Shares of the online auction site eBay, Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) have been surging today after positive remarks from Banc of America Securities analyst Brian J. Pitz, who stated that the company is on track for a "solid" first quarter to the year.

Pitz made his remarks after analyzing the company's recent proprietary listings and conversion rate tracking data. As a result of his findings, Pitz gives the stock a price target of $38, and lifted his revenue forecast for the quarter from $2.03 billion up to $2.08 billion. This is slightly higher than the $2.06 billion that Wall Street is expecting to see, and as a result shares of the e-commerce giant have surged 5% today to $30.96, and hit a high earlier in the session up at $31.21.

eBay has been in the news a lot lately, but for the most part, it has not been positive. The company has been fighting off speculation that a seller's strike late last month that extended into the first week of March had had any material impact on the site's listing numbers. Some have argued that the strike led to a 13% drop in product listings, but eBay has adamantly denied any impact what-so-ever, and instead has insisted that a promotion that ran right before the strike had artificially inflated product listing numbers that were used to compute the strike's effectiveness.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Cypress Bioscience, Banc of America, Insulet, Taleo and Vocus Inc were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Friedman Billings started shares of Cypress Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ: CYPB) with an Outperform rating and $22 target, and is positive on the company's lead product milnacipran, in Phase III studies for fibromyalgia. The firm expects a 1Q09 launch and believes the U.S. market could be as large as $7B.
  
• Goldman resumed coverage of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) with a Buy rating and $63 target as they believe the company has around $22.5B of unrealized gains in its strategic investment portfolio. Goldman also added BAC to their Americas Buy List.
  
• Insulet Corporation (NASDAQ: PODD) was initiated at William Blair with an Outperform rating. The firm believes the unique features of the OmniPod will allow PODD to capture a meaningful portion of the 300,000 current insulin pumpers in the United States.
  
• Soleil started shares of Taleo Corporation (NASDAQ: TLEO) with a Buy rating and $35 target and believes the company's recent growth pace can continue.
  
• Shares of Vocus Inc (NASDAQ: VOCS) were also initiated at Soleil with a Buy rating and $39 target. The firm believes the company can gain share in the early stage market for public relations software given its on-demand model and low price entry point.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Cowen initiated shares of Lions Gate Entertainment Corp (NYSE: LGF) and Marvel Entertainment Inc (NYSE: MVL) with an Outperform rating and shares of Dreamworks Animation SKG Inc (NYSE: DWA) with a Neutral rating.
  
• Goldman resumed coverage of Nintendo Co Ltd (OTC: NTDOY) with a Buy rating.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: The initiation of the Regional Banks sector was today's most notable move:

• Stifel initiated Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) with a Buy rating and $41 target as they believe the company is best in class given its strong capital position, effective risk management and better than average EPS growth rates.
• Stifel initiated with a Hold rating: Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Wachovia (NYSE: WB) and Fifth Third (NASDAQ: FITB).
• Stifel transferred coverage of the following names with Hold ratings: BB&T Corp (NYSE: BBT), Comerica IncCMA), SunTrust Banks (NYSE: STI), US Bancorp (NYSE: USB). Note USB was transferred and downgraded to Hold from Buy.
• Stifel initiated Regions Financial (NYSE: RF) with a Sell rating and $33 target as they believe the AmSouth merger is likely to prevent a near-term catalyst, and transferred coverage of National City (NYSE: NCC) with a Sell rating and $33 target, downgraded from Hold, as they believe consensus estimates need to come down to reflect several challenging trends.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• JMP Securities started TiVO Inc (NASDAQ: TIVO) with a Market Outperform rating, expecting the company to gain a larger piece of the DVR market in the late spring/early summer.

• Wedbush initiated Lions Gate Entertainment Corp (NYSE: LGF) with a Buy rating and $13 target.

