Analyst Upgrades

• NYSE Euronex (NYX) to conviction buy from neutral at Goldman.
• General Dynamics (GD) to buy from hold at Citigroup.
• Deere (DE), Parker-Hannifin (PH) and ExlService (EXLS) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Aflac (AFL) to outperform from market perform at FBR Capital.
• Wynn Resorts (WYNN) to buy from neutral at Janney Capital.
• Amdocs (DOX) to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Juniper (JNPR) to buy from hold at ThinkEquity.
• Rudolph Tech (RTEC) and KLA-Tencor (KLAC) to perform from underperform at Oppenheimer.
• Hershey (HSY) and Pinnacle Entertainment (PNK) to outperform from market perform at Wells Fargo.
• Spirit AeroSystems (SPR) to equal weight from underweight at Morgan Stanley.
• Micron (MU) to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.

Analyst Upgrades

• Sapient (SAPE) to outperform from market perform at Wells Fargo.
• Kroger (KR) to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Harman (HAR) to overweight from neutral and Deutsche Bank (DB) to neutral from underweight at JPMorgan.
• Savient (SVNT) to outperform from market perform at JMP Securities.
• LabCorp (LH) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• Optimer Pharm (OPTR) and Landstar System (LSTR) to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.
• Essex Property Trust (ESS) to buy from neutral at Janney Capital.
• Tyson Foods (TSN) to neutral from sell at Goldman.
• Host Hotels (HST) to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital.
• SPX Corp. (SPW) to outperform from market perform at FBR Capital.

Analyst Upgrades

• Citigroup upgraded Colgate (CL) and Phillips-Van Heusen (PVH) to buy from hold.
• Wells Fargo upgraded IDACORP (IDA) to outperform from market perform.
• Union Pacific (UNP) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.
• Goldman upgraded Quicksilver (KWK) to neutral from sell.
• Republic Airways (RJET) was upgraded to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• BofA/Merrill upgraded GAMCO Investors (GBL) to neutral from underperform.
• Senior Housing (SNH) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at JMP Securities.

Analyst Upgrades

• Soleil upgraded Thor Industries (THO) to buy from hold after the company said its accounting review will not lead to changes to previously taken accounting positions. The firm raised its target for shares to $45 from $28.
• Citigroup upgraded Family Dollar (FDO) to buy from hold, citing valuation and its positive view on the dollar store industry. The firm upped its target for shares to $47 from $44.
• Wells Fargo upgraded Albany Molecular (AMRI) to outperform from market perform, citing valuation and a stabilizing core business.
• Goldman Sachs (GS) upgraded to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Patterson-UTI Energy (PTEN) was upgraded to equal weight from underweight at Barclays.
• BP (BP) was raised to buy from hold at RBS.

According to The Times Online, Britain's Financial Services Authority (FSA) is looking into insider dealing, launching the biggest operation against such shady tactics ever.

Six men were questioned after the FSA carried out early morning raids on 16 homes and businesses in London, Oxfordshire and Kent. The FSA took documents and computers as part of a joint investigation (with the Serious Organised Crime Agency -- seriously) that started in 2007.

The strong fourth-quarter results that United Parcel Service (UPS) reported earlier this week may have led to an analyst's upgrade, but its done little for the stock. Shares inched upward both Tuesday and Wednesday on relatively low volume, but UPS is still trading in the same $57.00 to $59.00 range in which it's spent most of the past three months.

Tuesday, the Atlanta-based shipper said net income rose to $757 million, or $0.75 per share, from $254 million, or $0.25, a year ago. That beat the consensus estimate by a penny per share. Revenue fell 2.5% to $12.4 billion but beat the Street's forecast of $12.3 billion.

The current investigation of the American International Group (AIG) bailout by Congress has brought to light the inner workings and secret deals that were made.

Center stage in the investigation is the New York Federal Reserve. There are 12 Federal Reserve Banks that operate under the supervision of Federal Reserve's Board of Governors, chaired by Ben Bernanke. Member bank presidents are appointed by the nine member board, who themselves are appointed by other bankers.

The widely anticipated IPO for Tesla Motors is finally here. Based in Silicon Valley, the company designs and manufactures high-performance, fully electric cars. The investors include the co-founders of Google (GOOG), Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and the founder is Elon Musk, who helped create PayPal.

The company's first car, which came on the market in 2008, is the Tesla Roadster. It can go from zero to 60 MHP in 3.9 seconds -- without any tailpipe emissions. On a single charge, the car can also go 236 miles. However, the price tag comes to a hefty $109,000.

Did the Federal Reserve gag American International Group (AIG)? Emails first reported by Bloomberg News show that the insurer wanted to disclose information about the payments it made to such banks as Goldman Sachs (GS) and Deutsche Bank (DB) to cancel some financial deals. But, lawyers for the New York Fed, which was led by Timothy Geithner at the time, told AIG to pull that information out of a report it was going to issue.

The AIG bailout is being questioned by watchdogs, which accuse the Fed of doling out billions of dollars to banks that weren't necessary -- especially now that big bonuses are piling on.

The end of a year means a rush of data from the insurance and reinsurance industries, as treaties are renewed for the coming year. Catastrophe bonds are a part of this annual orgy of data production, as a flurry of activity occurs in December, with the industry's commitment to this form of alternative property-catastrophe risk-transfer setting the tone for the year to come. The cat bond market isn't big enough to push reinsurance rates, but you can generally get a sense of what the coming year will look like for cat bonds based on pricing for traditional reinsurance.

This week, the world's top retailers will tell investors how the much-discussed holiday season went. Analysts expect a year-over-year gain of 1.3% for stores open at least a year, which of course uses a dismal 2008 as a benchmark.

The holiday shopping season is the last chance retailers get to pump up their financial statements before the close of their fiscal year, which usually comes at the end of January. For some retailers, up to 40% of their revenue comes in the weeks heading into Christmas.

Deutsche Bank has reiterated its buy rating and a $48 price target on electronics retailer Best Buy (BBY). The price target implies expected upside of nearly 19% from BBY's closing price on Tuesday.

"BBY reported that Black Friday comps were up double digits. While we expect some slowdown from that level, store checks show that trends remain solid throughout December," wrote Deutsche Bank in a note to clients. "This, coupled with an easy comparison should enable positive high single digit comps domestically. We also believe that web sales, which were up 20% in 3Q continue to grow, which helps comps. Also, TV pricing remains relatively rational, which should help offset some of the margin decline from mix to laptops."