Analyst upgrades:

• JPMorgan upgraded Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX) and Goldcorp (NYSE: GG) to Overweight from Neutral following its gold valuation analysis. The firm set a $54 price target on Barrick shares and a $47 price target on Goldcorp shares.
• Thomas Weisel upgraded EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) to Overweight from Market Weight and raised its target to $24 from $15, citing the company's improving end market demand, competitive position, and valuation.
• Barclays upgraded AMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR) to Overweight from Equal Weight, citing the company's improved liquidity position and what they believe to be the beginning of a multi-year profit cycle for the sector. Despite the upgrade, the firm lowered its target to $14 from $20.
• Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
• Toshiba (OTC: TOSBF) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan.
• Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE: SNY) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at UBS.

We had a lot of big names trading up to new 52 week highs again today. The overall markets were pretty flat, with the DOW closing the day down 0.14%, the NASDAQ closing the day's trading up 0.04%, and the S&P ending the day a bit lower to finish today's trading down 0.28%.

Here are a few of the names that moved higher during the day to set new 52 week highs.

Imagine what happens to gold mining stocks if gold were to trade for less than $500 per ounce? It would not be pretty. These stocks are priced to perfection and beyond. That is why they should be sold.

Add Goldcorp Inc. (NYSE: GG) to the list of overvalued gold miners. At $40 per share, GG now trades within spitting distance of previous highs.

Those highs were attained at the end of an expansionary period, not at the beginning.

Gold at $1,000. Better buy now or you will miss the greatest invention since tulips in the 1800s.

Or so they say. I say, what a bunch of baloney. Why on earth would I want to put hard-earned cash on something that may look pretty but has no real tangible value?

That's right, gold has no tangible value. Well, that's not entirely true since there is a vast cult of worshipers out there that say gold is the only thing with value. As a result of their die-hard belief, gold actually does have value, as we now see with AU trading for $1,000 per ounce.

"Gold has yet to take off in true bull market fashion, but its chart suggests that it's coming," says Mary Anne and Pamela Aden.

In their top-notch The Aden Forecast, the resource experts discuss the outlook for gold as well as some of their favorite mining stocks for investors to consider.

"Considering that the Summer months tend to be slow months, we could still see some short-term weakness.

"More important, however, is the bigger picture as gold is poised to rise during the second half of the year." Here, they discuss their outlook and some favorite ming stocks.

Goldcorp Inc. (NYSE: GG) shares turned lower this morning after the company announced a $750 million offering of convertible senior notes due 2014. The commodity issue said that proceeds from the offering will be used to repay outstanding debt under its revolving term credit facility, with any remaining funds to be applied toward general corporate purposes.

Despite today's drop, GG shares have blazed an impressive path higher during the past month. Since finding a floor near the $27 level in late April, the stock has added 48.7%.

Mary Anne and Pamela Aden are among the advisory world's top authorities on metals and resources.

In a recent Q&A session, the editors of The Aden Forecast answer the most common questions that they are asked by readers as to the current state and future outlook for the precious metals markets.

In addition, the sisters answer what they say is the most frequent question they receive: "What is the best way to buy gold." Here, they offer a review of five strategies for investing in gold, including their top picks among stocks, closed-end funds and ETFs.

If there was any doubt whether the rally at the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009 was anything but a bear market rally, this week put these doubts to rest. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is already down 8.3% year-to-date; it sank 6.2% this week alone (notwithstanding Friday).

This week the financial crisis once again took center stage as Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) and Citigroup (NYSE: C) received a second round of bailout money and more guarantees. BAC is finding hard to digest its two acquisitions, while Citi is splitting itself and is no longer a financial supermarket.

But this wasn't all that happened this week. The fourth-quarter earnings season kicked off Monday; Alcoa (NYSE: AA) reported dismal numbers, all the rest followed suit. Even if there were a few surprises to the upside that exceeded expectations, the expectations themselves were already quite low.

Analyst upgrades:

• Jefferies upgraded Sonus Networks (NASDAQ: SONS) to Buy from Hold on valuation as they find the risk/reward compelling at current levels. Jefferies has a $2 target on the stock.
  
• Dresdner upgraded HSBC (NYSE: HBC) to Buy from hold on valuation as they believe the dividend cut is fully priced in at current levels.
  
