MOST NOTEWORTHY: Steel Dynamics, Nucor, Nokia and Wachovia were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• UBS upgraded Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ: STLD) and Nucor (NYSE: NUE) to Buy from Neutral and added them to their Short-Term Buy list citing oversold valuations and the belief that both will beat Q2 Street estimates and guide higher.
• Dresdner Kleinwort upgraded shares of Nokia (NYSE: NOK) to Buy from Add as they believe the company's second half of the year looks strong due to new product launches.
  
• Merrill Lynch upgraded Wachovia (NYSE: WB) to Neutral from Underperform on valuation as they believe credit headwinds are priced into the stock at current levels. Merrill also thinks WB would make a "good fit" for JP Morgan (JPM) and puts a realistic acquisition value on the company of $16-$20 per share.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) was upgraded at Baird to Outperform from Neutral.
  
• Lehman upgraded Penn Virginia (NYSE: PVG) to Overweight from Equal Weight.
  
• Piper raised SGX Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: SGXP) to Neutral from Sell.

SGX Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:SGXP) is up more than 100% on a buyout from Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY).

Wachovia (NYSE:WB) is up about 4% on a brokerage upgrade.

Arris (NASDAQ:ARRS) is down over 15% after cutting its outlook.

Digital River (NASDAQ:DRIV) is off 4% on a brokerage downgrade.

Stocks may trade differently in the pre-market than they do in the regular session.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.