The end of Oregon Trail may not be the trapping and logging region that it once was, but the Beaver State still has a thriving agriculture sector, including such products as potatoes, apples, hops, and hazelnuts (more than 90% of domestic production of hazelnuts). But the Pacific Northwest is known today as a high-tech region, with growth through both domestic relocation and foreign immigration. The lack of a sales tax in Oregon probably doesn't hurt when it comes to attracting investment and labor.

When the Motley Fool investigated investment opportunities in Oregon earlier this year, first on their list was, of course, Oregon's largest public company, Beaverton-based Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE), the world's largest shoemaker. We pretty regularly cover Nike here at BloggingStocks. The Motley Fool also took a look at Precision Castparts Corp. (NYSE: PCP), StanCorp Financial Group Inc. (NYSE: SFG), FLIR Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: FLIR), and Columbia Sportswear Co. (NASDAQ: COLM).

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Amgen, Inc (AMGN), Secure Computing Corp (SCUR), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Level 3 Communications (LVLT) were some of today's more notable downgrades:

• UBS downgraded shares of Amgen Inc (NASDAQ: AMGN) to Reduce from Neutral as the firm believes most Medicare carriers will drop reimbursement for Aranesp in certain types of anemia due to safety concerns.

• Goldman Sachs cut Secure Computing Corp (NASDAQ: SCUR) to Sell from Neutral, citing valuation.

• Thomas Weisel believes Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) will have a difficult time regaining lost channel share from Intel (INTC) without additional price cuts, downgrading shares to Market Weight to Overweight.

• Buckingham cut Level 3 Communications (NASDAQ: LVLT) to Accumulate from Strong Buy on valuation.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Deutsche Bank downgraded shares of Edison International (NYSE: EIX) to Hold from Buy.

• Wachovia downgraded shares of Countrywide Financial Corp (NYSE: CFC) to Underperform from Market Perform on concerns that subprime weakness has spread to other sectors of the residential mortgage market.

• Ferris Baker Watts downgraded shares of Comstock Homebuilding (NASDAQ: CHCI) to Hold from Buy to reflect the uncertainty regarding the company's lender relationships and homebuilding market outlook.

• Citigroup downgraded shares of StanCorp Financial Group (NYSE: SFG) to Hold from Buy on valuation and recommends swapping money into Assurant, Inc (AIZ).

• JP Morgan cut AngloGold Ashanti Ltd (NYSE: AU) to Underweight from Neutral.

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