Analyst Upgrades

• General Growth (GGP) to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.
• PPL Corp. (PPL) to outperform from market perform at FBR Capital.
• Hudson City Bancorp (HCBK) to neutral from reduce at Nomura.
• Hologic (HOLX) to conviction buy from buy at Goldman.
• Cognex (CGNX) to overweight from neutral at Piper Jaffray.
• Buckeye Partners (BPL) to outperform from market perform at Wells Fargo.
• Ericsson (ERIC) and Health Care REIT (HCN) to buy from neutral and Olin (OLN) to neutral from sell at UBS.
• Nalco (NLC) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Watts Water (WTS) to buy from hold at BB&T.
• McDermott (MDR) to buy from neutral at Pritchard.

We are being bombarded with data from a host of sources, including mobile devices, broadband and cloud computing. Bringing all of this data together will create a new business opportunity.

Ericsson (ERIC), the Swedish network equipment maker, has already foreseen the potential for bringing data together on its fourth generation Long Term Evolution Network (LTE).

Markets opened lower this morning, with the DJIA down around 70 points before noon as it pulled back from near 12,000. Earnings reports from some blue-chip stocks were lukewarm to poor, contributing to the slide. News that President Obama will propose a federal spending freeze and a ban on congressional earmarks provided a bit of an up-tick in the early afternoon, but not enough to overcome the earlier decline. Crude oil is trading below $87/barrel and gold is down -$13/oz, to $1,331.50, its lowest level in nearly three months.

Here are the unofficial numbers for late afternoon trading today:

Dow Jones 11,977.19 -3.33 (-0.03%)
S&P 500 1,291.18 +0.34 (0.03%)
Nasdaq 2,719.25 +1.70 (0.06%)

U.S. stock futures are lower Tuesday morning, as investors await earnings reports from several major companies as well as data on consumer confidence and housing prices. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 8 points to 11,922.00; S&P 500 futures dropped 3.70 points to 1,284.80; and Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 9 points to 2,289.00.

U.S. stocks closed higher Monday, with the blue-chip Dow index gaining 108.68 points, or 0.92%.

The Case-Shiller home-price index for November is due at 9 a.m. ET and consumer-confidence data for January will be released at 10 am ET.

President Barack Obama is scheduled to deliver the State of the Union address this evening.

Analyst Upgrades

• Polo Ralph Lauren (RL) to buy from hold at Citigroup.
• Qualcomm (QCOM) to buy from neutral at Roth Capital.
• Walgreen (WAG) to conviction buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Rockwell (ROK) to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.
• Carnival (CCL) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• SunTrust (STI) and TD Bank (TD) to outperform from market perform at Keefe Bruyette.
• Hawaiian Electric (HE) to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.
• Essex Property Trust (ESS) to outperform from neutral at Macquarie.
• Amgen (AMGN) to neutral from underperform at BofA/Merrill.

Analyst Upgrades

• inContact (SAAS) to buy from neutral at Roth Capital.

Analyst Downgrades

• Ericsson (ERIC) to neutral from buy at Goldman.
• Hovnanian (HOV) to underperform from buy at BofA/Merrill.
• PrivateBancorp (PVTB) to market perform from outperform at BMO Capital.
• Logitech (LOGI) to neutral from outperform at Exane BNP Paribas.

Analyst Upgrades

• Best Buy (BBY) was upgraded to top pick from outperform at RBC Capital, as the firm thinks the company's valuation is inexpensive while it will perform well during the holiday season.
• Credit Suisse upgraded CF Industries (CF) to outperform from neutral, citing favorable fundamentals in nitrogen and phosphate markets.
• Canadian Solar (CSIQ) was raised to buy from hold by Jefferies, which cited expectations for higher selling prices next year and cost savings from sourcing more components internally.
• BMO Capital upgraded RC2 Corp. (RCRC) to outperform from market perform as the firm believes that RC2's baby products are performing better than previously expected.
• Ericsson (ERIC) was upgraded to neutral from underperform at BofA/Merril.
• ProLogis (PLD) was upgraded to buy from hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
• Constellation Energy (CEG) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Macquarie.

Is your appetite for stocks warming up again? In just under a month, Google's (GOOG) share price has risen over 16%. Last week, Wall St. Cheat Sheet's tech analyst Elliot Turner looked at the possible impact of the Android on Google's earnings. This week, everyone in the world learned the Android is outselling Apple's (AAPL) acclaimed iPhone. Once again, the search giant Google is back in play, but this time for a different reason: mobile.

Last month, Ericsson (ERIC) reported the number of cell phone subscribers in the world reached 5 billion! Google has its eyes set on the high growth market where, upon entering, they can flip the search switch and monetize the mobile ad market quickly and swiftly.

