Analyst Upgrades

• Dominion (D) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• Corinthian Colleges (COCO) to outperform from underperform at RBC Capital.
• Canadian National (CNI) to sector outperformer from sector performer at CIBC.
• DragonWave (DRWI) to buy from hold at Jefferies.
• Infosys (INFY) to overweight from equal weight at Morgan Stanley.
• SL Green Realty (SLG), Lexington Realty (LXP) and Taubman Centers (TCO) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Sunstone Hotel (SHO) to buy from neutral and Extra Space Storage (EXR) to buy from hold at KeyBanc.

Analyst Upgrades

• General Electric (GE) and Barclays (BCS) to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Warnaco (WRC) to outperform from market perform and Melco Crown (MPEL) to market perform from underperform at Wells Fargo.
• Parker-Hannifin (PH) and Emerson Electric (EMR) to buy from neutral at Goldman.
• AMD (AMD) to buy from neutral at Nomura.
• Novellus (NVLS) and Sherwin-Williams (SHW) to equal weight from underweight at Morgan Stanley.
• OpenTable (OPEN) to outperform from market perform at Morgan Keegan.
• Skilled Healthcare (SKH) to buy from hold at Jefferies.
• Lear (LEA) to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
• Adobe (ADBE) to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.

Analyst Upgrades

• Goldman upgraded Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) to buy from neutral.
• Credit Suisse upgraded Pulte Group (PHM) to neutral from underperform. Note that Citigroup downgraded the stock.
• Ameristar Casinos (ASCA) was upgraded to neutral from sell at Merriman.
• Citigroup upgraded Kimco Realty (KIM) to hold from sell.
• Mistras (MG) was upgraded to buy from hold at KeyBanc.
• Devon Energy (DVN) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Macquarie.
• Garmin (GRMN) was upgraded to outperform from sector perform at PacCrest.

Analyst Upgrades

• SunTrust upgraded American Express (AXP) to buy from neutral with a $47 price target based on valuation.
• Argus upgraded Verizon (VZ) to buy from hold, with a $39 price target, citing valuation and the company's aggressive 4G LTE network upgrade. However, Bernstein downgraded the stock.
• BMO Capital upgraded Canadian Pacific (CP) to outperform from market perform, citing the company's cost reduction efforts, and raised its target for shares to $74 from $67.
• Agrium (AGU) was upgraded to sector outperformer from sector performer at CIBC.
• Novatel Wireless (NVTL) was upgraded to hold from sell at Canaccord.
• Essex Property Trust (ESS) was upgraded to neutral from sell at Goldman.

Analyst Upgrades

• Standpoint Research upgraded Bank of America (BAC) to accumulate from hold based on valuation.
• UBS upgraded First Solar (FSLR) to buy from neutral and raised its price target to $150 from $136. The firm believes global solar demand will be higher than expected in 2010 and 2011.
• Goldman upgraded Lowe's (LOW) to buy from neutral and has a $24 target on the stock. The firm upgraded shares given the company's margin recovery which will drive EPS growth in 2H10.
• Zep Inc. (ZEP) was upgraded to buy from neutral at Janney Montgomery.
• Rosetta Resources (ROSE) was upgraded to buy from neutral at SunTrust.
• Matrixx Initiatives (MTXX) was upgraded to buy from hold at Roth Capital.

Today was one of those Fridays that felt bad most of the trading day. It was an options expiration date today, and there was no domestic economic news to drive the markets. PC earnings failed to ignite interest and sellers had most of a quiet Friday in August to themselves.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

DJIA
S&P500
NASDAQ

Top Analyst Calls
Major Stocks on 52-Week Lows

Analyst Upgrades

• Deutsche Bank upgraded Smurfit-Stone (SSCC) to buy from hold after raising its estimates for containerboard names and upped its target for shares to $28 from $22. The firm also raised its price target for International Paper (IP) to $38 from $32, for Packaging Corp. (PKG) to $33 from $28, for Temple-Inland (TIN) to $31 from $28, for Greif (GEF) to $67 from $65, and for Rock-Tenn (RKT) to $70 from $65. All stocks are buy rated.
• ThinkEquity upgraded VMware (VMW) to buy from hold and has a $90 price target on the stock. The firm expects VMware to benefit from increased virtual infrastructure adoption and improving vSphere solutions.
• Needham upgraded Cavium Networks (CAVM) to strong buy from buy, citing the recent pullback in shares following Cisco's (CSCO) cautious commentary. The firm has a $37 target on the stock.
• Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.
• MedAssets (MDAS) was upgraded to buy from hold at Auriga.
• Brookfield Properties (BPO) was upgraded to buy from hold at Citigroup.

