BP's (BP) headache continues over its planned share swap with Russian-owned Rosneft. According to a report from Sky News, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) announced its concerns over the impact of the swap. ABI reportedly controls 10% to 15% of the U.K. stock market.

ABI's reservations also include a Swedish court's decision to block BP's planned venture with Rosneft in the Arctic. Perhaps most concerning of all -- and not just to ABI -- is Wednesday's report announcing that U.S. prosecutors are considering manslaughter charges against BP for its Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Eleven oil workers were killed as a result of the spill.

Things look to be pretty quiet on the economic calendar this week. Here are the highlights:

• Tuesday: Weekly chain-store sales
• Wednesday: Federal budget balance for January
• Thursday: Wholesale trade data in December
• Friday: Trade balance in December and the weekly inflation survey

However, three iconic companies -- Walt Disney (DIS), Coca-Cola (KO) and Hasbro (HAS) -- highlight this week's quarterly results. Here's a look at what analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are anticipating from these and others.

Analyst Calls

• Medtronic (MDT) to buy from neutral and 1-800-Flowers.com (FLWS) to neutral from sell at Goldman.
• CarMax (KMX) to outperform from perform at Oppenheimer.
• Points International (PTSEF) to buy from neutral at Merriman.
• Nokia (NOK) to market perform from underperform at Morgan Keegan.
• Amdocs (DOX) to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
• Western Alliance (WAL) to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital.
• Carbo Ceramics (CRR) to outperform from market perform at BMO Capital.
• Rackspace (RAX) to buy from hold at Benchmark Co.
• Brinker (EAT) to equal weight from underweight at Morgan Stanley.

Analyst Upgrades

• Soleil upgraded Hologic (HOLX) to buy from hold on expectations the company's next-generation breast tomosynthesis instrument is likely to receive FDA approval. The firm raised its target price for shares to $20 from $16.
• ING Group upgraded Total (TOT) to buy from hold.
• BofA/Merrill raised Medicis (MRX) to neutral from underperform.
• CPFL Energia (CPL) was upgraded to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.

Analyst Upgrades

• Auriga upgraded Leap Wireless (LEAP) to buy from hold following the company's Q2 results and analyst day, citing valuation, longer-term potential for consolidation and prospects for business improvements. Despite upgrading, the firm lowered its target for shares to $16 from $19.
• Goldman upgraded Barnes & Noble (BKS) to neutral from sell following the company's announcement to explore strategic alternatives. The firm raised its price target to $15 from $12.
• RBC Capital upgraded ESCO Technologies (ESE) to sector perform from underperform following the better-than-expected Q3 report. The firm raised its price target to $30 from $28.
• MetLife (MET) was upgraded to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• Priceline.com (PCLN) was upgraded to buy from hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
• HSBC (HBC) was upgraded to outperform from underperform at CLSA.

Until recently, my largest positions were in financial stocks Citigroup (C), Wells Fargo (WFC) and Bank of America (BAC). As a contrarian investor, I do buy on fear and sell on greed as "my pal Warren" has advised for many years. This has worked out to be very profitable over the past 18 months. However, in the past 30 days the financial stocks have dropped to second place in favor of oil and gas stocks.

I think the economic recovery is moving at a snail's pace, lowering anticipated demand for oil while gas was already depressed based on the same factors and the addition of numerous new large supplies. Add to this the mess in the Gulf of Mexico and the public's already negative sentiment about oil companies and you have the makings of depressed pricing in the sector.

"I'm split on the energy sector. On the one hand, I have no doubt that the price of oil has been held artificially high by paper trading rather than demand," says Jack Adamo.

The editor of Insiders Plus continues, "On the other hand, the oil spill in the Gulf Of Mexico has knocked stock prices for a loop; there are a number of stocks that have fallen 30% to 50%, primarily due to that factor.

"Two idea that we have decided to add to the income section of our model portfolio re Diamond Offshore Drilling (DO) and France-based Total SA (TOT).