Nokia Corp. (NOK) used to be the dominant player in the cell phone industry. But thanks to smartphone manufacturers like Apple (AAPL), HTC and others, Nokia is losing market share, and its stock price is plunging.

Now, just in case you are thinking that Nokia looks like a good value play, take a look at what analysts are saying.

There were two pieces of Sony Corp. (SNE)-related news in the past 24 hours. First, Sony Ericsson, the joint venture of LM Ericsson (ERIC) and Sony, posted on Friday an unexpected net gain of euro21 million, or $28 million, for the first quarter, even as the company's revenue dropped 19% to euro1.41 billion. A year ago, the company lost euro293 million. It lost euro167 million in the fourth quarter. The phonemaker's profit received a boost from the fact that its restructuring charge was just euro3 million, far lower than the euro150 million worth of charges in the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile, late Thursday, market researcher NPD Group released data showing that game software sales increased roughly 10% during March, far better than the 5% expected, and the first period of growth in six months. However, game hardware sales dropped 4%. Video-game sales received a major boost from strong releases.

Analyst initiations:

• Allegheny (NYSE: AYE) was initiated with a buy at Citigroup as attractive at current levels. Target is $33.
• PPL Corp. (NYSE: PPL) was initiated with a buy at Citigroup. Citi believes PPL's earnings power from the Pennsylvania regulated utility market is being underappreciated. Target is $35.
• FirstEnergy (NYSE: FE) was initiated with a Buy at Citigroup who believes the company's current valuation doesn't reflect its transition to full market-based rates in 2011. Target is $56.
• Waste Management (NYSE: WM) coverage resumed with a Neutral at Goldman.
• Exxon (NYSE: XOM) initiated with a Buy at Soleil. Target is $90.
• Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) was initiated with a Buy at ING Group.

Analyst upgrades:

• Bernstein upgraded Lincoln National (NYSE: LNC) to Outperform from Market Perform based on relative valuation and expectations the company will repay TARP without a capital raise. The firm raised its target to $34 from $26.
• Thomas Weisel upgraded Ticketmaster (NASDAQ: TKTM) to Overweight from Market Weight and raised its target to $12 from $8 citing dynamic ticket pricing and the potential merger with Live Nation (NYSE: LYV).
• Citigroup upgraded Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG) to Hold from Sell after channel checks indicated retail sales have improved since Q2. The firm raised its target on shares to $26 from $14.
• McDermott (NYSE: MDR) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.
• Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) was upgraded to Hold from Sell at Deutsche Bank.
• General Electric (NYSE: GE) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan.

Everything was looking up this morning, up until the reaction to companies and their earnings reports. The market felt directionless all day after losing its initial gains despite a new home sales data release that was well above expectations. Ben Bernanke defended his stance on avoiding the next depression. The SEC also issued new short sale abuse guidelines.

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 9,108.59 +15.35 (0.17%)
S&P 500 982.19 +2.93 (0.30%)
Nasdaq 1,967.89 +1.93 (0.10%)

Top 10 Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Analyst upgrades:

• Keefe Bruyette upgraded Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) to Outperform from Market Perform due to valuation and the company's better balance sheet following capital raises. The firm raised its target on shares to $16.50.
  
• Merriman upgraded Blue Coat Systems (NASDAQ:BCSI) to Buy from Neutral to reflect stabilizing demand and merger synergies from the Packeteer acquisition.
  
• Thomas Weisel upgraded Genomic Health (NASDAQ:GHDX) to Overweight from Market Weight based on valuation, a new colon cancer assay expected in 2010, and upside from new sales hires.
• Plexus (NASDAQ:PLXS) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Baird.
  
• Great Plains Energy (NYSE:GXP) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
  
• Ericsson (nASDAQ:ERIC) was upgraded at Societe Generale to Buy from Hold.

Analyst upgrades:

• Baird upgraded Nike (NYSE: NKE) to Outperform from Neutral on expectations the company will benefit from the drop in the U.S. dollar and continued solid trends in athletic footwear. The firm raised its target on shares to $69 from $61.
  
• Deutsche Bank upgraded Temple-Inland (NYSE: TIN) to Buy from Hold as it believes the company is well positioned for cyclical turnaround in the Paper/Building Products space. The firm raised its target on shares to $19 from $11.
  
• Goldman upgraded Diageo (NYSE: DEO) to Buy from Neutral to reflect the current valuation and the company's exposure to emerging markets.
• Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB) was upgraded to Hold from Sell at ING Group.
  
• Banco Santander (NYSE: STD) was lifted to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank.
  
• Jackson Hewitt (NYSE: JTX) was upgraded at Oppenheimer to Outperform from Perform.