U.S. stock futures are lower this morning, after a strong earthquake in the northeastern part of the Japan. Tsunami warnings were also issued for Hawaii, parts of the West Coast of the US and 19 other countries. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 50 points to 11,870.00 and futures on the S&P 500 index fell 4.40 points to 1,285.10. Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 10.25 points to 2,270.50.

Negative sentiment ruled the European markets today. While STOXX Europe 600 Index has dropped 0.83%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved down 0.48%.

Baseball season is officially under way and it's all a numbers game. Kiplinger has highlighted five stocks that may be in play --- Jarden, Under Armour, PepsiCo, Hibbett Sports and Siriius Radio-- so here is their pitch and my thoughts on taking a swing at any of them.

Oddly, the Kiplinger story makes note of the fact that baseball and investing are both driven by numbers, yet provides very few of them to support their thesis.

Analyst upgrades:

• Jefferies upgraded Starbucks (SBUX) to buy from hold, citing EPS and revenue momentum heading into 2010. The firm raised its target to $25 from $22.
• Soleil upgraded Zions Bancorp (ZION) to buy from hold on valuation as it believes the recent pullback provides an attractive entry point. The firm has a $17.50 price target on shares.
• RBC Capital expects Rigel Pharmaceuticals (RIGL) to sign a partnership for R788 in the next four months to run its global Phase III program. Shares were upgraded to outperform from sector perform and its target was raised to $11 from $9.
• Deere (DE) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight at Morgan Stanley.
• Shire (SHPGY) was raised to outperform from market perform at Bernstein.
• Ann Taylor (ANN) was upgraded to overweight from market weight at Thomas Weisel.
• J.M. Smucker (SJM) was upgraded to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.

Analyst upgrades:

• Jefferies upgraded NeuStar (NYSE:NSR) to Hold from Underperform on valuation following the recent weakness and raised their target price to $15 from $12.
  
• Oppenheimer upgraded Adobe Systems (NASDAQ:ADBE) to Outperform from Perform on valuation as they believe the recent pullback has created an attractive entry point into the name. The firm has a $27 target on the stock.
  
• UBS upgraded Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and Wyeth (NYSE:WYE) to Buy from Neutral based on valuations. Pfizer's price target remains $18 and Wyeth's was raised to $50 from $38.
• Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) was upgraded to Sector Outperformer from Sector Performer at CIBC.
  
• BHP Billiton (NYSE:BHP) was raised to Buy from Hold at RBS.
  
• Anadys Pharma (NASDAQ:ANDS) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Piper Jaffray.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: BP PLC, Wells Fargo and Hibbett Sports were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Lehman downgraded shares of BP PLC (NYSE:BP) to Underweight from Equal Weight to reflect a lower share of profitability from the Azeri field in Azerbaijan.
  
• Friedman Billings downgraded Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) to Underperform from Market Perform citing its consumer exposure and recent indications of consumer credit quality deterioration.
  
• The firm also downgraded Hibbett Sports (NASDAQ:HIBB) to Market Perform from Outperform following the company's Q4 pre-announcement.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Coca-Cola HBC SA (NYSE:CCH) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Merrill.
  
• Goldman removed Weatherford (NYSE:WFT) from its Conviction Buy List and downgraded Foot Locker (NYSE:FL) to Sell from Neutral.