Stocks were again higher throughout most of the trading day, yet the final closing bell "red or black" levels were not certain until literally the last few minutes of the day. Fed Treasury buying and anticipation of a Ben Bernanke speech kept the lid on Treasury yields as well. Chips remained weak today and some airline scares did not exactly serve as a great catalyst to drive all transports. What is often "Merger Monday" felt more like "Mixed Monday" today.

Here were the unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow Jones: 12,400.03 +23.31 (0.19%)

S&P500: 1,332.87 +0.46 (0.03%)

Nasdaq: 2,789.19 -0.41 (-0.01%)

Top Analyst Upgrades/Downgrades

La-Z-Boy (LZB) March put option implied volatility is at 67, July is at 58, according to Track Data, compared to its 26-week average of 64 into its release of Q3 results Tuesday after the bell, suggesting non-directional price movement.

Semiconductor Holders Trust (SMH) overall volatility at 21; 26-week average is 24.

Russell 2000 (IWM) overall implied volatility at 21; 26-week average is 26.

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

CBOE Volatility Index-VIX closes up 58 cents to $18.10. The 10-day moving average is $16.88; the 100-day moving average is $20.98.

SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) overall implied volatility at 20; 26-week average is 20.

NASDAQ 100 (QQQQ) overall implied volatility at 19; 26-week average is 22.

Semiconductor Holders Trust (SMH) overall volatility at 24; 26-week average is 26.

Russell 2000 (IWM) overall implied volatility at 24; 26-week average is 27.

Financial Select Sector (XLF) overall volatility at 26; 26-week average is 28.

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

SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) overall implied volatility at 20; 26-week average is 20.

NASDAQ 100 (QQQQ) overall implied volatility at 19; 26-week average is 22.

Semiconductor Holders Trust (SMH) overall volatility at 23; 26-week average is 26.

Russell 2000 (IWM) overall implied volatility at 24; 26-week average is 27.

CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) is at 22.20; 10-day moving average is 23.27, 50-day moving average is 28.18, 200-day is 22.20.

SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) overall implied volatility is at 19; 26-week average is 23.

NASDAQ 100 (QQQQ) overall implied volatility is at 22; 26-week average is 26.

CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) -- the so called fear index -- jumped nearly 29% to close at 45.79, the highest level since April 2009. 10-day moving average is 32.70, 50-day is 21.11, 200-day moving average is 22.52.

SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) overall implied volatility at 24; 26-week average is 23.

NASDAQ 100 (QQQQ) overall implied volatility at 30; 26-week average is 24.

Semiconductor Holders Trust (SMH) overall volatility at 44; 26-week average is 27.

Yahoo! (YHOO) closed at $15.17. Carl Icahn lowered his stake in YHOO to 11.99 million shares from 62.9 million. YHOO overall option implied volatility of 32 is below its 26-week average of 36, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

ISE Sentiment Index - ISEE closed at 91 on 2/12/10. ISEE 10-day moving average is 107.

NASDAQ 100 - QQQQ overall implied volatility at 24; 26-week average is 25.

CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) at 21.68; 10-day moving average is 20.49.

SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) overall implied volatility at 24; 26-week average is 24.

NASDAQ 100 (QQQQ) overall implied volatility at 22; 26-week average is 26.

Semiconductor Holders Trust (SMH) overall volatility at 27; 26-week average is 30.

UnitedHealth (UNH) closed at $29.08 Friday, near one-year high. UnitedHealth is hosting an investor meeting on December 2. December option implied volatility is at 40; January is at 42; below its 26-week average of 48 according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

Semiconductor Holders Trust - SMH overall volatility at 29; 26-week average is 33.

Russell 2000 - IWM overall implied volatility at 27; 26-week average is 33.

Financial Select Sector - XLF overall volatility at 34; 26-week average is 40.

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

NASDAQ 100 (NASDAQ - QQQQ)verall implied volatility at 26; 26-week average is 32

Semiconductor Holders Trust - SMH overall volatility at 30; 26-week average is 38

Russell 2000 - IWM overall implied volatility at 27; 26-week average is 39

Financial Select Sector - XLF overall volatility at 37; 26-week average is 58

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

Chevron (NYSE: CVX) closed at $58.28. CVX is hosting an analyst meeting this morning. Crude oil futures are recently up 1.15% to $47.61 according to Bloomberg. CVX April option implied volatility of 55 is near its 26-week average according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price movement.

Financial Select Sector (NYSE: XLF) overall volatility at 95; 26-week average is 64.

Semiconductor Holders Trust (NYSE: SMH) overall volatility at 56; 26-week average is 47.

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

Last week, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) announced that worldwide semiconductor sales dropped to $17.4 billion from $22.3 billion in December, a drop of 22%. Compared to November, December's sales were 16.6% lower. For comparison, November 2007 chip sales fell only 10%.

SIA President George Scalise noted that weakened demand for automotive products, personal computers, cell phones, and corporate information technology products. However, Scalise said the largest revenue declines were "in the memory sector where price pressure more than offset significant growth in total bit shipments."

While you may be thinking the stock market's fallen off a cliff, it's really only a couple of percentage points off its highs. There could be a lot more downside, and while the Dow has some support at 12,000, what if that doesn't hold? That's when the real pain begins and what you should be prepared for. You're really going to have to avoid most of the hotly debated names because they've proven themselves unworthy of your hard-earned cash.

When I warned you that the trouble in the financial and housing sectors would pressure the stock market, I underestimated how quickly the pain would begin. Then, I threw out 10 names I was considering buying if they showed signs of either bottoming or some good old-fashioned panic -- neither has happened yet, so I'm still watching and waiting.

In particular, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) really disappoint me. I haven't been an Apple fan ever since its stock became too pricey, but the muted reaction to Macworld really proves my point that expectations were too high. And Intel -- well, thanks to its pathetic excuse for a quarter, it's forced the Semiconductor HOLDRs (AMEX: SMH) to take out some hugely important multi-year support, which tells me to avoid all the semiconductor stocks. Just say no to potential buys like NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA), Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM), Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) and Altera (NASDAQ: ALTR).

Up until the stock market bubble burst, many viewed the semiconductor sector as a leading indicator for other technology shares. Lately, however, the relationship has gone signficantly awry.

Since the year began, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index -- which has an equivalent exchange-traded fund, the Semiconductor HOLDRs Trust ETF (AMEX: SMH) -- has lost 3.4%, trailing far behind the 25.5% rise in the Nasdaq 100 index -- which has an equivalent exchange-traded fund, the Powershares QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ: QQQQ) -- as well as the 8.6% gain in the S&P 500 index.

Although many technology stocks have been boosted by the prospect of strong overseas growth and momentum-driven buying, semiconductor shares have been under a great deal of pressure, hurt by disappointing earnings and outlooks from companies like KLA-Tencor (NASDAQ: KLAC) and SanDisk (NASDAQ: SNDK), along with persistent talk of a chip glut.

Volatility Index S&P 500 Options - VIX up 3.61 to 21.67 10-day moving average is 16.98 according to Track Data.

Volatility Index NASDAQ 100 - VXN up 2.25 to 21.16; 10-day moving average is 17.80 according to Track Data.

NASDAQ 100 - QQQQ overall option Implied Volatility at 21: 26-week average is 19.

Semiconductor Holders Trust - SMH option implied Volatility 25; 26-week average is 22.

IShares Russell 2000 - IWM option implied volatility at 28, 26-week average is 19.

ISE Sentiment Index - ISEE 91 new Calls purchased for every new Put today. ISEE 10-day moving average is 150. ISEE 50-day moving average is 139.

August front month Equity Options expire; 8/17/07.

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