Analyst upgrades:

• Societe General upgraded BASF AG (OTC: BASFY) to Buy from Hold. The firm believes the bad news is out and that BASF has a strong market position.
  
• Pali Capital upgraded Hot Topic (NASDAQ: HOTT) to Buy from Neutral based on the ongoing merchandise catalyst, the opportunity to reclaim the mainstream kid and closing underperforming stores, which create the most favorable conditions in the last 5+ years.
  
• Stanford upgraded L-1 Identity (NYSE: ID) to Buy from Hold on valuation, and the firm sees little risk to the company from the Obama Administration.
• Gymboree (NASDAQ: GYMB) and Windstream (WIN) were raised to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan.
  
• Doral Financial (NYSE: DRL) was upgraded at B. Riley to Buy from Neutral.
  
• Alumina (NYSE: AWC) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS.

Analyst downgrades:

• Credit Suisse downgraded Targanta (NASDAQ: TARG) to Underperform from Outperform following the FDA Panel's rejection of Oritavancin.
  
• Citigroup downgraded BASF AG (OTC: BASFY) to Sell from Hold and sees no reason to own the stock following the company's profit warning. Shares were also downgraded at WestLB to Hold from Add.
  
• Deutsche Bank downgraded shares of Amedisys (NASDAQ: AMED) to Hold from Buy and lowered its target to $53 from $75 on concerns over the company's deteriorating A/R aging trends.
• VeriFone Holdings (NYSE: PAY) and Navios Maritime (NYSE: NMM) were lowered to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan.
  
• NTT DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM) was downgraded at Citigroup to Hold from Buy.

Analyst initiations:

• Needham expects shares of Cepheid (NASDAQ: CPHD) to be driven by continued market penetration in the hospital acquired infection market, new test introductions, GeneXpert Infinity sales, and molecular diagnostics growth from sales outside of traditional molecular testing areas. Shares were initiated with a Buy rating and $21 target.
  
• Needham also initiated Gen-Probe (NASDAQ: GPRO) with a Hold rating and expects market share gains for the company when PANTHER is approved in 2010/2011.
  
• William Blair believes Harbin Electric (NASDAQ: HRBN) is an "interesting" opportunity for exposure to rapid growth in infrastructure within the People's Republic of China. The firm started shares with a Market Perform rating.
• Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX) was initiated with a Buy rating and $11 target at UBS.
  
• NutriSystem (NASDAQ: NTRI) was initiated with a Neutral rating at Janney Montgomery.
  
• Ener1 (NYSE: HEV) was assumed at JMP Securities with an Outperform rating and $9 target.
  

When I saw the news of NTT DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM)'s new mobile phone that emits fragrances, I began wondering what other oddities today's corporate powerhouses may be working on. No financial advice here, these are just some ideas I came up with:

Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) will unveil headgear that doubles as both headphones and a personal masseuse, giving tantalizing head, neck and shoulders massages.

In an attempt to help with falling click-through rates, Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG)'s new mobile phone will be offered free as long as you sign Google's activation agreement requiring you to click on a mobile ad every hour, even while you sleep.

Asia markets fell sharply.

The Nikkei was off 5.7% to 12,573. Docomo (NYSE: DCM) was down 8.5% to 151,000 yen. Sony (NYSE: SNE) was down 6.5% to 5,110 yen. Toyota (NYSE: TM) was down 7.2% to 4,880 yen.

The Hang Seng dropped 8.7% to 21,578. China Life (NYSE: LFC) was off 16% to HK$27.60. China Netcom (NYSE: CN) was off 15% to HK$19.96. PetroChina (NYSE: PTR) was off 15% to HK$9.62.

The Shanghai Composite was off 7.2% to 4,560.

Data from Reuters.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) reported that last minute shopping in the days before Christmas salvaged a slight increase in overall retail sales for the season, but the total still fell short of predictions with gasoline-price inflation factored out. According to MasterCard SpendingPulse, total U.S. retail sales, excluding automobile sales, rose 3.6% for the holiday season spanning the day after Thanksgiving to midnight Monday.
• Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) announced it would pay $4.5 billion for a 60% stake in Marmon Holdings, an industrial conglomerate. The deal, Mr. Buffett said, is Berkshire's largest acquisition outside of the insurance industry, reported the Wall Street Journal.
• The Wall Street Journal reported that Toyota Motor (NYSE: TM) said it aims to boost global sales by 5% in 2008 to 9.85 million cars, pulling further ahead of rival General Motors (NYSE: GM). Toyota also said it expects global sales this year of 9.36 million vehicles, up 6% from 2006.

