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.

Citigroup decided to sell its German retail banking division to France's Credit Mutuel for $7.7 billion as the financial behemoth continues reeling from the mortgage loan mess. In addition, analysts speculated that the European-region probably shrank for the first time since the single-currency Euro was formed almost 10 years ago.

In Japan, Shinsei Bank agreed to buy General Electric's consumer financing arm for $5.4 billion as GE continues to seek the sale of non-core operating units, such as its global appliance business months ago.

Below is a foreign market review for this morning:

European markets:

• The Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50: at 2,819.21, down -14.51 (-0.51%)
• The FTSE 100 Index: at 5,391.40, down -15.40 (-0.28%)
• The DAX 30: at 6,234.31, down -70.69 (-1.12%)
• The S&P/MIB Index: at 28,590.00, down -181.00 (-0.63%)

Asia/Pacific markets:

• Singapore Straits Times: closed at 2,926.84, up 25.26 (0.87%)
  
• Nikkei 225 Average: closed at 13,039.69, down 27.52 (0.21%)
  
• The S&P/ASX 200 Index: closed at 4,979.90, up 42.50 (0.86%)
  
• Hang Seng Index: closed at 22,184.25, up 362.77 (1.66%)

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

• Andersons Inc. (NASDAQ: ANDE) lifted its outlook on improved performance of its Plant Nutrient Group.
• BP Plc (NYSE: BP) was upgraded by Societe Generale due in part to its earnings prospects.
• Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) has developed an earnings improvement plan based on collective bonuses.
• Corel Corp. (NASDAQ: CREL) solid Q2 results did not address a buyout offer from Vector Capital.
• Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS) Q2 earnings were boosted by dumping its Goldfish card division.
• Fortune Brands Inc. (NYSE: FO) lowered its earnings outlook on challenging consumer environment.
• Isle of Capri Casinos Inc. (NASDAQ: ISLE) blamed dismal results on floods and smoking bans.
• MSCI Inc. (NYSE: MXB) strong Q2 results didn't save it from being dumped by Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS).
• PAREXEL International Corp. (NASDAQ: PRXL) lifted its Q4 and full-year guidance, leading to an upgrade.
• Texas Industries Inc. (NYSE: TXI) was downgraded due to fears about its earnings prospects.
• Taleo Corp. (NASDAQ: TLEO) reaffirmed its outlook as an acquisition would boost results.
• WD-40 Co. (NASDAQ: WDFC) posted solid Q3 results and offered conservative guidance.

More highlights from this past week: Apollo Group, Family Dollar, Kroger, Deutsche Bank and others

Also, while Jim Cramer ponders what will signal the bottom, many investors will be looking at next week's earnings results for General Electric (NYSE: GE), the world's largest conglomerate, as a sign of the direction of the global market. And BusinessWeek reminds us that cheap stocks -- even with big names such as Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F), Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S), and Northwest Airlines (NYSE: NWA) -- are no bargain if they have no earnings.

Upcoming results to watch for include Alcoa (NYSE: AA), Pepsi Bottling Group (NYSE: PBG), Marriott International (NYSE: MAR), and General Electric (NYSE: GE).

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage.

Late last year, when the IPO market was much stronger, Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) sold a piece of its MSCI Inc. (NYSE: MXB) division to the public. Investors were certainly eager for the deal as the price range increased from $14-$16 to $16-$18. The stock price ultimately reached as high as $38.40.

But today, things got a little rougher. Morgan Stanley said its going to unload half its position in MSCI.

No doubt, with the credit crunch, there has been a flurry of asset sales. And MSCI is a solid asset, which includes a broad portfolio of financial data products like indices (more than 100,000) and major brands such as Barra.

What's more, MSCI reported its Q2 results today. Operating revenues spiked 21.9% to $108.2 million and adjusted EBITDA was up 43.4% to $48 million (yes, this is a high-margin business).

MSCI Inc. (NYSE: MXB), which is a division of Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), is now an independent public company. The company bumped the price range on its offering twice – from $14-$16 to $16-$18. The final price came to $18. In today's trading, the stock reached $27.36.

MSCI is a leader in decision support tools for the financial services industry. These include things like indices, portfolio analytics, and risk management systems. There are more than 2,800 clients across 63 countries. Although, the company still has a small portion of its base from hedge funds. In other words, this could be a nice source of future business.

As an indication of MSCI's scale, the firm operates more than 100,000 indices for equities, real estate, investment trusts and hedge funds.

For the first half of this year, operating revenues increased 18% to $175.8 million and operating income was up 13% to $56.2 million. In fact, MSCI has a customer retention rate of about 93%.

The lead underwriter on the deal was Morgan Stanley.

You can find the prospectus at the SEC website. Also, if you want to find more information on recent IPOs, visit DealProfiles.com.

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

Most investors are probably aware that the stock markets of "emerging," or developing, nations have been the big winners so far this year.

Since January, the MSCI Emerging Markets index has outpaced the MSCI World index by a hefty 18.1%.

But even then, the divergence in performance between various regions has been striking, with some of these traditionally volatile markets doing far better than others.

For instance, the "BRICs" -- Brazil, Russia, India and China -- have beaten the emerging markets benchmark by 7.7%, while its solely European-based counterpart has lagged by 13.65%, or nearly twice as much.

It just goes to show that when it comes to investing overseas, choosing the right stocks, sectors, and "themes" can really make a world of difference.

Michael Panzner is a 25-year veteran of the global stock, bond, and currency markets and the author of Financial Armageddon: Protecting Your Future from Four Impending Catastrophes and The New Laws of the Stock Market Jungle.

Although many investors believe that Asian equities have led the pack lately, it has actually been the Nordic region that has been the star performer, at least as far as developed markets are concerned.

So far this year, the MSCI Nordic index has outpaced the MSCI World index by 13.8 percentage points. The MSCI Europe index has edged out that broad benchmark by 1.7 percentage points.

In contrast, the MSCI Far East and Pacific indexes have trailed the World index by 8 and 3.6 percentage points, respectively.

While that divergence seems at odds with the breathtaking share-price run-ups that have been seen in places like Brazil and China, its worth remembering that those nations and others like it are categorized as emerging markets.

I'll have more on the relative performance in 2007 of those high-flyers tomorrow.

Michael Panzner is a 25-year veteran of the global stock, bond, and currency markets and the author of Financial Armageddon: Protecting Your Future from Four Impending Catastrophes and The New Laws of the Stock Market Jungle.