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%)

Analyst upgrades:

• Jefferies upgraded shares of Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: APC) to Buy from Hold and raised the target to $79 from $52.50 on valuation and believes the company can use its strong cash flow position to acquire assets.
  
• Baird said The Corporate Executive Board Company's (NASDAQ: EXBD) valuation is discounting a miss and that the company is well positioned as an early-cycle story with a new CFO, continued mid-market traction, and likely better than feared 2009 results. The firm upgraded shares to Outperform from Neutral and raised its target to $38 from $41.
  
• Merrill upgraded Novartis AG (ADR) (NYSE: NVS) to Buy from Neutral and Sanofi-Aventis SA (ADR) (NYSE: SNY) and Shire Plc (ADR) (NASDAQ: SHPGY) to Buy from Underperform on valuation and defensive earnings.
• Marshall & Ilsley Corporation (NYSE: MI) was upgraded to Market Perform from Underperform at Keefe Bruyette.
  
• Barclays Plc (ADR) (NYSE: BCS) was raised to Hold from Sell at Citigroup.
  
• Novellus Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: NVLS) was upgraded at Soleil to Buy from Hold.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Sun Microsystems (JAVA), FMC Technologies (FTI), TorreyPines (TPTX), and Exelixis (EXEL) were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Sun Microsystems Inc (NASDAQ: JAVA) was initiated with a Market Perform at BMO Capital, which views the shares' risk/reward as favorable around $5.
• FMC Technologies Inc (NYSE: FTI) was initiated with a Buy by Jefferies, which believes strong subsea fundamentals will drive strong earnings by the company.
• TorreyPines Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: TPTX) was initiated with a Strong Buy at JMP Securities, which said PhIIb data in Q4 on the company's tezampanel drug could increase investor conviction on the first in-class drug.
• Exelixis Inc (NASDAQ: EXEL) was initiated with a Buy by Lazard, which believes Exelixis has a promising pipeline.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Fortune Brands Inc (NYSE: FO) was assumed with a Neutral rating by JMP Securities.
• Evergreen Solar Inc (NASDAQ: ESLR) was assumed with a Hold rating by Jefferies.
• Research in Motion Limited (NASDAQ: RIMM) and Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp (AMEX: KOG) were initiated with Outperform ratings at BMO Capital.