• JP Morgan upgraded Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) to Neutral from Underweight on valuation as they recommend short positions take profits at current levels.
• Kellogg (K) was raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
  
• RPM, Inc (NYSE: RPM) and Valspar (NYSE: VAL) were upgraded at KeyBanc to Buy from Hold.
  
• Omnicare (NYSE: OCR) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.

Analyst downgrades:

• Jefferies downgraded Dune Energy (AXE: DNE) to Underperform from Hold to reflect weak commodity prices and the company's reduced financial flexibility. The firm lowered its target price to 10c from 30c.
• Baird downgraded NeuStar (NYSE: NSR) to Neutral from Outperform and lowered their target to $20 from $22 based on 2009 revenue concerns and the CFO's departure.
  
• UBS cut Viacom (NYSE: VIA) to Neutral from Buy and lowered its target to $18 from $27. The firm believes advertising declines will be worst than expected and that Film expectations are too high.
• Goldcorp (NYSE: GG) was lowered to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan.
  
• Kindred Healthcare (NYSE: KND) and Tenet Healthcare (THC) were downgraded at Barclays to Equal Weight from Overweight.
  
• Cynosure (NASDAQ: CYNO) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Citigroup.

Analyst initiations:

• Keefe Bruyette believes Blackstone's (NYSE: BX) operating results and cash flow generation are likely to remain depressed well into 2009 given the weakening economy. The firm started shares with a Market Perform rating and $6 target.
  
• Oppenheimer views Brinks (NYSE: BCO) as a pure-play secure logistics company and feels it is well positioned to take advantage of a recent decline in acquisition prices. The firm has an Outperform rating and $32 target on the stock.
• Kellogg (NYSE: K) was initiated with a Buy rating and $52 target at Janney Montgomery.
• Avery Dennison (NYSE: AVY) was started at Barclays with an Equal Weight rating.
• Medco Health (NYSE: MHS) was initiated with a Market Perform rating and $59 target at Bernstein.

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) is getting $20 billion from the government to help it with its purchase of Merrill Lynch. Also, the government will protect an asset pool worth $118 billion. This morning, Bank of America also reported quarterly results, posting a net loss of $1.8 billion for the fourth quarter. For all of 2008, the bank managed to somehow post a profit of $4 billion, which is much less than its $15 billion net income from 2007. Bank of America blamed "escalating credit losses" as well as writedowns and trading losses in capital markets. The bank also reported that Merrill Lynch, which it acquired on Jan. 1 -- after the fourth quarter ended, lost more than $15 billion in the fourth quarter. BAC shares were nearly 5% higher in premarket trading after dropping over 18% Thursday.

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) meanwhile will be guaranteed on $301 billion of assets. Citigroup also reported fourth-quarter results this morning, posting a net loss of about $8.3 billion, or $1.72 per share. Not surprising, it also blamed write-downs and losses in securities and banking, as well as "higher credit losses." For the full year 2008, Citigroup reported a net loss of about $18.7 billion, or $3.88 per share. Finally, Citigroup announced it was splitting into two parts: Citigroup, to handle traditional banking, and Citi Holdings, to manage the riskier assets including brokerage and retail asset management, local consumer finance and a special asset pool. Citi shares were almost 5% higher in premarket trading after dropping over 15% Thursday.

Intel Corp. (NADSAQ: INTC) reported Thursday after the close a 90% drop in fourth-quarter earnings $234 million, or 4 cents per share, compared with $2.3 billion, or 38 cents per share, in the year-ago period. Sales slumped 23%, in line with Intel's previous guidance. Still, the results were inline with Wall Street's reduced expectations. This was enough to have the stock trade 3% higher in premarket action.

"Gold is now looking stronger; it is time that investors have gold in their portfolios," says Curtis Hesler. In the The Professional Timing Service, he looks at gold's seasonal patterns.

"I think they will rush to commodity-based assets because of the serious underinvestment phase the commodity sector is involved in now. This will lead to shortages and very high prices down the road in all commodities.

"Once the dollar begins to roll over, gold will be an instant benefactor. It is already looking stronger in my technical work, and it is time that investors should have gold in their portfolios. I still recommend that you put new money into the major gold miners only.