OTHER PAPERS:

• Japan's NTT DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM) is in talks with Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) to strengthen its business alliance in a bid to upgrade services for its mobile phone users, DoCoMo officials said Tuesday, reported Bloomberg.

WEBSITES:

• Advanced Semiconductor (NYSE: ASX) has laid off over 40 workers at its flip chip substrate plant in northern Taiwan and has reportedly suspended a plan to expand its FC substrate capacity, DigiTimes.com reported.

In some ways, Wall Street should be surprised that it did not happen sooner. Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) is talking to cellular carriers about launching the iPhone in Japan. In the country that created the Walkman and PlayStation, it would seem only logical that a tech gadget like the iPhone would be a huge success.

Japan is known for its obsession with cellphones. It is a large market for text applications and ringtones.

The Wall Street Journal writes that Apple is in talks with NTT DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM), the largest carrier in Japan, and Softbank. The Japanese market has "nearly 100 million mobile-phone users who buy new phones every two years on average. Japanese consumers are also already used to shelling out hundreds of dollars for expensive phones with advanced capabilities such as digital television, camera and music," according to the paper.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• Looking to enter the Japanese market, sources familiar with the matter said that Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs recently met with NTT DoCoMo Inc (NYSE: DCM) to discuss a deal to offer its iPhone, the Wall Street Journal reported.
• Nike Inc (NYSE: NKE) is in talks with Mike Ashley to try and persuade the entrepreneur to not block its £285M takeover offer for Umbro, the Financial Times reported.

OTHER PAPERS:

• The Detroit News reported that in an effort to cut costs, General Motors Corporation (NYSE: GM) is looking to form a deal with the United Auto Workers on a buyout program for veterans.

WEB SITES:

• According to two people familiar with the fund, The Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS) is looking to start Goldman Sachs Investment Partners, its newest stock hedge fund, with as much as $10B, Bloomberg reported.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Washington Post, Harvest Natural, Memc Electronic Materials and Boston Private Financial were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Deutsche Bank upgraded shares of The Washington Post Company (NYSE: WPO to Buy from Hold to reflect the company's exposure to the counter-cyclical education division.
• Jefferies upgraded shares of Harvest Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: HNR) to Buy from Hold and raised their target to $17 from $11 after the company received final approval in the conversion to a mixed company. They note that conversion clears the way for renewed investment.
• Friedman Billings added Memc Electronic Materials Inc (NYSE: WFR) to its Top Picks List following its Q3 report and guidance as "solar wafer contracts," not including spot poly, are expected to increase from 15% of the total to 35%-40% in CY08 and greater than 50% in CY09.
• William Blair raised its rating on Boston Private Financial Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: BPFH) to Outperform from Market Perform after the better-than-expected Q3 results.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Goldman added Dell Inc (NASDAQ: DELL) to its Conviction Buy List.
• NTT DoCoMo Inc (NYSE: DCM) was upgraded to Hold from Sell at Citigroup and to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
• Credit Suisse upgraded Cardinal Health Incorporated (NYSE: CAH) to Outperform from Neutral.
• Merrill upgraded Coca-Cola Femsa SA (NYSE: KOF) and Northeast Utilities (NYSE: NU) to Buy from Neutral.

Overnight, the Nikkei fell another 1.7% to 16,013. The index, which was up 5% for the year, was recently down as much as 10%.

Some of the really big name Japanese stocks have sold off, perhaps more than is justified.

Toyota (NYSE: TM), the world's largest and most profitable car company trades at $114, down from $136 in February. The puts its down more than GM (NYSE: GM), a company that is clearly in worse shape.

NTT (NYSE: NTT), the huge telecom conglomerate, is off from $28 in February to $21 recently. While the company is probably more dominant in Japan that AT&T (NYSE: T) is in the US, its stock is off over 10% while the US telecom's is up about 8% year-to-date.

The same point can be made about Docomo (NYSE: DCM), Japan's big cellular carrier. It is down almost 5% year-to-date while Verizon (NYSE: VZ) is up about 12%.

