Analyst Upgrades

• Marriott (MAR) to outperform from market perform at Wells Fargo.
• Quest Diagnostics (DGX) and Owens-Illinois (OI) to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.
• FirstMerit (FMER) to outperform from perform at Oppenheimer.
• Safeway (SWY) to hold from sell at Citigroup.
• Babcock & Wilcox (BWC) to buy from neutral, as well as Jacobs Engineering (JEC) and W. R. Berkley (WRB) to neutral from sell, at Goldman.
• Pioneer Natural (PXD) to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
• Teekay Tankers (TNK) to buy from underperform at BofA/Merrill.

Analyst Upgrades

• Las Vegas Sands (LVS) to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.
• Boston Scientific (BSX) to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital.
• Windstream (WIN) to buy from hold at Citigroup.
• Expeditors (EXPD) to buy from neutral at UBS.
• A123 Systems (AONE) to neutral from underperform and Chesapeake Midstream (CHKM) to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• AvalonBay (AVB) to outperform from neutral and Post Properties (PPS) to neutral from underperform at Cowen.

Analyst Upgrades

• Canaccord believes growth in DigitalGlobe's (DGI) commercial business will be a catalyst for shares. The firm upgraded shares to buy from hold and has a $38 price target on the stock.
• Standpoint upgraded Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) to accumulate from hold based on valuation. The firm has a $47 target on the stock.
• Morgan Keegan upgraded Open Text (OTEX) to outperform from market perform based on the company's strong FY2011 EPS outlook.
• Devon Energy (DVN) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight at Morgan Stanley.
• Magna (MGA) was upgraded to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital.
• EnCana (ECA) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Macquarie.

Now that we've taken a look at the performance returns from investing in the United States compared to those in the United Kingdom, it's time to move on to the U.S. defense industry.

In 1776, the so-called military in America was a rag-tag group of militia men. In 2010, thanks in large part to the defense industry, the United States is the world's dominant military power.

IPO. Initial public offering. Or as they used to be known among the Wall Street cynics: "It's probably overpriced." Not any more. Nothing that is too expensive will fly these days. In fact, if it's not a bargain, don't bother to talk with the bankers. Investors want history, especially ones with increasing sales and profits.

The year 2009 has already produced more IPOs than all of 2008. Sound impressive? Here are the numbers: this year there have been seven. So there aren't a lot of companies going public right now, but still, there are some. And most of them are doing well.