9.5% unemployment and a loss of another 131,000 jobs in the economy didn't do it for the bulls this Friday. Another loss of monthly consumer credit in June only echoed the weak July same-store sales data, although the drop in consumer credit was -$1.3 billion rather than a drop of over $5 billion expected. Goldman Sachs also lowered economic growth targets ahead. Still a late-day round of share buying and likely short-covering brought on some interest from investors after the DJIA had traded lower by triple-digits earlier in the trading day.

Here were the unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow Jones 10,653.64 -21.34 (-0.20%)
S&P 500 1,121.62 -4.19 (-0.37%)
Nasdaq 2,288.43 -4.63 (-0.20%)

Top Analyst Calls

Alan Greenspan called for a pause in the return to growth, but wholesale trade and some international stability helped stop things from getting too far out of line. We had three days of rallies and the action at the end of the day made this a fourth straight day of rallying. In fact, buying interest led to closing right near the highs of the trading day.

Here were today's closing bell levels:

DJIA
S&P500
NASDAQ

Top Analyst Calls

General Motors is coming out of bankruptcy. It wants to be a public company again, raise capital by selling stock. Most likely it will happen before the fourth quarter. Here are some things you might want to consider about the offering.

First, the federal government owns 61% of GM.So you'll want to read the prospectus to find out if your money is going to GM or the government. If the government sells its shares to the public, then all the money raised from those shares won't go to the company. It goes straight to the U.S. Treasury. If the government sells its whole stake, then little of the capital raised will be added to GM's treasury.That probably won't happen. Instead the government will sell part of its holdings and keep some for future benefit. But it may sell all of it. If so, it will severely limit the amount of new funds GM will have to grow.

Analyst upgrades:

• FBR Capital upgraded Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE: APC) to Outperform from Market Perform to reflect upcoming catalysts and the company's opportunity in subsalt. FBR raised its target on shares to $60 from $50.
• Citigroup upgraded Marvel (NYSE: MVL) to Hold from Sell on expectations the acquisition by Disney (NYSE: DIS) will close. The firm raised its target on shares to $50 from $31.
• JPMorgan upgraded Cubic (NYSE: CUB) to Overweight from Neutral on expectations the company will benefit from the Vix ERG acquisition and increased sales visibility. The firm raised its target on shares to $43 from $38.
• Siemens (NYSE: SI) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Bernstein.
• Deutsche Telekom (NYSE: DT) was upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Credit Suisse.
• Thompson Creek (NYSE: TC) was upgraded to Sector Outperformer from Sector Performer at CIBC.

Analyst upgrades:

• Deutsche Bank upgraded Cemex (NYSE: CX) to Buy from Hold on decreased dilution risk following the company's successful refinancing and raised its target on shares to $15 from $11.20.
• Rochdale upgraded Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) to Buy from Neutral and raised its target to $65. The firm is positive on Wal-Mart's defensive characteristics, cyclical upside, and competitive position.
• JPMorgan upgraded Gartner Group (NYSE: IT) to Overweight from Neutral to reflect stabilization in IT industry spending and the stock's attractive valuation. The firm has a $23 price target on the stock.
• Cavium Networks (NASDAQ: CAVM) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.
• Borg-Warner (NYSE: BWA) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• Nanometrics (NASDAQ: NANO) was upgraded to Outperform from Perform at Oppenheimer.

Tata Motors (NYSE: TTM - option chain) shares are headed higher today as the company officially begins booking sales of its Nano today. The car has been called the world's cheapest automobile, and analysts are eagerly waiting to see how well the car sells in rapidly-growing India. 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 TTM.

TTM opened this morning at $6.96. So far today the stock has hit a low of $6.95 and a high of $8.30. As of 11:45, TTM is trading at $7.65, up 1.01 (15.2%). The chart for TTM looks neutral and S&P gives TTM a 3 STARS (out of 5) hold ranking.

As if Detroit didn't have enough to worry about, Tata Motors (NYSE: TTM) has unveiled its long-awaited super-cheap car at the Auto Expo in New Delhi. Called the Nano, it's tiny and kind of cute, in a smooshed jelly bean kind of way. Its most attractive feature, though, is its price. For a mere 100,000 rupees, the equivalent of roughly $2,500, you can drive home in the world's least expensive car (assuming you live in India, of course).

According to AutoBlog, here's what you get for your 100,000 rupees: a two cylinder gasoline engine producing a whopping 30 horsepower, a four-speed manual transmission, room for five (very small) people, brakes of some kind, and, best of all, 54 miles per gallon of gas. You don't get a radio or power steering or a second windshield wiper, but did you really expect to? Even so, the car is reasonably safe and efficient by Indian standards, and Tata claims that it meets all environmental and safety regulations in India.