While not all of these companies are in better shape than their US counterparts, it would be hard to argue that they are any worse off.

And, that may be an opportunity.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Brocade Communications Systems, Inc (BRCD), AT&T Inc (T), DaimlerChrysler (DCX), AMR Corp (AMR) and Continental Airlines, Inc (CAL) were today's more noteworthy upgrades:

• JP Morgan upgrade shares of Brocade Communications Systems, Inc (NASDAQ: BRCD) to Overweight from Neutral, citing positive trends in networked storage; shares were also added to the firm's Focus List.

• Matrix believes improving product mix and demand for new products is driving strong fundamental trends in AT&T (NYSE: T). Matrix upgraded T shares to Strong Buy from Buy and sees upside to their intrinsic value of $56.

• Bernstein believes the divestiture of Chrysler from DaimlerChrysler AG (NYSE: DCX) is a positive for the company and upgraded shares to Outperform from Market Perform.

• Soleil upgraded shares of AMR Corp (NYSE: AMR) to Buy from Hold on valuation and Continental Air Lines Inc (NYSE: CAL) to Hold from Sell based on a more constructive industry outlook...

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Morgan Stanley upgraded NTT DoCoMo, Inc (NYSE: DCM) to Overweight from Equal-Weight.

• Bear Stearns upgraded TiVo Inc (NASDAQ: TIVO) and Paychex, Inc (NASDAQ: PAYX) to Outperform from Peer Perform.

• Goldman upgraded Forest Oil Corp (NYSE: FST) and CommVault Systems, Inc (NASDAQ: CVLT) to Buy from Neutral.

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

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Dominion Resources (D), Syniverse Holdings (SVR), Research in Motion (RIMM), Verizon Communications (VZ) and Comcast (CMCSA) were the noteworthy upgrades today:

• Jefferies upgraded shares of Dominion Resources (NYSE: D) and raised their target to $90 from $68 as the firm believes shares are fairly valued based on assumed higher spark spreads in New England.

• Syniverse Holdings (NYSE: SVR) was raised to Peer Perform from Underperform at Bear Stearns after its Q1 report.

• Credit Suisse upgraded Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) and raised their target to $145 from $100 as the firm believes the company will benefit from smart phone market growth and improving international traction. However, FBCO still believes RIMM's increasing exposure to the consumer market will continue to pressure margins.

• Prudential said Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) is showing signs of improving revenue growth and accelerating FiOS TV subscriber additions, as well as continued dominance in wireless, and upgraded shares to Neutral from Underweight.

• Matrix USA raised Comcast Corp's (NASDAQ: CMCSA) rating to Hold from Sell on valuation...

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Goldman upgraded Danaher Corp (NYSE: DHR) to Buy from Neutral with an $81 target.

• NTT DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.

• Bear Stearns raised Ingersoll-Rand's (NYSE: IR) rating to Peer Perform from Underperform.

• Needham upgraded Sigma Designs (NASDAQ: SIGM) to Buy from Hold with a $28 target.

• Wachovia raised Innkeepers USA Trust (NYSE: KPA) rating to Market Perform from Underperform.

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

I've just returned from the World Money Show in Orlando where more than 10,000 investors gathered to learn about global investing. I had a chance to meet with many of the financial experts and global company representatives featured at the show, and over the next week I will share some of their top investment ideas. To view all of the stocks featured in this special global report, click here.

Visiting from Japan was mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo (NYSE:DCM), whose stock is a favorite buy from Tony Sagami, editor of the Asia Stock Alert and a global analyst with Martin Weiss Research.

In reviewing the company, Sagami is particularly impressed with its new "portable wallet," which lets a cell phone act a credit card.

First, he notes, "The company just reported its results for the first nine months of its fiscal year (through the end of December). And while the firm delivered essentially flat sales and profits from the same period last year, DoCoMo still made $3.3 billion of profits on $29.7 billion of sales in the last nine months.

"Meanwhile, three items impressed the heck out of me. First, DoCoMo grew its subscriber base from 50.3 million last year to 52.2 million today. For a country whose cellular phone market is mature and very saturated, that additional 1.9 million cellular subscribers is pretty impressive.

"In addition, DoCoMo generates about $6 billion of free cash flow each year and has been using those dollars to buy back stock, increase its dividend, and invest in building out its network and new cutting-services, such as osaifu-ketai.