Analyst Upgrades

• Goodrich (GR) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Ford (F) to neutral from underperform and CenterPoint Energy (CNP) to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.
• Dollar Financial (DLLR) and Edwards Lifesciences (EW) to buy from hold at Jefferies.
• Alterra Capital (ALTE) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• Cheesecake Factory (CAKE) and P.F. Chang's (PFCB) to buy from neutral, as well as SunTrust (STI) to neutral from sell, at Janney Capital.
• Arch Capital (ACGL), Axis Capital (AXS), PartnerRe (PRE), Everest Re (RE) and Transatlantic (TRH) to buy from hold, as well as W. R. Berkley (WRB) to hold from sell, at Citigroup.
• Optimer Pharm (OPTR) to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.

Analyst Upgrades

• State Street (STT) was upgraded to buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Roth Capital upgraded Intel (INTC), Marvell Technology (MRVL) and Nvidia (NVDA) to buy from neutral.
• Bebe Stores (BEBE) was upgraded to buy from neutral at Janney Montgomery.
• W&T Offshore (WTI) was upgraded to buy from accumulate at Global Hunter.
• Citigroup upgraded International Rectifier (IRF) and Timberland (TBL) to hold from sell.
• Watson Pharma (WPI) was upgraded to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Atmel (ATML) was upgraded to strong buy from buy at Needham.
• Ashford Hospitality (AHT) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.
• Oppenheimer upgraded MetroPCS (PCS) to outperform from perform.

Analyst Upgrades

• BMO Capital upgraded Concho (CXO) to outperform from market perform and has a $73 price target on the stock. The firm cites valuation and sustainable growth for the upgrade.
• Sterne Agee upgraded City Holding (CHCO) to buy from neutral based on valuation. The firm has a $34 target on the stock.
• UBS upgraded Werner Enterprises (WERN) to neutral from sell based on valuation. The firm raised its price target to $21.50 from $21.
• Nvidia (NVDA) was upgraded to equal weight from underweight at Morgan Stanley.
• Colfax (CFX) was upgraded to neutral from underperform at BofA/Merrill.
• Camden Property (CPT) was upgraded to top pick from outperform at RBC Capital.

If you haven't noticed the surging price of oil at the pump or the surging prices of your electric bills, maybe oil at $124.00 and higher per barrel will catch your eyes. Maybe proposing higher margin limits on oil futures trading isn't such a bad idea after all.

Despite this, retail sales managed to come in better than most were expecting... even if you can chalk that up to an extra day because of Easter in March. Jobless claims also fell by 18,000 from last week to about 365,000. Below are the unofficial closing levels for the major US index levels:

• DJIA 12,867.27 (+52.92; +0.41%)
• S&P500 1,397.60 (+5.03; +0.36%)
• NASDAQ 2,451.49 (+13.00; +0.53%)
• 10YR-TBond 3.805% (-0.062%)
• 52-WEEK LOWS
• Top Analyst Calls

Barr Phrarmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE: BRL) was the drug company blow-up today. The company missed earnings estimates and lowered guidance. As the company is a generic drug giant, does this mean people are going off their meds? Shares tanked by 22% to $38.28 in the final minutes today.