Here are some highlights from last week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• AirTran Holdings Inc. (NYSE: AAI) reported its third consecutive quarterly profit and will increase capacity.
• Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) shares soared after it reported very strong Q3 numbers.
• Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) reported stellar Q4 results, driven by the popularity of Macs and iPhones.
• BlackRock Inc. (NYSE: BLK) Q3 earnings soared, due in part to a tax benefit, and assets managed grew.
• Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM) revenue surged sequentially but note the would be flat going forward.
• Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) beat Q3 earnings expectations and shares rose though revenue slumped.

3M (NYSE: MMM) is one of those solid stocks that investors love to sock away in a core portfolio. It was down when pessimism about the economy was at its peak, but it's coming back now that Wall Street is becoming comfortable with the idea that the economic clouds will eventually give way to rays of macro sunshine.

Earlier in the week, 3M reported a great quarter. No, it wasn't so great on a comparable basis. The company, which counts Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) and DuPont (NYSE: DD) as colleagues, suffered a decline of almost 6% on the top line in Q3. Earnings per share on an adjusted basis, which came in at $1.37 per share, were down 3.5%.

Markets rose substantially at the end of the day, in part led by the strong earnings reports from 5 of 30 DJIA components this morning alone. This was despite the discussions of the risks of the US's Triple-A rating, another drop in home prices, and despite weekly jobless claims heading higher.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 10,081.31 +131.95 (1.33%)
S&P 500 1,092.91 +11.51 (1.06%)
Nasdaq 2,165.29 +14.56 (0.68%)

Top Market Rumors
Top 10 Analyst Calls

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says that as long as we're trapped in a commoditized stock market, use the futures to go bargain-hunting.

What if individual stocks want to go up, but the market wants to go down? Don't laugh. In 1982, when The Kansas City Board of Trade started trading Value Line futures (before there were S&P futures), we used to kick around in securities classes what would happen if eventually stocks became so commoditized that individual companies couldn't be removed from the gravitational pull.

For example, we know today looks like a terrible day, with Europe down horribly and our futures real soggy. But then we look and see that J. Crew (NYSE: JCG) (Cramer's Take), one of the best retailers, is not just saying that the fall season is good; it is saying it is blowout beyond imagination. The big Dow stock 3M (NYSE: MMM) (Cramer's Take) is not just saying that things are getting better; it is showing that business is very strong. The monster insurer and fellow Dow stock Travelers (NYSE: TRV) (Cramer's Take) is boosting the dividend and showing you how a responsible financial can behave.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says the weak dollar is benefiting U.S. corporations and no longer going against them.

Why have the industrials been so red-hot? Why do they seem to levitate? One reason, of course, is that people think the economy's getting better. A second reason is that even if the economy stands still vs. last year the comparisons will be amazing and nothing gets the juices going more rapidly than easy comparisons.

Why will they be so glaring? First, the layoffs have been brutal, the cost-cutting immense and it hasn't hurt at all ... yet. It is totally and unequivocally positive.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says takeover deals and major stock upgrades are going to be hard to fight.

Worldwide funded freight train coming at you. Hard to fight. Hard to stand in front of. That's what I think is happening here. It is clear that Ron Insana, in his fabulous Market Movers commentary this morning and with his quick moves to catch some of the move, totally agrees with me. It doesn't take much to see that Doug Kass is going full bore against me.

I feel like Michael Corleone in the lamented Godfather III. Every time I want to get out, they pull me back in again, and this time the pull is from the macro, where the central bankers keep plowing the money in, and from the micro, where one of the biggest deals in ages -- the Kraft (NYSE: KFT) (Cramer's Take) hostile on Cadbury -- reminds us that stocks aren't expensive, they are cheap.

I'm Reiterating my Buy rating for 3M Co. (NYSE: MMM), first recommended on April 20, 2009 at a price of $51.97. If you purchased MMM at that time, you're up a solid 37%.

Back in April, I argued, among other factors, that a strong case for buying 3M's shares could be made based on the company's strong free cash flow, net return on capital, and reasonable P/E (the about 11), before everyone else jumped on the bandwagon.

Analyst upgrades:

• UBS upgraded Wendy's/Arby's (NYSE: WEN) to Buy from Neutral and raised its target to $5.50 from $4.90 based on improving sales momentum at Wendy's and potential improvements at Arby's.
• Goldman upgraded 3M (NYSE: MMM) to Buy from Neutral and raised its target to $85 from $78. The firm cites 3M's short-cycle exposure and relative valuation for the upgrade.
• Thomas Weisel upgraded JCPenney (NYSE: JCP) to Market Weight from Underweight citing comfort in the company's intermediate-term recovery potential.
• UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at ING Group.
• Gap (NYSE: GPS) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.
• Alliance Healthcare (NYSE: AIQ) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says if you wait for market conditions to reach perfection, you'll be waiting a long time.