"We are approaching an interesting seasonal period for gold. Years ago, the Stock Trader's Almanac used to specify a seasonal trade in gold.

"Their study showed that if you bought ASA Ltd. (NYSE: ASA) at its low in November and sold it at its high in the first quarter of the next year, you would have averaged a gain of 87.8%.

It seems that everywhere you turn you hear something about the price of gold, from analysts to commercials encouraging you to sell your old jewelry for big bucks. If you're tempted, how about a bit safer investment in the commodity? Let your money work for you -- invest in an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) that hold shares in several different gold producers, and you can ride the wave of the industry.

Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (AMEX: GDX) is a perfect opportunity to ride this wave with as the fund's goal is to mimic the price and yield performance of the AMEX Gold Miners index, before fees and expenses. This is a nondiversified fund that is comprised of several well known companies whose main operations involve gold and silver mining.

There are two reasons to buy GDX instead of the SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE: GLD) or the iShares Comex Gold Trust (NYSE: IAU) both of which are pure gold ETFs (you own a share of gold sitting in a safe). First, the ratio between gold and the value of the gold held by miners has been relatively stable for 30 years. But today, the gold miners are selling at 33% of that historical ratio, so bulls say it's better to buy the miners, not the metal. Second, the biggest expense of a mining company is energy. Oil today hit $54 per barrel, down 63% from a peak of $147. This adds to the profits of the Gold Miners.

"There's no question these are dangerous times and the financial world is in uncharted waters," caution resource experts Mary Anne and Pamela Aden.

In The Aden Forecast, the sisters offer an exceptional in-depth discussion on inflationary vs. deflationary foreces, their outlook for precious metals, and their top gold and silver positions for long-term investors.

"The global financial system is on very thin ice, teetering on collapse. Global central banks clearly are literally pulling out all the stops to revive lending and the world economy.

"Will these efforts work? Will they be enough? Those are the most important unanswered questions of the day and only time will tell, but we should know much more in the critical month or so ahead. Why?

"The Fed is spending money at an astronomical rate. It's creating this money out of thin air by monetizing bad debts and whatever else it has to. Remember, this is on top of all the other ongoing government expenses and it's extremely inflationary.

"Normally, there is a lag of about a year or so between money creation and inflation but eventually, what's recently happened will result in massive inflation, a much lower U.S. dollar and a soaring gold price.

"The bottom line is this, if the banks start to lend again, then the economy will be on the road to recovery and inflation. But we know the banks are scared and they're being extremely cautious, for good reason.

"People want to own more gold when there's a perception of growing global economic and political turmoil," explain resource experts Roger Conrad and Yiannis Mostrous.

In their Vital Resource Investor, the advisor offer their long-term bullish assessment for gold as well their favorite gold mining stock: "Goldcorp (NYSE: GG).

"Every commodity bull market eventually ends when consumers permanently reduce demand with conservation and switch to alternatives, and the producers ultimately over-expand. This, however, only happens over a period of many years.

"To be sure, we've seen demand in the US drop for many vital resources, from copper to energy, as the economy has slowed. Demand from developing nations, however, remains entrenched by necessity, as these suddenly more affluent nations struggle to upgrade their vital infrastructure.

"And although we may see Chinese economic growth slow from its current off-the-chart 10% rate, that country will still face critical needs to build out its cities to meet the millions of new migrants that come every year. And that's a huge call on raw materials.

U.S. stock futures were higher Wednesday morning, indicating markets could start on a positive note after two days of declines. Good results from Hewlett-Packard helped lift sentiment, overshadowing financial sector concerns, despite new worries over Fannie and Freddie. Oil remained steady ahead of inventory report later today.

Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) shares are rising over 3% in premarket trading after the computer maker reported a 14% rise in fiscal third-quarter earnings and issues current-quarter earnings guidance that exceeded analyst estimates. Tech shares could get a boost from H-P.

Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) remain in focus due to concerns that a government bailout of the two firms is inevitable and would mean wiping out investors. Freddie Mac on Tuesday was forced to pay its steepest borrowing premium in 10 years, which is raising fresh concerns about its ability to withstand the housing and credit crisis without government help.

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) is cutting fixed-price seller listing fees. eBay will now charge 35 cents to list any number of the same types of fixed-price items. This is a dramatic change from charging fees based on item price.