Analyst Upgrades

• JPMorgan upgraded Dollar Tree (DLTR) to neutral from underweight and $48 price target.
• Credit Suisse upgraded Time Warner Cable (TWC) to outperform from neutral and raised its price target to $70 from $59, citing growth in wireline HST demand.
• Needham upgraded NetScout (NTCT) to buy from hold with a $29 price target, citing channel checks that indicate industry spending on network monitoring software may be improving.
• Nstar (NST) was upgraded to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• Novo Nordisk (NVO) was upgraded to hold from sell at Societe Generale.
• Air France-KLM (AFLYY) was upgraded to neutral from underperform at Credit Suisse.

In case you haven't noticed it, oil prices are surging, and the impact of these high prices is not going unfelt by the major airlines. Today, Europe's largest airline, Air France-KLM, stated what most of us already knew... it's not going to be a pretty year for the company's bottom line.

During its fiscal fourth quarter the airline swung to a loss of $853.81 million. During the same period last year the company was able to show a profit of $44 million.

The current surge in oil prices (which hit $135 earlier today), definitely played a role in the weak quarter, but were not the main culprit in the hefty loss. Most of the loss was due to $834 million after-tax provision due to a European and U.S. investigation into the air-cargo industry.

Happy Thanksgiving from the BloggingStocks staff and contributors! Here are some leading financial stories around the world today:

Stocks plunge in China
China's Shanghai Composite Index sank 4.41 percent Thursday to fall below 5,000 -- 18.2 percent off its peak of 6,092 in mid-October -- adding evidence of an end to the China bubble. Shares of PetroChina (NYSE: PTR), the world's largest oil company, fell 4.6 percent to 35.11 yuan.

ArcelorMittal takes charge in China
ArcelorMittal (NYSE: MT), the world's leading steelmaker, is taking a controlling 73 percent stake in China Oriental Group Co. Earlier this month, ArcelorMittal bought a 28% stake in the iron and steel maker for $647 million. The Luxembourg-based company also disclosed plans for steel plants in India's Jharkhand and Orissa states.

Air France-KLM's Q2 profits soar
Air France-KLM (NYSE: AKH) on Thursday posted second-quarter profit of $1.1 billion, nearly double the $539.7 million reported in the same period last year. The top European airline also said it had not dismissed the possibility of offers for Italy's Alitalia or Spain's Iberia airlines.

Most Noteworthy: On an expected light trading day after Thanksgiving, Palm Harbor (PHHM) and Vicor Corp. (VICR) top today's list of downgrades.

• Palm Harbor Homes, Inc. (NASDAQ:PHHM) and Vicor Corp. (NASDAQ:VICR) were downgraded at Matrix USA due to valuation and the slowing demand for housing, Palm Harbor was downgraded to Hold from Buy and Vicor was downgraded to Sell from Hold.

Other Downgrades:

• Air France-KLM ADS (NYSE:AKH) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Citigroup after shares were up in overseas trading after the company confirmed it was in merger talks with Alitalia.
• Journal Register Company (NYSE:JRC) was downgraded at Matrix USA to Sell from Hold due to the soft demand for print advertising and a decrease in circulation.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).