MOST NOTEWORTHY: Sovereign Bancorp (SOV) and the Homebuilders sector topped the upgrade list today.

• Citigroup upgraded Sovereign Bank Inc. (NYSE:SOV) to Hold from Sell with a $25 target, citing expectations for management to announce a larger cost-cutting program in January of 2007.
• Bank of America upgraded the Homebuilders sector to Neutral from Cautious after their survey showed traffic improvements in 33 of 39 markets in November relative to October; They do not expect a smooth trend, instead, the firm expects to see choppiness in the market for the next 12-24 months.
  • In conjunction with the sector upgrade, Bank of America upgraded Standard Pacific (NYSE:SPF) to Buy from Neutral,
  • and Meritage Homes Corp. (NYSE:MTH), NVR Inc. (NYSE:NVR), Pulte Homes Inc. (NYSE:PHM), The Ryland Group Inc. (NYSE:RYL) and Toll Bros. Inc. (NYSE:TOL) to Neutral from Sell.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE:SNY) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at HSBC.
• SAP AG (NYSE:SAP) was added to Merrill Lynch's Europe 1 list.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).