Analyst upgrades:

• Jefferies upgraded shares of Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: APC) to Buy from Hold and raised the target to $79 from $52.50 on valuation and believes the company can use its strong cash flow position to acquire assets.
  
• Baird said The Corporate Executive Board Company's (NASDAQ: EXBD) valuation is discounting a miss and that the company is well positioned as an early-cycle story with a new CFO, continued mid-market traction, and likely better than feared 2009 results. The firm upgraded shares to Outperform from Neutral and raised its target to $38 from $41.
  
• Merrill upgraded Novartis AG (ADR) (NYSE: NVS) to Buy from Neutral and Sanofi-Aventis SA (ADR) (NYSE: SNY) and Shire Plc (ADR) (NASDAQ: SHPGY) to Buy from Underperform on valuation and defensive earnings.
• Marshall & Ilsley Corporation (NYSE: MI) was upgraded to Market Perform from Underperform at Keefe Bruyette.
  
• Barclays Plc (ADR) (NYSE: BCS) was raised to Hold from Sell at Citigroup.
  
• Novellus Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: NVLS) was upgraded at Soleil to Buy from Hold.

"The soaring cost of food isn't just hitting families in the US; it's hitting everyone around the world," says Neil George. Here, in Personal Finance, he looks at some agriculture, chemical and seed plays.

"During the past five years, consumer food costs have soared by more than 117%. And that momentum is increasing; in the trailing 12 months alone, prices surged more than 52%.

"The mega-investors aren't waiting around; they're buying into other parts of the ag business-from grain elevators to ag processors and distributors-as a workaround for such potential regulation.

"You shouldn't be sitting on your hands, either. This food trend is going to be here for a while, so you better stake your claim while buyers still outnumber sellers.

"One way to invest in this trend is to step into companies that are serving the ag producers. This means the companies developing and selling engineered seeds, as well as chemicals and fertilizer products needed to not just grow crops but more bountiful and, therefore, more profitable crops.

We've all mourned the plight of the honey bee in America, and Europe has been hit hard, too. Everything from fungi to cell phones to stress has been blamed for the startling losses -- from 30% to 80% of many commercial beekeepers' hives have been wiped out.

After a lot of urgent research conducted in the past few years, some tests on dead bees have shown that 99% of the ones examined had a high level of clothianidin in their system -- the chemical sold under the name "Poncho" by Bayer AG in Germany. It's used as a pesticide for sweet corn and rapeseeds.

According to Bayer, the chemical typically sticks to the seed and doesn't get into the air, but an "extremely rare" "application error" resulted in its release. Germany didn't take any chances though -- honeybees are vital to the health of many crops and the country has banned the entire category of pesticides.

But that doesn't end the bad news for Bayer, whose imidacloprid has been blamed in South Dakota and France for widepread colony collapse disorder. The chemical was used for oilseed rape and sunflowers. In South Dakota, farmers are suing, whereas the French government has banned the chemical (but just for sunflower seeds). The company maintains its products are safe, as long as they're applied correctly. I must admit, I'm skeptical. How many times will we accept the "user error" argument before we start scaling back the use of harmful chemicals? If they're killing bees, what might they do to humans who eat the foods from them? Bayer could face some major reduction in its €2.5 billion pesticide (aka "Crop Protection") market if more countries follow suit (and if more Americans like me begin to demand that our farmers stop using bee killers on their crops).

Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NYSE: BRL) shares are rising today after the company announced yesterday evening that a U.S. District Court ruled in favor of Barr, invalidating a patent protecting Bayer AG's Yasmin oral contraceptive. If you think that the company won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on BRL.

After hitting a one-year low of $45.41 in April, the stock hit a one-year high of $58.38 in November. BRL opened this morning at $49.07. So far today the stock has hit a low of $48.45 and a high of $49.99. As of 12:30, BRL is trading at $49.75, up $4.08 (8.9%). The chart for BRL looks neutral and steady while S&P gives BRL a positive 4 STARS (out of 5) buy rating.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Pfizer, Dell, Quest Diagnostics, and Societe Generale were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Lehman upgraded Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) to Equal Weight from Underweight on valuation.
  
• Friedman Billings raised Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) to Outperform from Market Perform, citing expectations for improved margins next quarter, and valuation.
  
• Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral by Credit Suisse, which cited valuation.
  
• Lehman upgraded shares of Societe Generale (OTC: SCGLY) to Overweight from Underweight to reflect a potential takeover by BNP Paribas and limited downside.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Bayer (OTC: BAYRY) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight by Lehman.
• Deutsche Telekom (NYSE: DT) was upgraded to Hold from Sell by Citigroup.
• Public Storage (NYSE: PSA) was raised to Buy from Hold by Deutsche Bank.
• UBS raised Entergy (NYSE: ETR) to Buy from Neutral.