• BMO Capital started Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY), Wyeth (NYSE: WYE) and Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE) with Market Perform ratings and Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY), Merck & Co (MRK) and Schering Plough (NYSE: SGP) with Outperform ratings.

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

Kohl's Corp. (NYSE:KSS) opened at $72.10. So far today the stock has hit a low of $71.10 and a high of $72.95. As of noon today, KSS is trading at $72.50, up $1.75 (2.47%).

After hitting a one year high of $75.54 in November, the stock has traded within a range with support above $65 but resistance just below $75. Banc of America Securities upgraded KSS from neutral to buy, citing new products expected to improve performance. The firm also raised its price target on KSS from $72 to $84. The technical indicators for KSS have been bullish but deteriorating, while S&P gives the stock a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold rating.

For a bullish hedged play on this stock, I would consider an April bull-put credit spread below the $65 range. KSS hasn't been below $65 since September and has shown support around $67.50. This trade could be risky if Americans slow down the rate of their discretionary spending, but there have been no recent signs that this is likely to happen any time soon.

Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investors Observer. (Free Subscription)

DISCLOSURE: Mr. Archer owns and/or controls diversified portfolios of long and short stock and option positions that may include holdings in companies he writes about.

The Banc of America Corp. (NYSE:BAC) Tuesday posted Q4 EPS of $1.19 compared to the Reuters consensus estimate of $1.18. BAC also said Q4 revenue totaled $18.46 billion compared to the consensus estimate of $18.15 billion. The Q4 earnings performance represented a 35% increase from Q4 2005.

Banc of America shares were down 35 cents to $53.30 on the news in Tuesday afternoon trading.

The initial consensus on Wall Street appeared to be that BAC has executed its corporate restructuring fairly well to-date, with only modest impact on the bottom line. The Banc of America's most recent acquisition is credit card giant MBNA - an acquisition analysts have also looked favorably upon.

With net interest margins - - the difference between what a bank earns from loans and pays on deposits - - narrowing, analysts said the big money center banks will have to remain vigilant regarding expenses and keep overall costs down. One reason: the housing sector, while not in a deep recession, has corrected, which will place a damper on new revenues from mortgages and related products in the immediate future.

eBay, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) started the week at $30.49 and finished it at $32.07, that's a 5.17% return. Not too shabby. In fact, EBAY stock 3-months return is over 35%. Alas, year-to-date and 52-week returns are still in negative territory of over -25% and -18% respectively.

eBay's forward multiple is still cheaper vis-a-vis other Internet companies such as Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), Google, Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Yahoo!, Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO), implying room for further gains.

This week, the biggest news came from two fronts: the business side and the Street.

On the business side we heard the good news that Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE:HPQ) has began offering eBay's PayPal as a payment option. Each such endorsement solidifies PayPal's position as the market leader in online payment.

From the Street came the endorsement from Banc of America that imitated eBay with a Buy rating and a target price of $40. While B of A sees short term challenges, they also find potential for new monetization ways, which in turn would bring new revenue streams. The Banc is optimistic about PayPal too.

I don't know how many of you know I'm Canadian, and I also don't know how many of you know that Canada has two official languages, English and French. What does this have to do with eBay? Well, eBay Canada now offers its site in both languages, which is the norm here. And yet, in Canada, eBay may also find itself facing a rival in the form of MightyBid.com, which was started by two former eBay power sellers.

After another record close for the Dow yesterday, less than 8 points to go to the 12,000 level. But will today be the day?

No less than five Dow components are due to report earnings before the market opens and finally today the market will also hear the results of the long awaited OPEC meeting.

Oil prices rose slightly this morning as the possible outcome of the OPEC meeting is to cut of 1 million barrels a day in an attempt to prop oil prices higher. In July oil prices peaked at $78 a barrel and declined 25% since. This would be the first cut since December 2004 when oil was around $40 a barrel. Apparently there is consensus among the member nations for the move, but a detailed arrangement hasn't been reached.

