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.

I'm now going to take a brief look at two stocks that were affected by earnings releases earlier today. The two companies are a study in completely different business models: one sells video games, the other sells drugs. Then again, video games are a drug to some, so maybe they aren't so different?

First up: Electronic Arts (ERTS). EA wasn't exciting during the regular session. It closed up fractionally to $15.62; volume was strong, though. And after looking at the extended-hours reaction to the earnings report that was released following the ringing of the bell, it might be understandable why so many players were intent on getting in on the stock.

Barron's is forecasting a 10% rise in stock prices in 2011 led by big cap stocks. They argue that the big caps have lagged the market for the past decade and are now poised to take the lead, as reported by CNBC.com.

Here are their top ten picks for this year: Exxon Mobil (XOM), Walmart (WMT), Pfizer (PFE), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), General Motors (GM), Cisco Systems (CSCO), United Continental Holdings (UAL), Barrack Gold (ABX), Entergy (ETR), and PepsiCo (PEP).

Analyst Upgrades

• Research In Motion (RIMM) to buy from hold at Jefferies.
• Citigroup (C) to buy from hold at ISI Group.
• Integrated Silicon (ISSI) to buy from hold at Auriga.
• Kinross Gold (KGC) to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.

Pharmaceutical firm Pfizer (PFE) announced third-quarter earnings this morning, reporting that large charges pulled its profit 70% lower than a year ago. The pfunnily spelled pfarmaceutical pfirm reported that net income came in at $866 million, or 11 cents per share, down from $2.88 billion, or 43 cents per share, a year ago.

Taking one-time items out of the equation, Pfizer earned $4.37 billion, or 54 cents per share, topping the consensus estimate by three cents.

Analyst Upgrades

• Macquarie upgraded Intel (INTC) to outperform from neutral and Advanced Micro (AMD) to neutral from underperform.
• Pfizer (PFE) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at Bernstein.
• Capstead Mortgage (CMO) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at FBR Capital.
• Oppenheimer upgraded Halliburton (HAL) to outperform from perform.
• Gilead (GILD) was upgraded to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital.
• Skilled Healthcare (SKH) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at JMP Securities.
• Citigroup upgraded CapitalSource (CSE) to buy from hold.

Analyst Upgrades

• Citigroup upgraded Mosaic (MOS) to buy from hold and raised its price target to $78 from $64 citing improving ag fundamentals and the potential for BHP (BHP) to issue a higher bid for Potash (POT), which Citi feels would bode well for Mosaic.
• Cowen upgraded VMware (VMW) to outperform from neutral, citing recent share weakness and the company's significant growth opportunity.
• Citigroup upgraded CareFusion (CFN) with a $29 price target, citing valuation and the potential for margin expansion.
• Pfizer (PFE) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Cowen.
• Juniper (JNPR) was upgraded to outperform from perform at Oppenheimer.
• Stryker (SYK) was upgraded to buy from gradually accumulate at Soleil.

Muriel Siebert, often known as the First Woman of Finance, has long been an advocate for the individual investor. Now, two years after the collapse of Lehman, she says that there is still a great deal that needs to be done so that investors can make educated investments.

Siebert, also known by her nickname "Mickie," has a great deal of perspective on these matters. She is the former Superintendent of Banks in the State of New York, the first woman to buy a seat on the NYSE, one of the earliest creators of a discount brokerage firm, plus a former money manager.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY - option chain) shares are rising today after the release of a study which shows that an experimental blood-thinning drug co-produced by BMY and Pfizer (PFE) cut the rate of strokes among people with abnormal heartbeats by more than 50% versus aspirin. 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 BMY.

BMY opened this morning at $26.11. So far today the stock has hit a low of $26.00 and a high of $26.34. As of 12:25, BMY is trading at $26.20 up 0.35 (1.3%). The chart for BMY looks bullish and S&P gives BMY a positive 4 STARS (out of 5) buy ranking.

Pfizer Inc. (PFE) reported a blowout second quarter this morning prior to the opening bell. Net income attributable to the company increased to $2.475 billion compared to $2.261 billion in the year-ago quarter. On an adjusted basis, quarterly earnings were $4.959 billion, or $0.62 per share, versus $3.249 billion or $0.48 per share, in last year's corresponding quarter. This compared to Wall Street analysts' consensus EPS estimates of $0.52.

Revenues were up 58% to $17.327 billion which came in way ahead of analysts' estimates of $16.65 billion. The company also reaffirmed its 2010 EPS guidance of $2.10 to $2.20 and said it expects earnings to come in at the higher end of that range. Using these metrics, PFE looks ridiculously cheap (and has been for sometime). The stock has been a favorite of value investors such as David Einhorn because of its blue-chip brand, inexpensive valuation, fat dividend yield, and defensive business profile.

Citigroup (C) closed at $4.03. The U.S. Treasury Department said that it plans to sell additional 1.5B shares of C. Overall option implied volatility of 45 is below its 26-week average of 50, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

Pfizer (PFE) closed down 28 cents to $14.53. Pfizer is expected to report Q2 EPS on August 3. Call option volume of 157K contracts compares to put volume of 20K contracts. August and September put option implied volatility is at 28; December is at 31; verses its 26-week average of 28, according to Track Data, suggesting nondirectional price movement.

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

I'm looking at Novartis (NVS) late in the trading day. There's less than an hour to go before the market closes. The stock is up 0.4% to $50.97. Is it me, or is Wall Street telling us that it isn't too excited by the drug maker's latest earnings report? Which actually wasn't bad, as far as I can tell. Perhaps the market actually is excited, but the response is being muted by the overall tone of the session (volume is strong, I should mention).

The one-year chart for the equity probably wouldn't make you want to buy this one for a trade. It almost seems as if the chance to get in on a great pullback has come and gone, doesn't it? Well, let's have a peek at the fundamentals.

Stocks paying dividends are in favor on Wall Street right now as investors look to insulate themselves from the recent market volatility. But what happens when these stocks actually end up losing you cash instead of protecting your portfolio?

If you're losing a significant amount of money as the share prices of your high yield dividend stocks dive, then it may be time to pull the trigger and sell these dividend duds. After all there are a host of income friendly stocks out there, so why should you settle for one that offsets your quarterly dividends with regular losses in share price?

Analyst Upgrades

• Raymond James upgraded Research in Motion (RIMM) to outperform from market perform based on valuation. The firm has a $70 price target on the stock.
• Macquarie upgraded Halliburton (HAL) to outperform from neutral and has a $40 price target on the stock. The firm said recent pressure pumping activity is above their expectations and pricing has firmed.
• Canaccord upgraded Baldor Electric (BEZ) to buy from speculative buy, citing improving business trends and the upcoming mandatory transition to premium efficiency motors. The firm has a $47 price target on the stock.
• Wells Fargo upgraded Williams-Sonoma (WSM) to outperform from market perform.
• Medco Health (MHS) was upgraded to conviction buy from buy at Goldman.
• Repsol (REP) was upgraded to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.

"In the $780 billion global pharmaceutical industry, the world's largest drugmaker, Pfizer (PFE), stands out above its peers," Gene Marcial recently wrote on DailyFinance. "Why then does its stock look uninspired?" he asks.

His question is echoed today by Matthew Harper of Forbes: "Pfizer shares have dropped almost 25% from their peak in January. The steady decline continued even as Pfizer presented strong evidence for a lung cancer drug at a medical meeting this month."