Analyst Upgrades

• Boeing (BA) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Alcoa (AA) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• BP (BP) to outperform from market perform at Raymond James.
• Office Depot (ODP) and Staples (SPLS) to buy from neutral at Janney Capital.
• ON Semiconductor (ONNN) to buy from hold at Citigroup.
• Kennametal (KMT) and Polyone (POL) to buy from hold at KeyBanc.
• Airgas (ARG) to outperform from market perform at William Blair.
• EchoStar (SATS) to neutral from underperform at Macquarie.

Analyst Upgrades

• Procter & Gamble (PG) upgraded to buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Capital One (COF) upgraded to outperform from market perform at FBR Capital.
• Airgas (ARG) upgraded to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.
• Broadcom (BRCM) upgraded to positive from neutral at Susquehanna.
• Lululemon (LULU) upgraded to hold from underperform at Jefferies.
• DryShips (DRYS) upgraded to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.

No more Government Motors. Now it's just General Motors, like back in the good old days. The GM IPO raised $20.1 billion from investors today, and the stock has maintained a price throughout the day right around $2/share higher than the $33/share IPO price. Counteracting the bullish news from GM, the US Labor Department said that initial unemployment claims rose by 2,000 last week, to a seasonally adjusted 439,000. Not real good news, but this is near the lowest unemployment level in two years and the average has fallen by about 4.2% over the past five weeks.

The news from Ireland, where the government has been moving toward agreeing to a loan to bail out the country's faltering banks, has boosted the euro, but the gains have been small because traders worry about Portugal, Spain, and Italy needing a similar dose of lending. Yields on 10-year US Treasuries rose to 2.92% on signs of improvement in the US economy and a concomitant rise in risk appetite among investors.

Dow Jones 11,181.23 +173.35 (1.57%)
S&P 500 1,196.68 +18.09 (1.53%)
Nasdaq 2,514.40 +38.39 (1.55%)

Late Wednesday, DryShips (DRYS) reported that its third-quarter profit climbed 57% to $49.3 million, or 18 cents per share, while revenue increased 1.5% to $225.5 million.

On an adjusted basis, earnings for the quarter arrived at 38 cents per share. Operating margin improved to 48% from 40.4%. The results surpassed analysts' expectations, which called for a profit of 25 cents per share on $217 million in revenue.

DryShips Inc. (DRYS) is on the move after the company announced that its offshore unit scored a four-well drilling contract valued at roughly $135 million. Under the terms of the deal, DryShips will commence drilling in West Africa in the first or second quarter of 2011 for a period of approximately 300 days.

The positive news propelled DRYS substantially higher right out of the gate, with the shares staging a bullish gap above short-term resistance in the $4.50 region. Going forward, this area could now switch roles to act as a technical backstop for the shares.

Analyst Upgrades

• FBR Capital upgraded Franklin Resources (BEN) to outperform from market perform and raised its target price for shares to $127 from $105 to reflect its belief the company is well positioned in the current environment.
• UBS upgraded Nuance (NUAN) to buy from neutral and has an $18 price target on the stock. The firm upgraded shares based on valuation and believes the company could be an acquisition target.
• Morgan Stanley upgraded DryShips (DRYS) to equal weight from underweight and has a $5.50 target on the stock. The firm cites the firmer ultra-deepwater drilling market for the upgrade.
• Becton Dickinson (BDX) was upgraded to neutral from sell at Goldman.
• Edwards Lifesciences (EW) was upgraded to market perform at Rodman & Renshaw.
• Arkansas Best (ABFS) was upgraded to neutral from underperform at BofA/Merrill.

Today was a down day that started in Europe with new fears that the stress tests for banks really offered nothing of consequence and the fears that the real exposure is not known. There was no economic data in the US after a long three-day weekend.

Here were the unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow Jones 10,340.69 -107.24 (-1.03%)
S&P 500 1,091.84 -12.67 (-1.15%)
Nasdaq 2,208.89 -24.86 (-1.11%)

Top Analyst Calls

Call volume was unusually heavy on DryShips Inc. (DRYS) Thursday, with roughly 41,000 contracts crossing the tape. This surge in activity represented about 1.75 times DRYS' expected daily call volume. By contrast, fewer than 4,400 puts changed hands on the drybulk shipper during the course of Thursday's trading, falling short of the equity's predicted put volume.