Analyst Upgrades

• Credit Suisse upgraded Alliant Techsystems (ATK) to outperform from neutral following the company's increased FY11 guidance. The firm has an $85 target on the stock.
• FBR Capital upgraded Hyatt Hotels (H) to market perform from underperform following the company's Q2 results. The firm raised its target for shares to $44 from $38.
• BB&T upgraded to Smithfield Foods (SFD) to buy from hold, citing tighter supplies, strong pork prices and improving export demand. The firm has a $19 target on the stock.
• Holly (HOC) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at BMO Capital.
• Cogent Communications (CCOI) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Cowen.
• Catalyst Health (CHSI) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight at First Analysis.

Analyst Upgrades

• Deutsche Bank upgraded Barrick Gold (ABX) to buy from hold and reiterates a buy rating on Newmont Mining (NEM) after upping its 2011 gold forecast to $1,450 per ounce and 2012 forecast to $1,600 per ounce. The firm upped its target for Barrick shares to $53 from $45, for Newmont shares to $74 from $72, and on hold-rated Goldcorp (GG) and Kinross Gold (KGC) to $40 and $20, respectively.
• Citigroup upgraded General Dynamics (GD) to hold from sell following the recent pullback in shares. The firm keeps a $67 price target for the stock.
• UBS upgraded Public Service (PEG) to buy from neutral and has a $34 price target on the stock. The firm cites the company's solid balance sheet, earnings profile, and valuation for the upgrade.
• News Corp. (NWS) was upgraded to buy from hold at Soleil.
• AK Steel (AKS) was upgraded to neutral from underperform.
• Progress Energy (PGN) was upgraded to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• PNC Financial (PNC) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at Keefe Bruyette.

Analyst Upgrades

• Citigroup upgraded Baker Hughes (BHI) to hold from sell following the company's Q1 results.
• Auriga upgraded Canadian Solar (CSIQ) to buy from hold as it believes the company's negative preannouncement on April 20 removes a downside catalyst. Despite upgrading, the firm lowered its target for shares to $21 from $25.
• Deutsche Bank upgraded Post Properties (PPS) to hold from sell following the company's Q1 results. The firm upped its target for shares to $27 from $16.
• Wright Express (WXS) was upgraded to buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Nvidia (NVDA) coverage was assumed with a buy from hold at ThinkEquity.
• Elan (ELN) was upgraded to neutral from sell at UBS.

The struggle between the bulls and bears continued on Friday with what appeared to be a victory for the bears. And, long-term, they do have the edge since there is little doubt that every major index is still pointing south.

Friday's close at 8,001 on the Dow surely got the bulls' attention, as 8,000 appears to have some psychological importance to the investing public. But it has little technical significance.

The support line that has held since November (with the exception of the bear trap of Nov. 20 and Nov. 21) is actually at around 7,940. And the numbers that most technicians refer to as "the" market's support is at the zone between S&P 500 800 and 820.

For guidance at crucial moments, I prefer to check out the most reliable internal and sentiment indicators.

Results for the tech stocks in last week's preview were a mixed bag, some beats, some misses, some in line. By and large, expectations for tech companies reporting results this week remain high, though. Here's what analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial are anticipating in the way of earnings, as compared to the same period of the previous year.