Onyx Pharma (NASDAQ: ONXX) is recently is down $9.23 to $35.70 in pre-open trading.

ONXX and its partner Bayer halted Phase 3 trials of Nexavar and after the company reported a larger than expected Q4 loss.

ONXX overall option implied volatility of 63 is above its 26-week average of 57 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

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

MOST NOTEWORTHY: The coal sector, independent refiners and Alexion Pharmaceuticals were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Goldman downgraded the coal sector to Cautious from Neutral, citing valuations and expectations for lower coal prices. The firm downgraded CONSOL Energy (NYSE: CNX) Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU) to Neutral from Buy and Arch Coal (NYSE: ACI) to Sell from Neutral.
  
• Lehman downgraded independent refiners, including Alon USA Energy (NYSE: ALJ), to Negative from Neutral and continues to believe that 2H07 marked an inflection point for U.S. refiners, which are transitioning from a multiyear up-cycle into a new downtrend.
  
• Alexion Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ALXN) was lowered to Market Perform from Outperform at Wachovia following the company's Q4 results, as they believe management's revenue guidance represents a best-case scenario.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Lehman lowered Bayer (OTC: BAYRY) to Equal Weight from Overweight and Whole Foods (NASDAQ: WFMI) to Underweight from Equal Weight.

Monday, November 12

• Veterans' Day holiday.
• Tyson Foods (NYSE: TSN) to report Q4 earnings. They are holding a conference call at 9am and a business update later at 10:45am.

Tuesday, November 13

• Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE: WMT) to report Q3 earnings; pre-recorded conference call at 7am.
• Home Depot (NYSE: HD) to report Q3 earnings; conference call at 9am.
• Fed Reserve Governor Randall Kroszner is the Keynote Speaker at Standard & Poor's Banking Conference in New York at 1pm.

Wednesday, November 14

• Fed Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is the Keynote Speaker at Cato Institute Annual Monetary Conference at 9:10am.
• Macy's (NYSE: M) to report Q3 earnings; conference call at 10:30am.

Thursday, November 15

• Charles Schwab (NASDAQ: SCHW) to hold business update conference call at 10:30am.
• Nevada District Court: Bayer (NYSE: BAY) vs. Watson Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: WPI) on Patent Infringement Lawsuit over the generic birth control drug YAZ.

Friday, November 16

• PDUFA date for Bristol Myers Squibb Company's (NYSE: BMY) Abilify.
  
• PDUFA date for Impax Laboratories' (OTC: IPXL) Vadova.

Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NYSE: ONXX), a developer of cancer therapies, were up $2.40 to $51.75 in pre-open trading. ONXX released Q3 Nexavar sales of $105 million, beating Street expectations. Wachovia says, "With the ONXX/Bayer Nexavar joint venture touching profitability two quarters earlier than anticipated, we believe Street expectations for a Bayer acquisition of ONXX." ONXX has projected the next key clinical event will be in the 2nd half of 2008 for Phase 3 non-small cell lung cancer. ONXX over all option implied volatility of 58 is near its 26-week average of 55 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price risks.

[Update: ONXX shares were recently (12:05 p.m.) up $9.02, or 18.28% to $58.37.]

Daily options Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC) volatility aggressive; draws on $11.5 billion credit facility.
CFC, the largest U.S. home mortgage lender, is down to $18.99 in pre-open trading, below its close of $21.29. CFC announced "it has supplemented its funding liquidity position by drawing on an $11.5 billion credit facility." CFC September option implied volatility of 164 is above its 26-week average of 56 according to Track Data, indicating larger price fluctuations.

BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP) implied volatility elevated at 41.
BHP, the world's biggest mining company, said there was no impact at its Atamina copper mine from Peru's largest earthquake in more than 30 years. BHP overall option implied volatility of 41 is above its 26-week average of 34 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price fluctuations.

Novartis (NYSE: NVS) implied volatility elevated at 28.
NVS, engaged in research, development, manufacture and marketing of medicines, closed at $52.17. Dow Jones reported "a tie up of NVS and Bayer (NYSE: BAY) seems unlikely, says WestLB." NVS overall option implied volatility of 28 is above its 26-week average of 23 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price risk.

Volatility Index S&P 500 Options-VIX at 30.67; 10-day moving average is 25.20.

Daily options Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

More Countrywide Financial news

Peter Cohan: What the mortgage meltdown means to you
Eric Buscemi: George Bailey, meet Angelo Mozilo
Kevin Shult: Analyst downgrades: AN, CFC, DRI and RARE
Peter Cohan: Countrywide (CFC) meltdown continues
Michael Fowlkes: Countrywide Financial (CFC) adds to subprime panic
Peter Cohan: Could Countrywide Financial (CFC) be put down?
Sheldon Liber: Buy on fear today? Bear Stearns (BSC), Countrywide (CFC), IndyMac (IMB), Popular (BPOP), Washington Mutual (WM)