Taking a closer look at Thursday's trading, most call players set their sights on DryShips' May 7 call, with 10,485 contracts crossing the tape. The majority of these calls traded at the ask price, suggesting they were purchased, and implied volatility on this soon-to-be front-month option climbed 1.7% by the close. Open interest on the May 7 call rose overnight by 5,046 contracts, confirming that new bullish bets were added here yesterday.

Apple (AAPL) closed at $242.02 on Friday. On April 8, AAPL announced its new iAd platform for its mobile devices. AAPL is expected to announce Q2 EPS on April 20. May and July is at 32; verses its 26-week average of 33 contracts according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price movement.

DryShips (DRYS) closed at $6.56. DRYS April put option implied volatility is at 65, June is at 59, September is at 57; below its 26-week average of 74. Options were active on April 9th with 115,489 contracts trading according to Track Data. Average daily volume is 56K contracts according to IVolatility.

Update is by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

Today felt like a road to nowhere all day. The DJIA went into negative territory six times or more today after trying to hold gains in the early hours. And there was no solid economic news to run the markets one way or another. News out of the National Association for Business Economics calling for a rate hike and a deficit watch had no real impact.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

DJIA
S&P500
NASDAQ

Top Day Trader Alerts
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DryShips Inc. (DRYS) has a date in the earnings spotlight after Thursday's closing bell, with the drybulk shipper slated to release its fourth-quarter results. Analysts are expecting DryShips to report a profit of 23 cents per share, modestly lower than its year-ago earnings of 25 cents per share. The company has a decidedly mixed history on the earnings front; during the past four reporting periods, Dryships has topped analysts' consensus expectations twice and fallen short on two other occasions.

Ahead of the report, calls are the options of choice among speculative investors. During the past 10 days, traders on the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) and the International Securities Exchange (ISE) have bought to open 6.87 calls for every put on DRYS. In other words, option players have purchased nearly seven times more bullish bets than bearish.

The markets were higher before the economic data came to ruin the party. CPI came in higher than PPI on the inflation front, but there was a real disappointment in housing starts considering that many were expecting gains there. Oil inventory contractions across the board failed to boost that market considerably. A late day rally looked like a positive close was in the cards, but the buying action was only so much.

Here were today's closing levels:

Dow 10,426.31 -11.11 (-0.11%)
S&P 500 1,109.79 -0.53 (-0.05%)
Nasdaq 2,193.14 -10.64 (-0.48%)

Top Analyst Calls
Top Day Trader Alerts
Top Stock & Market Rumors

Transportation company DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS) started the session on a positive note this morning after announcing a new waiver agreement with Deutsche Bank.

DRYS, which is struggling under the weight of a hefty debt burden, said it has reached a pact with Deutsche Bank regarding the waiver terms for a credit facility worth $1.125 billion. The facility covers two drillships that are currently under construction.

"We are delivering the waivers as promised and we hope to conclude discussions with the rest of the lenders in the near future," stated CEO George Economou.

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Accenture Ltd. (NYSE: ACN) said revenues and bookings both declined in the most recent quarter.
• Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) reported strong Q4 results in the wake of Circuit City's demise.
• Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL) sailed past analysts' Q1 projections, sending shares higher.
• ConAgra Foods Inc. (NYSE: CAG) Q3 results topped analysts expectations and drove shares higher.
• DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS) swung to a larger-than-expected Q4 loss and revenue slipped.
• DSW Inc. (NYSE: DSW) reported a bigger-than-expected Q4 loss as same-store sales declined.

Athens-based shipping issue DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS) announced Monday that it will release its fourth-quarter and fiscal 2008 earnings results after the close of trading in New York today, March 24. Ahead of the report, buy-to-open call volume has been consistently heavy on the beaten-down stock.

During the past five days, traders on the International Securities Exchange (ISE) have bought to open 30,875 calls on DRYS, compared to jut 9,697 puts. In other words, bullish bets have been three times more popular than their bearish counterparts.