• Solarfun Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: SOLF): $1.48 EPS (+73.0%) on sales of $1.3 billion (+171.0%)
• Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: MRVL): $0.21 EPS (+71.4%) on sales of $836.7 million (+27.4%)
• Solera Holdings Inc. (NYSE: SLH): $0.29 EPS (+51.7%) on sales of $137.0 million (+11.8%)
• Applied Signal Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: APSG): $0.14 EPS (+42.9%) on sales of $46.4 million (+17.4%)
• China Finance Online Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: JRJC): $0.14 EPS (+42.6%) on sales of $13.3 million (+131.5%)
• OSI Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: OSIS): $0.38 EPS (+36.8%) on sales of $162.0 million (+6.0%)
• LaBarge Inc. (AMEX: LB): $0.27 EPS (+33.3%) on sales of $71.6 million (+10.4%)
• Esterline Technologies Corp. (NYSE: ESL): $0.69 EPS (+11.6%) on sales of $374.6 million (+14.8%)
• Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL): $0.36 EPS (+11.1%) on sales of $15.9 billion (+7.8%)
• HEICO Corp. (NYSE: HEI): $0.46 EPS (+13.0%) on sales of $147.1 million (+10.5%)
• Daktronics Inc. (NASDAQ: DAKT): $0.17 EPS (flat) on sales of $141.5 million (+17.0%)
• Novell Inc. (NASDAQ: NOVL): $0.05 EPS (flat) on sales of $241.4 million (-0.7%)
• Omnivision Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: OVTI): $0.29 EPS (-17.1%) on sales of $172.5 million (-0.4%)
• Sigma Designs Inc. (NASDAQ: SIGM): $0.39 EPS (-18.8%) on sales of $58.7 million (+37.9%)

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Barclays, City National and BAE Systems were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Barclays (NYSE:BCS) to Overweight from Equal Weight after the company announced plans to raise capital and disclosed no further write-downs.
  
• Keefe Bruyette lifted City National (NYSE:CYN) to Outperform from Market Perform on valuation, as they believe the company should outperform peers in terms in credit quality.
  
• Societe Generale upgraded shares of BAE Systems (Other OTC:BAESY) to Buy from Hold to reflect the company's earnings visibility.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Baird upgraded Host Hotels (NYSE:HST) to Outperform from Neutral.
  
• Goldman added Monsanto (NYSE:MON) to its Conviction Buy List.
• Corinthian Colleges (NASDAQ:COCO) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Lehman.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Acergy, Casey's General and Corinthian Colleges were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Citigroup downgraded shares of Acergy (NASDAQ: ACGY) to Sell from Hold as they see risk to the company's backlog and believes the recent share rally is not supported by business operations.
  
• Casey's General (NASDAQ: CASY) was downgraded at Friedman Billings to Underperform from Market Perform citing headwinds that include weak gas comps.
  
• Banc of America downgraded shares of Corinthian Colleges (NASDAQ: COCO) to Neutral from Buy as they believe the post-legislation lending overhang will limit further share upside until COCO can show its students can access federal funds with minimal disruption.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Bernstein cut EMC Corp (NYSE: EMC) to Market Perform from Outperform.
  
• Baird lowered Woodward Governor (NASDAQ: WGOV) to Neutral from Outperform.
  
• Merrill downgraded Sealed Air (NYSE: SEE) and Bemis (BMS) to Sell from Neutral.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Corinthian Colleges, MSC Industrial and HBOS Plc were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Piper downgraded shares of Corinthian Colleges (NASDAQ: COCO) to Neutral from Buy as they expect the company to face difficulty maintaining Title IV lending at its high default rate schools.
  
• Jefferies downgraded shares of MSC Industrial (NYSE: MSM) to Hold from Buy on valuation, as there is not enough upside to their $50 target to maintain a Buy rating
  
• Credit Suisse lowered HBOS Plc (OTC: HBOOY) to Underperform from Neutral to reflect the weakening housing and mortgage environment.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) was cut to Market Perform from Outperform at Bernstein.
  
• B. Riley lowered Iomega (NYSE: IOM) to Neutral from Buy.
  
• Goldman downgraded Bare Escentuals (NASDAQ: BARE) and Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) to Neutral from Buy and Kimberly-Clark Corp. (NYSE: KMB) to Sell from Neutral.