred sectors has been the refining sector, with exclusions made for a few companies. Would that the United States (and much of the world, for that matter), transition to a next-generation propulsion system (natural gas, electric, fuel cell) quickly, but unfortunately that goal still looks a decade away, perhaps more. And that means refiners like Valero Energy (NYSE: VLO) will remain a force.

The market punished Valero in 2008 after refining margins narrowed substantially, but folks, we're talking gasoline in the United States here: gasoline refining margins can't (and didn't) contract for very long, and significant, additional margin improvement in seen in 2009.

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

• American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) earnings tumbled in Q4 but came in just short of expectations.
• Best Buy Inc. (NYSE: BBY) earnings prospects and cash flow led to an analyst's upgrade.
• Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE: BMY) topped analysts Q4 expectations, sending shares higher.
• Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL) posted a better-than-expected Q4 profit despite the weak economy.
• Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL) reported a big quarterly loss due to merger costs and bad fuel hedges.
• Eaton Corp. (NYSE: ETN) Q4 earnings fell on lower exchange rates and charges related to an acquisition.
• E*Trade Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: ETFC) narrowed its Q4 net loss but fell short of expectations.

Today Wall Street managed yet another day of gains. It seems that the confirmation of Tim Geithner as Treasury Secretary offset all of the negative data. Financials also had a decent day that seemed to trump all of the dismal earnings announcements from other giant companies.

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:
Top Analyst Upgrades
Top Analyst Downgrades

Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN) rose after the chip maker gave earnings that were only "about as disappointing" as expected. The company is trimming costs and cutting about 3,400 jobs. Shares were up over 4% at $15.39 before the close.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says the about-face at Apple and Bank of America is brutal for those who believed the company line.

Talk about a "trust no one" era. Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) (Cramer's Take) had been adamant that it had no use or need for the government's money. Its instant investment in China of much of our money made that point loud and clear. Why did we waste it on them? Why did we force them to take it?

Could we have been reassured more times that Steve Jobs was OK? That we were dead wrong to question it? That Joe Nocera, who wrote a prescient article about health and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) (Cramer's Take) and Jobs had been singled out by Jobs for the audacity of even questioning the man who is so much of Apple that we are frightened to even contemplate the world without him?

But we were asked to trust, and in return the trust was not rewarded. Bank of America has been in trouble for a month now, even though the company exuded confidence. The stock's been a killer.

I made it through mid-year of tracking my 2008 picks from last December and then -- Wham! -- I went from a slight advantage to being humbled badly by the market. However difficult it is to display your failings, once again I will share all of the horrors since I posted the original story Chasing Value: Final list -- 8 stocks for 2008.

The master is still the master, Warren Buffett and his life's work Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.B) beat me easily as well as the three indices I tracked.

For the most part, unless you started shorting stocks, there was no place to hide and most of my picks were big losers. There were two that beat Buffett and the market. The defense sector was the defensive sector it was supposed to be with Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) doing well on a relative scale. The other place you could have a morsel of stability was utilities and Huaneng Power International (ADR) (NYSE: HNP) lost less but not by much.

Oct. 28: Dow 9,065 (up 889 points); trading range, 958 points

Try to figure this one out:

Consumer confidence reaches the lowest levels on record since the survey began 41 years ago ...

Home prices in 20 major metro areas fall 16% year-over-year and have been falling for 20 consecutive months ...

And the market rallies to post its second-largest gain of the year.

Huh?!?

The volatile session ended with the benchmark index almost 900 points higher as bargain hunting and short-covering ruled the day, with some help from strength in the overseas markets.

A labor agreement at Boeing (NYSE: BA), and better-than-expected earnings at U.S. Steel (NYSE: X) and energy sector names Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY), Valero Energy (NYSE: VLO) and BP (NYSE: BP) also added fuel to the market's fire (pun intended).

Greg Tucker is the executive editor of OptionsZone.com.