Tesla Motors (TSLA) has rallied 16%, following an upgrade to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley. April 29 and 30 calls are active. April call option implied volatility is at 61, June is at 63; above its 26-week average of 52 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) April 50 calls are active on 4,800 contracts with option implied volatility at 37; its 26-week average of 31 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement into Q4 results expected to be released on April 6.

Update is by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

Investors are always searching the landscape for new and upcoming companies. This year and last the tech sector has had the greatest stars. One small tech company on the move is Nvidia (NVDA). The company specializes in visual computing technologies.

Why give this company a second look? Apple's (AAPL) iPhone and iPad have changed the way we view the Internet. Now the iPhone and iTablet are using an increasingly large amount of graphic design. Nvidia is on the cutting edge of this new technology.

Heavy snow and blizzard conditions in the northeast made it difficult, if not impossible, for many workers to get to work on the first day following the Christmas holidays. New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport is closed until at least 6 p.m. today, and train service has been disrupted throughout the northeastern corridor.

The storm also put a damper on shoppers who would normally head out today to hunt for bargains, cash in gift cards, or return gifts. Airlines also took a hit, as they have allowed passengers to delay travel for several days without the usual change fees. Coupled with the 25-basis point hike in China's lending and borrowing rates, the stock market opened on a weak note, with the DJIA down about 46 points before gaining half of that back by noon.

Here are the numbers for late afternoon trading today:

Dow Jones 11,555.03 -18.46 (-0.16%)
S&P 500 1,257.54 +0.77 (0.06%)
Nasdaq 2,667.27 +0.69 (0.03%)

As the economy continues to sputter, President Obama is trying to find new ways to get things back on track. While still in the early stages, it looks like his plan will include key tax breaks, which could amount to as much as $200 billion over the next couple years.

First, the plan will allow companies to write off 100% of new investment in capital and factories. Of course, all companies can deduct such purchases -- through depreciation. But it can take as much as 30 years. But the new plan would greatly accelerate the process to one year.

Analyst Upgrades

• Canaccord upgraded Whole Foods (WFMI) to buy from hold based on the company's solid growth outlook. The firm has a $49 target on the stock.
• Bernstein upgraded Mylan (MYL) to outperform from market perform, citing valuation and expectations that its generic business will grow over then next two years. The firm has a $22 target on the stock.
• Jefferies upgraded Omega Healthcare (OHI) to buy from hold with a $26 target based on the company's earnings outlook, valuation and upside from its SNF portfolio.
• Procter & Gamble (PG) was upgraded to buy from hold at Argus.
• Ryland Group (RYL) was upgraded to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• Deere (DE) was upgraded to buy from neutral at Longbow.

The widely anticipated IPO for Tesla Motors is finally here. Based in Silicon Valley, the company designs and manufactures high-performance, fully electric cars. The investors include the co-founders of Google (GOOG), Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and the founder is Elon Musk, who helped create PayPal.

The company's first car, which came on the market in 2008, is the Tesla Roadster. It can go from zero to 60 MHP in 3.9 seconds -- without any tailpipe emissions. On a single charge, the car can also go 236 miles. However, the price tag comes to a hefty $109,000.

Here's a stunning accomplishment. The Tesla Roadster set a record by traveling 313 miles on one electric charge. The new record was set at the 2009 Global Green Challenge in Australia.

The competition was over an 1,800 mile course. The Tesla Roadster reportedly had three miles worth of charge to spare. This was well above the average 244 miles per charge it mentions in its specs.

The winning driver was Simon Hackett, managing director of Australian national broadcasting company. He owns the only Tesla Roadster in Australia and now holds the world's record, having beaten the previous record of 241 miles set in April at Rallye Monte Carlo of Energies Alternatives.

Venture capital investment in clean technology grew 10% from the second quarter to the third this year. According to a report by the Cleantech Group and Deloitte, 134 companies received investments of $1.59 billion – up from $1.2 billion in the second quarter. The sector's upward trajectory continues, with last quarter marking the second in a row of double-digit growth. In the first quarter of 2009, venture capital investment in cleantech companies hit a low of $1 billion.

