Minyanville contributor Sean Udall dares to share the kind of keen insight and actionable information you won't find in any prospectus. For more original thought, visit www.minyanville.com.

• I've taken a leg in the Ultra QQQ ProShares (AMEX: QLD). The market has popped 2% off lows, the question is will it pop the full 7%?
  
  
• I'm seeing a few positive divergences and the percentage of stocks below the 50 day moving average is well below the 2002 levels. I haven't looked at the percentage of stocks below the 200 day, but I'm sure the reading should be equally distressed.
  
  
• I know people are pricing in earnings per share Armageddon in tech land -- so the question is, what happens to many of these stocks if it's really just sort of "punk" and not a total cataclysmic drop in revenue guidance.
  

Today was indicative of another mixed day for equities, and other markets were mixed as well. We saw a sharp rise in bond yields due to a more hawkish fear from Wall Street about the FOMC rather than the wider than expected trade deficit reported this month. Oils closed down again on increased production today, although we still sit north of $130/barrel. Here are the unofficial closes of major US index levels:

• DJIA 12286.18 (+5.86)
• S&P500 1358.10 (-3.66)
• NASDAQ 2448.94 (-10.52)
• 10YR T-NOTE 4.099% (+0.107%)
• Top 10 Analyst Calls

There were also many biotech stocks today (ACHN, CRXL, MNKD, SQNM, CYTR, CYTX, INGN, ATHX, MITI, GTOP) which saw mystery moves to the downside on either not big news or as a follow-on trading move after news from the last few days.

American Superconductor Corp. (NASDAQ: AMSC) saw a sharp rise and shares were up almost 20% to $43.25 in the final minutes of trading today. The company secured a follow-on order today from China worth more than two-year's worth of revenues for the company.

"With oil over $100, and voters increasingly attuned in this political season to the need for clean and renewable fuels, the alternative energy industry is ripe for investment," says David Sandell.

The contributing editor to Stephen Leeb's The Complete Investor, explains, "We're adding American Superconductor (NASDAQ: AMSC) – an energy tech leader that helps the electric grid to function better – to our 'Fast Track' portfolio."

"American Superconductor designs and sells products geared to utilities, industrial companies, and wind energy developers. Its offers are designed to help these customers to generate and deliver electrical power more efficiently, cleanly, and reliably.

"The company has two chief divisions. Its profitable Power Systems segment sells power converters to utilities and industrial customers, both in the U.S. and internationally. The point of these converters is to regulate voltage, thereby improving the performance of the electric grid – making it more efficient (and energy-conserving) as well as reliable.

"The company is teaming up with the Department of Homeland Security as well as with Con Edison on a grid upgrade for New York City that would increase capacity and suppress power surges.

"In 2007, beefing up this division, American Superconductor made two significant acquisitions. It bought Windtec, a company that specializes in wind energy – licensing proprietary wind turbine designs, training workers to maintain turbines, and supplying converter and control systems to wind farms.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: The restaurant sector, American Semiconductor and First Solar were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Friedman Billings resumed coverage of Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ: CAKE) and Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM) with Outperform ratings and a $30 target and a $46 target and Applebee's (NASDAQ: APPB) with a Market Perform rating and $25.50 target.
  
• American Superconductor (NASDAQ: AMSC) was initiated with a Buy rating and $33 target at Jefferies, as they believe repeat orders for wind turbine electrical systems could drive rapid revenue growth from 2008-2010.
  
• CIBC resumed coverage of First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR) with a Sector Performer rating, as they believe shares are already pricing in the company's 2009 EPS potential.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Morgan Stanley resumed coverage of Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) with an Underweight rating.
  
• US Steel (NYSE: X) was initiated with a Sector Performer rating and $117 target at CIBC.
  
• JP Morgan started SunPower (NASDAQ: SPWR) with an Overweight rating and Evergreen Solar (ESLR) with a Neutral rating.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• A contract awarded to American Superconductor Corporation (NASDAQ: AMSC) by the Department of Homeland Security wasn't put out for bid as is usually required, and is being investigated by the House's Committee on Energy and Commerce, as well as the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, reported the Wall Street Journal (subscription required).
  
• The Wall Street Journal reported that private equity firm The Carlyle Group has been forced to lend a second $100M to mortgage fund Carlyle Capital, which has cancelled its dividend and is selling assets to meet margin calls, just two months after listing on the Euronext Amsterdam.
• U.S. consumers are defaulting on credit-card payments at a significantly higher rate than last year, raising the prospect that the problems in subprime mortgages will spread to other types of consumer debt, reported the Financial Times (subscription required).
  
• Barclays plc (NYSE: BCS) set up a $3B structured finance vehicle on behalf of German bank Sachsen less than three months before Sachsen's recent collapse, reported the Financial Times, which added that the finance vehicle set up by Barclays for the German bank had most of its assets invested in securities backed by prime and subprime U.S. mortgages.

OTHER PAPERS:

• According to regulatory filings, State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT) has the most exposure to asset-backed commercial paper among European and American banks, the U.K. Times reported.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: The interactive entertainment sector, CVS Corp (CVS) and two large retailers, J.C. Penney (JCP) & Federated Department Stores (FD), topped today's notable initiation list:

• AG Edwards initiated Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ: ERTS), Activision, Inc (NASDAQ: ATVI), THQ Inc (NASDAQ: THQI) with Buy ratings and Take-Two Interactive Software (NASDAQ: TTWO), Midway Games Inc (NYSE: MWY) and GameStop Corp (NYSE: GME) with Hold ratings. The firm believes the video game industry is well-positioned for above-average L-T growth based on positive demographic trends. In addition, AG Edwards expects overall U.S. video game industry retail dollar sales to grow by 39% in 2007.

• Elsewhere, Wachovia initiated CVS Corp (NYSE: CVS) with an Outperform rating. The firm believes CVS is well-positioned to take advantage of the fundamentals in the PBM business and find cost synergies from the merger.

• Thomas Weisel initiated both J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) and Federated Department Stores (NYSE: FD) with market Weight ratings. The firm believes JCP will have more modest margin expansion going forward and believes high expectations and valuation for FD will limit its outperformance in the near-term.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• ThinkEquity started DivX, Inc (NASDAQ: DIVX) with a Buy rating and $26 target.

• RBC initiated Trident Microsystems, Inc (NASDAQ: TRID) with a Sector Perform rating.

• UBS initiated Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (NASDAQ: TEVA) with a Buy rating.

• Pacific Growth started American Superconductor Corp (NASDAQ: AMSC) with a Neutral rating.

• Susquehanna started Quality Systems, Inc (NASDAQ: QSII) with a Positive rating.

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