Analyst Upgrades

• BB&T (BBT) and Aflac (AFL) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• Kodiak Oil & Gas (KOG) to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.
• Zhongpin (HOGS) to neutral from reduce at Global Hunter.
• Marathon Oil (MRO), Noble Energy (NBL) and Manulife Financial (MFC) to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Carrizo Oil & Gas (CRZO) to buy from hold at Canaccord.
• Comerica (CMA) to buy from neutral at Rochdale.

Markets opened lower this morning, with the DJIA down around 70 points before noon as it pulled back from near 12,000. Earnings reports from some blue-chip stocks were lukewarm to poor, contributing to the slide. News that President Obama will propose a federal spending freeze and a ban on congressional earmarks provided a bit of an up-tick in the early afternoon, but not enough to overcome the earlier decline. Crude oil is trading below $87/barrel and gold is down -$13/oz, to $1,331.50, its lowest level in nearly three months.

Here are the unofficial numbers for late afternoon trading today:

Dow Jones 11,977.19 -3.33 (-0.03%)
S&P 500 1,291.18 +0.34 (0.03%)
Nasdaq 2,719.25 +1.70 (0.06%)

If you looked at the overseas trading markets versus the US this morning, this was one of those days that could have gone either way. This followed a financial rescue package for Greece, and also followed the biggest gain in US manufacturing in almost six years, that even with a rise in construction spending.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 11,151.83 +143.22 (1.30%)
S&P 500 1,202.26 +15.58 (1.31%)
Nasdaq 2,498.74 +37.55 (1.53%)

Top Analyst Calls

Analyst upgrades:

• Keefe Bruyette upgraded Blackstone Group (BX) to outperform from market perform following the company's Q3 results and maintains an $18.50 price target on shares.
• Baird upgraded Astec (ASTE) to outperform from neutral citing relative valuation and upside from new multi-year U.S. highway funding legislation. The firm raised its target to $33 from $27.
• Goldman upgraded Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) to conviction buy from neutral citing "significant" long-term growth drivers that include international growth. The firm raised its target to $45 from $36.
• Ariad Pharmaceuticals (ARIA) was upgraded to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Energizer (ENR) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight at Morgan Stanley.
• AstraZeneca (AZN) was upgraded to buy from hold at RBS.