The strong third quarter has made the cleantech sector the largest in the venture capital business, according to the Cleantech Group, pulling ahead of biotech. Twenty-seven percent of venture capital funds invested in the second quarter of 2009 went to cleantech companies – up from 3% at the beginning of 2004.

He discovered global warming; he created the Internet; and his wife shielded my young ears from curse words when I was growing up. Now Al Gore has decided it is time to single-handedly rescue the automotive world. Okay, not really, but Al Gore is a major backer of California-based Fisker Automotive, which has just secured a $529 million government loan to build a hybrid sports car in Finland.

Couple of problems here, but let's start with the idea of the car. I am so glad that Fisker is going to help the earth. I mean, who doesn't want to conserve fuel and reduce air pollution while cruising around in their four-door sports car? I mean, who doesn't have an extra $89,000 lying around to spend on transportation? Seriously, it is now at the point that only celebrities can afford a hybrid car that doesn't look like it was built of Lego.

The Energy Department is set to lend money to Ford (NYSE: F), Tesla, and Nissan (NASDAQ: NSANY), according to the Associated Press. The report cites anonymous sources, with the official announcement set for today in Dearborn, Michigan.

Reportedly, Ford has asked to receive $5 billion in loans by 2011, although the sources were not certain on how much money the automaker would receive. Nissan's requested amount was undisclosed and Tesla has reportedly asked for $450 million. The loan program the automakers are trying to tap into was approved by Congress last year in order to help car companies and suppliers develop green vehicles and components (such as the advanced battery) and help automakers meet the new fuel-efficiency standards of 35 miles per gallon by 2020.

Ed Begley, Jr. will soon have more options should he be in need of a new electric car. Daimler AG has announced the acquisition of an equity stake of nearly 10% in Tesla Motors (not to be confused with these guys -- five man electrical band, indeed).

The German-based automaker is teaming up with the California company to work on making electric cars "a reality." Tesla is a visionary on the electric-car front; its Roadster, which runs on battery power, is the only electric vehicle approved for highway use in both Europe and North America. (Of course, it also comes with a price tag of $101,500 -- you'd have to save a lot on gas to make up for not buying a Taurus).

Sister blog to Bloggingstocks, Autoblog, has posted that Digg.com's founder Kevin Rose uploaded pics of the Tesla Model S to Flickr and is featuring a gallery of the leaked photos.

The Model S is an electric car following up on the innovative Tesla Roadster, and bears a $57,400 price tag. More details about the car are expected shortly. The Model S is expected to be available for purchase in 2012, the Roadster can be purchased now.

Tesla Motors has certainly put out another shot across the bows of other car manufacturers.

Tesla Motors chairman Elon Musk said at a conference recently that he plans to take the electric car maker public by the end of 2008. Without having had an opportunity to look at the financials -- there hasn't yet been a registration statement or prospectus -- I would say that this is exactly the kind of IPO that investors should avoid.

I know, it's exciting and new. It's technology. It's stuff that could change an entire industry and quite possibly the world. As Musk said, "Thirty years from now the majority of new cars will be pure electric, not hybrid."

Exactly. Just like Sirius Satellite Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI) and XM Satellite Radio (NASDAQ: XMSR). And all those internet stocks. And the hundreds of exciting new car makers a hundred years ago that captured the fancy of investors before they ended in bankruptcy.

This post is part of our Hottest Products of 2007 feature. Also check out our other Hottest Products of 2007 posts and let us know which product you think is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Do you want one? I want one. But the Tesla Roadster all-electric sports car, rumored to be coming out early next year, is sold out already. I have seen it on television and in several automotive and business journals, and it is an eye-catching, true sports car. And an environmentally friendly sports car, if you believe its billing. They also say it will go from 0 to 60 in under four seconds!

Imagine that: fast, good-looking and energy-efficient (245-mile range on a single charge)! But if you can't get one, what good is it? Well, you can't get one right away, but if you're patient and can swing the $98,000 price tag, rumor has it by the end of 2008, you might get lucky.

The firm was started in the summer of 2003 by engineers Martin Eberhard (former CEO) and Marc Tarpenning in San Carlos; Elon Musk -- former PayPal president, and now chairman of Space X, who can afford just about anything -- is also now chairman of Tesla Motors.