MOST NOTEWORTHY: HSBC Holdings, AstraZeneca, Syneron Medical, Talbots, BankUnited and First Fed Financial were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• UBS downgraded shares of HSBC Holdings(NYSE: HBC) to Neutral from Buy on valuation, rising customer defaults and slower growth at the company's the U.S. consumer-finance unit.
  
• UBS also downgraded AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) to Sell from Neutral, as they believe the company faces major risks from drug approvals, competition and lawsuits.
  
• Merriman downgraded shares of Syneron Medical (NASDAQ: ELOS) to Neutral from Buy following the company's Q3 earnings preannouncement due to near-term margin erosion and growth drivers that remain four quarters away.
  
• CIBC downgraded shares of Talbots (NYSE: TLB) to Sector Performer from Outperformer as they believe 2H07 expectations are too high given the current weakness in the Missy space.
  
• Friedman Billings downgraded BankUnited (NASDAQ: BKUNA) to Market Perform from Outperform and FirstFed Financial (NYSE: FED) to Underperform from Market Perform based on credit trends that are eroding faster than anticipated.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Merrill downgraded JMP Group (NYSE: JMP) to Neutral from Buy.
  
• Baird downgraded Cabela's (NYSE: CAB) to Neutral from Outperform.
  
• Societe Generale downgraded Business Objects (NASDAQ: BOBJ) to Hold from Buy.

With the boom in M&A and private equity, a myriad of investment banks have gone public.

Well, today, we got another IPO filing, this time from JMP Group Inc.

Headquartered in San Francisco, the firm has a big footprint in the world of tech deals. The founders came from one of the top tech outfits, Montgomery Securities, which sold out to Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC).

Since its inception in 1999, JMP Group has lead or co-managed 119 IPOs, follow-ons and preferred offerings. The firm also advised on 59 M&A deals.

And growth has been strong. Over the past five years, revenues have surged from $13.4 million to $94.7 million.

The proposed ticker symbol is "JMP" and you can check out the IPO filing at the SEC web site.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.