It's hard not to be impressed by the Nano, and by the potential of Tata Motors. Tata is already the largest auto manufacturer in India. Millions of Tata vehicles are already on the roads, and with the Nano, we can expect to see millions more. Tata also sells cars and trucks all over Asia and has a growing presence in the Middle East and Latin America. If you want to place a bet on the future of the global auto industry, you could do worse than buying some Tata stock. Just as General Motors (NYSE: GM) and Ford (NYSE: F) provided basic transport in the world's fastest growing economy early 20th century, Tata is poised to sell millions of basic cars in the fastest growing part of the world in the 21st century.

Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was recently up $3.60 cents to $157.11.

AAPL is expected to report earnings per share (EPS) in mid-October. AAPL October option implied volatility is at 31 and November is at 39, below its 26-week average of 42 according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price risk.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) was recently trading up $13.64 to $580.74.

GOOG is expected to report EPS on October 18th. GOOG October at the money 580 straddle is priced at $33.10. GOOG October option implied volatility of 31 is above its 26-week average of 27 according to Track Data, suggesting larger risk.

Volatility Index S&P 500 Options:

VIX decreased as Dow Industrials got above 14,000, down .59 to 17.39. The 10-day moving average was 18.78 according to Track Data.

Daily options Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

As my colleague Georges Yared is fond of saying, Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) continues to ride the train to riches every year, as it rolls out new iPod products while increasing its share of the PC market slowly but surely. As I write this, Apple shares stand at a new all-time high of $153.18. Is it time to get into these shares, or has the time passed? Those who bought in at $80 a share are probably grinning right now, as an almost 100% return may be on the horizon soon.

But, like Georges, I believe Apple shares are headed even higher. The popular iPod line has been around for over five years now, and the new generation is better than ever. The snazzy new iPods create buzz around Apple's music products and other products like the Mac computer line, and the company's word-of-mouth and visual marketing continues to shine with the mass consumer.

Apple goes beyond the "features for the money" approach of other digital music players. Buying an Apple product is now a cultural statement and provides a feeling of being in the "in crowd." Over and over again, there are arguably better products that try to compete with the iPod, but none have succeeded thus far because they cannot match that special feeling.

As I was following Apple. Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) "The beat goes on" event yesterday, I caught myself wondering this: can Apple roll out incremental features to its iPod line and get the market excited once again? I'm not sure that happened, as Apple shares remained stagnant during the event and then closed down almost nine points. This on a day when the company refreshed its entire iPod lineup with new "models." Ehh.

Did Apple just suffer along with many other tech stocks in yesterday's downtick, or was it something more? Apple CEO Steve Jobs has a wonderful way of making the world think each 'new' Apple product is somehow a first or one-of-a-kind, but most aren't any longer when it comes to the iPod line (save the iPhone, which is easily a revolutionary product).

Basically, Jobs trotted out the same products -- from the iPod Classic to the iPod Nano to the iPod Touch -- with incremental feature upgrades and more marketing glitz than a glazed donut. The market seemed unimpressed, all things considered. But, there's more.

No sooner had rumors of the Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone become plausible than rumors of an iPhone Nano began floating about: a cheaper, smaller version of the smartphone killer. And though most of the energetic rumors around Wednesday's super-secret Apple announcement seems to be focused on the possible release of the Beatles on iTunes and some outrageously tiny new Nano, the Washington Post, in a fluffy piece this weekend, stated it had received documents confirming the existence of the iPhone Nano and a wireless-enabled iPod. Not only would the wireless iPod be supercool (ok, the Post didn't say that), it would also have touch screen capabilities.

Much as I revere the Beatles, an iPhone Nano for Christmas would get me way more excited about Apple's prospects come this holiday season than the availability of Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club. If the past is any indication (and with Apple, history does seem to repeat itself), these rumors -- and general Applexuberance -- will send the stock even higher than its close of $138.48 August 31.

In early July, a JPMorgan analyst announced that the iPhone Nano would soon be released at a price point of $300; his employer later debunked his claim (although the buzz on the street seems to be that we all know it will happen eventually).

[via MacNN]

Last week, PortalPlayer released news that it would not be supplying its digital chips for the next version of the iPod Nano. The report implied that Apple would be redesigning the guts of the tiny but wildly popular music device and spurred interest in potential details.

Now, the first reports are surfacing which provide some details on when the new Nano will be released and what design features it might possess. AppleInsider is reporting that a release date may be scheduled for September in time for the Christmas buying splurge.

The report also suggests that the new Nano will have a "significant internal redesign" which leaves those of us who obsessively follow new Apple products to speculate on which companies might be tapped to supply the replacement chips.