"Which stocks and which sectors are relatively inflation-proof while offering exposure to emerging market growth, particularly in China?" asks Glenn Rogers.

The contributing editor to Internet Wealth Builder explains, "I kept coming back to a basket of Chinese Internet stocks which, with a few exceptions, have not significantly pulled back with the rest of the Chinese market.

"There are a lot of things to like about the Internet in China where they had a total of 384 million web surfers at the end of 2009. That is greater than the entire population of the United States and that's with a penetration of only 23% so there is lots of room to grow.

Despite the turmoil in the Middle East, the market powered to a 30-month high, closing above 12,000 Tuesday. The key driver was a slew of strong earnings reports. The last time we saw Dow 12,000 was on June 19, 2008. Across the board, the major averages were strong. The Dow climbed 148.23 to 12,040.16, S & P 500 rose 21.47 to 1307.59, and the NASDAQ surged 51.11 to 2751.19, as reported in the Wall Street Journal.

Here are just a few stocks that moved the Dow higher:

• Pfizer (PFE) rose $1.00 to $19.22. Fourth-quarter profit tripled from a year ago.

Baidu (BIDU), China's search engine giant, has seen its American depositary shares (ADSs) rise very nicely over the last 12 months. Yesterday, the ADSs closed up almost 2% to $108.63, not too far from the 52-week high of $115.04; the price movement was achieved on high volume. The 52-week low is $40.67, so those who bought in near the latter price are pretty happy campers.

That 2% rise, while quite respectable, wasn't the big story; rather, it was what happened during the after-hours session. The ADSs went up 7.7% to $116.99. Considering that we're in another earnings season, I don't think it's a particular challenge for anyone to guess what propelled the company to such lofty heights.

Moody's gave a warning to Spain and the Greeks rioted again. CPI showed tame inflation and industrial capacity was close to two-year highs. We also had at least four IPOs and the Senate passed the Bush tax-cut extension for two years. The markets looked set for a rally but the end of day trading again failed to materialize into a win for the bulls. Here were today's closing bell levels:

DJIA: 11,457.47, -19.07 (0.17%)
S&P 500: 1.235.23, -6.36 (0.51%)
NASDAQ: 2,617.22, -10.50 (0.40%)

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades

"In our opinion, Chinese Internet search company Baidu (BIDU) remains the top growth stock in the market," says growth stock investor Mike Cintolo.

In Cabot Top Ten, a newsletter service that each week assesses the market's 10 strongest stocks based on technical performance, he explains, "The big idea with Baidu, of course, is online search in China, an industry that's probably where the U.S. market was back in the mid 2000s, before a few years of mega-growth.

PetroChina (PTR) closed April 1 at $119.13. WTI Crude Oil Futures are recently up .65% to $85.42 according to Bloomberg. PTR April put option implied volatility is at 25, May puts are at 28, June is at 30; below its 26-week average of 32 according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

Baidu (BIDU) closed at $600. BIDU overall option implied volatility of 40 is near its 26-week average of 42, according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price movement.

Update is by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

Google's (GOOG) problems in China have been well-publicized in recent years. The world's most populous country and its own Baidu.com search engine have managed to stave off Google to a minority market share. At the same time, the Chinese government has been no friend of the world's leading search engine, requesting censored results in comparison to Google's "all information is free" stance. So, Google stands prepared to leave China for good.

Baidu (BIDU) closed at $549.16. March put option implied volatility is at 29, April is at 33, June at 40 and September is at 41, versus its 26-week average of 42, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing near-term price movement.

Financial Select Sector (XLF) closed at $15.35. March put option implied volatility is at 25, April is at 26, June is at 29, versus its 26-week average of 26, according to Track Data.

Three stocks with IV rise on March 9; American Intl Group (AIG) 17%, CMC Metals (CMC) +13%, Southwestern Energy (SWN) +4% according to IVolatility.

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

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

• Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (ANF) received an analyst's upgrade ahead of next week's Q4 earnings report.
• Acer Inc. reported its highest quarterly earnings in almost three years due in part to growth in shipments.
• Baidu Inc. (BIDU) swung to a better-than-expected Q4 profit, with strong revenue growth, and offered rosy guidance.
• Biogen Idec Inc. (BIIB) offered an upside surprise as well as full-year earnings above Wall Street estimates.
• Coinstar Inc. (CSTR) strong quarterly results and guidance, as well as litigation concerns, failed to inspire Wall Street.
• Coca-Cola Co. (KO) posted strong Q4 and full-year earnings results due to growth in emerging markets.