NASDAQ OMX (NDAQ), Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) offered $42.50 per share to acquire NYSE Euronext (NYX). April and June call option implied volatility is at 22; below its 26-week average of 32 according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

Pier 1 Imports (PIR) April put option implied volatility is at 58, June is at 54; near its 26-week average of 56 according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price movement into the expected release of Q4 results on April 7.

Options Update is by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

NYSE Euronext (NYX), which competes with Nasdaq OMX (NDAQ) and CME Group (CME), is the world's leading stock exchange in cash trading, both in terms of volume and value. NYSE provides the trading platform and services for trade execution of stocks listed on its exchanges -- NYSE, NYSE Arca, NYSE Amex -- as well as for orders that are routed to other market centers for execution. It charges transaction fees for executing these trades.

Due to the global economic downturn, NYSE Euronext's EBITDA margin from its cash equity trades in its U.S. exchanges tumbled from around 38% in 2006 to -4.2% in 2009. The margin recovered a bit in 2010, and we expect it to increase slightly in the short term and stabilize thereafter, owing to fierce pricing competition among stock exchanges to gain more volumes. NYSE Euronext could however benefit from economies of scale from its merger with Deutsche Boerse (DBOEY), which can push its margin higher.

Despite the turmoil in the Middle East, the market powered to a 30-month high, closing above 12,000 Tuesday. The key driver was a slew of strong earnings reports. The last time we saw Dow 12,000 was on June 19, 2008. Across the board, the major averages were strong. The Dow climbed 148.23 to 12,040.16, S & P 500 rose 21.47 to 1307.59, and the NASDAQ surged 51.11 to 2751.19, as reported in the Wall Street Journal.

Here are just a few stocks that moved the Dow higher:

• Pfizer (PFE) rose $1.00 to $19.22. Fourth-quarter profit tripled from a year ago.

"About 3,600 companies trade on exchanges operated by NASDAQ OMX Group (NDAQ), where an average of 8.8 billion shares changes hands each day," says Richard Moroney.

The editor of Dow Theory Forecasts explains, "The company controls about two-thirds of trades involving NASDAQ securities and half of NYSE securities. It also holds about one-third of the U.S. options-trading market.

"Over the last five years, NASDAQ's revenue rose at an annualized rate of 32%, with operating cash flow up 43%.

Two of the three major indexes opened higher on a solid earnings report from General Electric Company (GE), although a quarterly loss from Bank of America Corporation (BAC) and weak earnings from Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) kept a lid on the rise. Oil prices have continued to decline today, trading below $89.50. Gold prices, too, have posted a second-day of falling prices, though today's drop is modest compared with yesterday's dive. In the currency markets, the euro has gained against the dollar for a second day in a row.

Here are the unofficial closing bell numbers for today:

Dow Jones: 11,871.84 +49.04 (0.41%)
S&P 500: 1,283.35 +3.09 (0.24%)
Nasdaq: 2,689.54 -14.75 (-0.55%)

I have always felt that for all the blabbing we do -- or blogging, in my case -- we should try as best we can to be accountable for our good and bad calls. This report is long overdue, but I will post it anyway since all of my past year's picks and results have been made public.

The market was very harsh in the early part of 2009, filling investors fear and trepidation, and sinking to a March 9, 2009 bottom. Perhaps some of the bleeding has stopped, but the economy has not healed as bears and bulls seem to carry the day, or every other day.

Nasdaq has been dubbed the home of technology. Some 63% of the Nasdaq 100 is computer related. Such companies as Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and Apple Inc. (AAPL) have lost value, leading the record losing streak. Microsoft is down 26%, while Apple is off 9.7%. The index has fallen for 10 consecutive days.

Kevin Caron of Stifel Nicolaus & Co. said: "There is an orderly liquidation of equity positions by traders who are taking risk units off the table." This is a fancy way of saying that investors are selling.

We can make this short and sweet: buying utilities pays off in many ways that other investments do not. Utilities pay regular dividend distributions that are higher than most stocks, bonds, Treasuries, and certificates of deposit. In these volatile times, utility stocks add stability to your portfolio and moderate the wild swings. And, here is the kicker that everyone but day traders will appreciate: long term returns beat all of the major indices over time.

The following charts and stocks will further make the case.

Analyst upgrades

• Wells Fargo upgraded Boeing (BA) to outperform from market perform. The firm is more confident about the company's earnings growth going forward.
• Oppenheimer upgraded H&R Block (HRB) to outperform from perform on expectations the company will improve performance in 2011. The firm has a $22 price target for shares.
• Deutsche Bank upgraded SunTrust (STI) to buy from hold to reflect valuation and expectations the company's credit will improve. The firm raised its target for shares to $34 from $29.
• Children's Place (PLCE) was upgraded to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Taubman Centers (TCO) was upgraded to neutral from sell at UBS.
• Cavium Networks (CAVM) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Cowen.

When the market started to crap the bed last year, hundreds of public companies were faced with the prospect of delisting due to their low share prices and market caps.

Because of the unusual nature of the circumstances -- and the fact that they had much bigger problems to devote resources to -- the NYSE and Nasdaq elected not to enforce minimum share price requirements temporarily. But now that the market has rallied, what about companies that haven't been able to get their share prices back up a bit?

The market was able to stage a late day rally which erased some of its earlier losses, but still ended the day in the red, with all 3 major indexes closing down on the day.

September is typically not a good month for the market, but even with today's losses this September was positive, as more and more investors have started to believe the economy is coming out of its recession.

Late Thursday Sirius XM (NASDAQ: SIRI) disclosed it had received a notice from the Nasdaq stock exchange on Tuesday that its share price has closed below $1 for 30 consecutive days, and is therefore not in compliance with the exchange rules. This means it could possibly be delisted.

Sirius has until March 15, 2010, to regain compliance with the minimum bid price rule, meaning its stock has to close at or above $1 for 10 consecutive business days.

A new day is dawning for regulation of interest rate swaps. Fifteen banks have agreed to clear 90% of new credit derivatives by December. Banks will also submit 60% of existing interest rate swaps to a central counter party.

What does this mean? It means that trades will clear through an independent counter party called a clearinghouse. What then is a clearinghouse? A clearinghouse is a central counter party that serves as buyer to every seller and seller to every buyer. Commodity futures trades pass through a clearinghouse.

What kind of numbers are we looking at? The interest rate swaps market is a $403 trillion market.

U.S. stock markets are poised to rise today as more and more positive data convinces Wall Street that the economic recovery is for real.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Nasdaq Composite Index and the S&P 500 Index were all indicated higher following a rally in overseas markets. Germany's Dax, France's CAC-40 and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 all posted strong gains. Japan's Nikkei 25 also rose while China's Hang Seng declined.

For those looking for silver linings, there are plenty to choose.

The stock market seems like it needs a rest today.

After posting strong performances earlier this week following growing optimism about the economy and the reappointment of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, the main indexes appear headed toward a muted opening. The Dow Jones industrial average and the Nasdaq Composite Index were trading down in pre-market action.

Whether this rally will hold depends on a few things. The U.S. Commerce Department is due to issue its durable goods report for July later this morning. As the Associated Press notes, "Economists polled by Thomson Reuters predict orders to U.S. factories for items expected to last at least three years increased 3 percent in July, due in part to increased auto sales from the government's Cash for Clunkers program." They fell in June.