Yesterday, after the bell, after Apple Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) topped expectation, eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) reported good results that also beat some expectations, but Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NYSE: AMD) improvement wasn't enough.

This morning we have five Dow components reporting:

• Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) - third-quarter profit fell 23% but operating earnings climbed 6%. However, the earnings decline wasn't as bad as analysts had feared.
• Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) - third-quarter net income rose to $1.46 billion, or 62 cents a share, from $1.28 billion, or 54 cents a share, a year ago. Analysts were expecting 59 cents per share.
• Pfizer, Inc. (NYSE: PFE) - third quarter earnings of $3.36 billion, or 46 cents per share, compared with $1.59 billion, or 22 cents per share, a year earlier.
• Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE: HON) and McDonald's Corp (NYSE: MCD) are also due to report soon

Banc of America Corp (NYSE: BAC) also reported third-quarter results with net income rising to $5.42 billion, or $1.18 a share, in the latest quarter, compared with $3.84 billion, or 95 cents a share, the year earlier. Results beat expectations of $1.15 EPS on revenue of $17.97 billion.

Overseas, Nokia Corp (NYSE: NOK), SAP (NYSE: SAP) and Sony Corp (NYSE: SNE) also reported earnings.

Finally, Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) is to report its third-quarter earnings after the bell today.

In economic news, weekly initial claims is due at 8:30 (expected - an addition of 310,000), September leading indicators at 10:00 a.m. (expected - 0.3% rise) and October Philadelphia Fed Index at noon (expected - 6.5 increase).

Yesterday, bonds rose, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury falling to 4.76% from 4.77% late Tuesday. Treasury prices were little changed this morning.

Overseas, Asian markets closed mostly lower. European markets are also lower at the moment.

Futures are mixed in early morning trade (8:00 a.m.), pointing to a higher start for the S&P 500 and a lower start for the NASDAQ.

Here's a look at some key Blogging Stocks:

Apple Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) closed at $74.53 yesterday. After Apple reported great results yesterday, Sony's results weren't that great, affected by the battery recall.

General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) closed at $35.56 yesterday. NBC Universal plans to cut US$750 million in operating expenses by the end of 2007 by laying off employees, cutting back on scripted shows, and slashing its news budget, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) closed at $19.59 yesterday. AOL will lay off 1,300 employees by closing call centers in New Mexico and Arizona as part of a previously announced restructuring plan.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) closed at $48.35 yesterday. Wal-Mart is expanding its $4 generic prescription drugs for some to 14 more states, two weeks after rolling out the low-cost program in Florida.

Last week I pondered what the launch of Zecco, a free online stock trading service, could translate to as far as what it could do to online brokerage firms' profit margins on online trading. I gave a couple of different paths and possible longer-term implications, but this morning one of the paths has already been set.

Bank of America Corp (NYSE: BAC) is going to offer free online stock trading for self-directed investors with account balances of over $25,000.00. Zecco's minimum balance is $2,500.00 for free online trading, only a tenth of the requirement for free trading at Bank of America. While there is a discrepancy between these two offerings, it is almost certain we will be seeing more freebie or discounted offerings from other online trading operations elsewhere.

That can't be good for profit margins at E*Trade Financial Corp (NYSE: ET), TD Ameritrade Holding Corp (NASDAQ: AMTD), Schwab Corp (NASDAQ: SCHW) and others. To point, online brokers are lower this morning in pre-market trading: ET is down 4.5% at $23.36, AMTD is down 5.5% at $18.04, and SCHW is down 4.2% at $17.30. I haven't seen any trades or indications on TradeStation Group Inc (NASDAQ: TRAD), although they are also an online trading firm specializing in direct trading access for stocks, options, futures and forex.

The big three in online trading -- ET, AMTD, SCHW -- can't be too thrilled about this as they had finally found some price stability after commission wars left only them standing as the leaders.

Jon Ogg is a partner in 24/7 Wall St., LLC; he does not own securities in the companies he covers