You know what? I am going to wait until I am sure housing has turned before I buy the homebuilders like Lennar (NYSE: LEN) (Cramer's Take) and Pulte (NYSE: PHM) (Cramer's Take). I am going to wait until the foreclosures peak before I buy Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) (Cramer's Take) and Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) (Cramer's Take).

I am going to wait until unemployment goes down before I buy 3M (NYSE: MMM) (Cramer's Take) and Disney (NYSE: DIS) (Cramer's Take) and IBM (NYSE: IBM) (Cramer's Take) and Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) (Cramer's Take).

Good news: profits are back. Bad news: it hurts like hell to get them.

With Q2 reports starting to come in, several high-profile companies have turned in positive results, and a few -- like Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT), IBM (NYSE: IBM), Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), 3M (NYSE: MMM), and Lowe's (NYSE: LOW) -- have even upped the ante for the rest of the year.

Expectations were low, making the outcomes look surprisingly strong. According to a Thomson Reuters, a third of the biggest companies in the United States that have turned in their Q2 results, and 76% of them have beaten analyst expectations. Less than a fifth of them are losing money.

Here are some highlights from last week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• AK Steel Holding Corp. (NYSE: AKS) posted a smaller-than-expected Q2 net loss as steel prices rise.
• Boston Scientific Corp. (NYSE: BSX) posted a better-than-expected Q2 profit on strong overseas sales.
• Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) shares jumped after it beat earnings, missed revenues, and offered guidance.
• DuPont (NYSE: DD) shares declined after it posted a higher-than-expected profit but lower revenue.
• Eaton Corp. (NYSE: ETN) disappointing results were a sign that the bulls are in charge, said Jim Cramer.
• General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) Q2 earnings and sales declined, dragged down by finance and NBC units.

3M (NYSE: MMM - option chain) shares are rising today after the company reported a second-quarter profit this morning of $783 million or $1.12 per share. Excluding one-time items, MMM earned $1.20 per share, easily beating analysts' forecasts of 94 cents per share. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on MMM.

MMM opened this morning at $66.58. So far today the stock has hit a low of $66.35 and a high of $68.67. As of 12:10, MMM is trading at $68.29 up $3.62 (5.6%). The chart for MMM looks bullish and S&P gives MMM a positive 4 STARS (out of 5) buy ranking.

Given the economic crisis and global recession, I hypothesized that multinationals may suffer as a result of a strong dollar. The idea being that investors would flock to the dollar in search of safety. Over the last quarter though, the reverse has been true.

The dollar weakened significantly as investors bet against the greenback due to inflationary spending in the U.S. As a result, the multinationals have been big winners in the last quarter.

3M (NYSE: MMM) though was only up slightly in the second quarter as the company's products failed to capture the imagination of buyers across the globe. When the dollar strengthens in the latter half of 2009, look for MMM to stumble.

Next: Stock to Avoid #4

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says he counts at least six Democrats who won't fall in line -- this bill hasn't a chance.

Everyone's fretting about the new tax brackets -- or at least everyone who's rich or who lives in a high-tax state -- over the health care plan coming out of Congress. Everyone thinks that Nancy Pelosi can never be defeated. She is a juggernaut. More powerful than a speeding bullet. Etc.

But the Senate could be a different story. Remember Pelosi and co. need 60 votes, and there are exactly 60 Democrats. There are two publicly quoted Democratic senators who are not even the most likely biggest objectors -- Sen. Ben Nelson from Nebraska and Sen. Evan Bayh from Indiana.

Analyst upgrades:

• Keefe Bruyette upgraded KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY) to Outperform from Market Perform due to valuation and the company's capital position. The firm has an $8 target price on the stock.
• BofA/Merrill upgraded its view of the semiconductor sector and upgraded Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) and Marvell Technology (NASDAQ: MRVL) to Buy from Neutral, LSI Corp. (NYSE: LSI) to Buy from Underperform, and Maxim (NASDAQ: MXIM) and National Semiconductor (NYSE: NSM) to Neutral from Underperform. The firm now sees 2010 revenue growth of 21% vs. its prior estimate of 14% due to improving electric demand and lean inventories.
• Thomas Weisel upgraded Vital Images (NASDAQ: VTAL) to Overweight from Market Weight based on compelling valuation and potential upside from its new ViTAL Enterprise product offering.
• Jones Apparel (NYSE: JNY) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
• Hess Corp. (NYSE: HES) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.
• Nationwide Health (NYSE: NHP) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Morgan Keegan.