Analyst Upgrades

• Auriga upgraded Intel (INTC) to buy from hold to reflect the stock's relative valuation after channel checks indicated PC shipment plans continue to be solid. The firm raised its target price on shares to $24 from $20.
• Deutsche Bank upgraded RenaissanceRE (RNR) to buy from hold on valuation and believes stock buybacks and reserve releases will drive the company's growth. The firm raised its target price on shares to $65 from $59.
• UBS upgraded Philip Morris (PM) to buy from neutral based on increased confidence in its earnings outlook and relative valuation. The firm raised its target to $54 from $49.
• Chevron (CVX) was raised to outperform from market perform at Bernstein.
• Barnes & Noble (BKS) was upgraded to sell from conviction sell at Goldman Sachs.
• Deutsche Bank (DB) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.

Unconventional energy -- which comes from hard-to-get sources like shale -- is red hot. The biggest sign of this is Exxon's (XOM) recent deal to pay $30 billion for XTO (XTO).

As a result, the expectation is that there will be many more deals in the sector. This week Total SA (TOT), which is one of the largest oil companies in the world, agreed to form a joint venture for natural gas with Chesapeake Energy (CHK). The deal may involve as much as $2.25 billion.

Analyst Upgrades

• Baird upgraded Visa (V) to outperform from neutral and raised its target to $100 from $88, citing valuation and an improvement in key trends that include transactions, volume and international travel.
• FBR Capital upgraded Illinois Tool Works (ITW) to outperform from market perform to reflect valuation and expectations for earnings upside in the first half of 2010. The firm raised its target on shares to $58 from $55.
• Goldman added Brookdale Senior Living (BKD) to its conviction buy list based on a bottom in fundamentals and positive senior housing trends. The firm raised its target to $22 from $20.
• Exxon Mobil (XOM) was upgraded to buy from hold at Societe Generale.
• Newfield Exploration (NFX) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
• PPD (PPDI) was upgraded to buy from hold at Jefferies.

Under the radar: Some trends are obvious enough and visible to all investors. Others are more-subtle, but are just as potent, and these often slip 'under the radar.'

Case in point: the decline in gasoline consumption. As many U.S. motorists will no doubt attest, it was a perplexing driving season concerning gasoline prices.

The driving season - Memorial Day in May thru Labor Day in September - occurred during a U.S. recession that's seen about SEVEN million Americans lose their jobs, and amid a sustained pull-back in consumer spending (including gasoline consumption).

Who said big oil was a dying business? Fortune has released its Global 500, their "annual ranking of the world's largest corporations," and topping the charts is Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS.A), which, much like a Mariah Carey song, bumped up into the coveted number-one slot after some time at number three. The Netherlands-based oil company trumped its U.S. rival, Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) by $15 billion in sales and saw its revenue spike nearly 29% from 2007.

Speaking of Exxon, the company once again had a tiger in its tank, ranking number two in the world as oil futures bounced around in a nearly $100-dollar range, hitting $146 per barrel at its heights.

I am the Global Editor at MoneyShow.com and each week I interview an investing expert. This week, I spoke with Cynthia Tusan, president of Strategic Global Advisors -- a woman-owned asset management firm -- who discusses her approach to global investing.

Q. Cynthia, your stated strategy is a fundamental, bottom-up approach, focusing on international companies. With that in mind, which are the three most important criteria that you use to determine whether a company's stock has the right stuff?

A. Our approach is both fundamental and quantitative, but we focus mainly on company-specific factors. Over the years we have consistently focused on four areas: valuation, growth, quality, and sentiment. For 2008, we were more active in looking at debt levels of companies and price momentum.

I am the Global Editor at MoneyShow.com and each week I interview an investing expert. This week, I spoke with Heiko Böhmer, editor of Privatfinanz-Letter, who says it's not yet time to return to the German stock markets.

Q. The German economy entered a recession in the third quarter of 2008. Recent projections estimate that it will shrink by 2.25% this year, its worst performance since World War II. With that in mind, which, if any, sectors do you see actually growing in 2009?

A. It's not easy to find growing sectors in this tough economic environment. But I think that utilities and basic goods will show some growth this year. On the other hand, it will be very tough for the most important German sectors-cars and car suppliers.

Earnings season was in full bloom this week, and BloggingStocks contributors often made their choices following a company's report. With the exception of very few, the conclusion was to stay away from most stocks, which says a lot about how companies did overall.

Still, there have been a select few that looked like good investment ideas even in these troubled times. So for those who can brave investing during such an earnings season, here are a few ideas from BloggingStocks contributors: