Two of the three major indexes opened higher on a solid earnings report from General Electric Company (GE), although a quarterly loss from Bank of America Corporation (BAC) and weak earnings from Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) kept a lid on the rise. Oil prices have continued to decline today, trading below $89.50. Gold prices, too, have posted a second-day of falling prices, though today's drop is modest compared with yesterday's dive. In the currency markets, the euro has gained against the dollar for a second day in a row.

Here are the unofficial closing bell numbers for today:

Dow Jones: 11,871.84 +49.04 (0.41%)
S&P 500: 1,283.35 +3.09 (0.24%)
Nasdaq: 2,689.54 -14.75 (-0.55%)

Analyst Upgrades

• Red Hat (RHT) and American Public (APEI) to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital.
• KBR (KBR) and Foster Wheeler (FWLT) to buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Bio-Rad (BIO) to outperform from market perform at Leerink.
• Oceaneering (OII) to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.
• ASM International (ASMI) and Avid Technology (AVID) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Dominion Resources (D) to equal weight from underweight at Morgan Stanley.
• Nationwide Health Properties (NHP) to buy from hold at Jefferies.
• Vivus (VVUS) to buy from underperform at BofA/Merrill.
• Intersil (ISIL) to buy from hold at Canaccord.

Stocks opened lower this morning before getting a boost from the report that US GDP growth in the third quarter tallied an expected 2%. Then a report on consumer confidence sent the market sharply lower before it rebounded again to positive territory before heading slightly lower again.

On this final trading day of October -- and the 81st anniversary of the crash of 1929 -- stocks are poised to maintain their gains for the month. The DJIA is up about 3% in the month, while the S&P 500 is up 3.7%. The dollar weakened slightly today, down 0.1% against a basket of six other currencies. All eyes are now focused on next Tuesday's elections and Wednesday's meeting of the Fed's open market committee.

Analyst Upgrades

• JPMorgan upgraded Vivus (VVUS) to overweight from neutral.
• Citigroup upgraded Corn Products (CPO) to buy from hold.
• Maxim Integrated (MXIM) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at FBR Capital.
• Cardinal Health (CAH) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.
• Citigroup upgraded Monster Worldwide (MWW) and EchoStar (SATS) to buy from hold, as well as Las Vegas Sands (LVS) to buy from sell.
• BMO Capital upgraded Potash (POT) and Barrick Gold (ABX) to outperform from market perform.

Arena Pharmaceuticals (ARNA), which soared over 10% in Monday morning trading, has set a new 52-week high of $6.75. Over the past month, Arena signed a licensing deal for its potential weight-loss drug, lorcaserin, with Japan's Eisai; released study results for the drug; and got a boost from a decision by a Food and Drug Administration panel on rival's Vivus (VVUS) drug. Arena's shares have more than doubled during that time.

The Eisai licensing deal is potentially worth about $1.3 billion. Meanwhile, the study results Arena released showed lorcaserin helped nearly half the patients lose 5% of their weight and improved their chances of keeping it off. Arena's drug did that while exhibiting a safer safety profile than either of its competitors' treatments: Vivus's Qnexa and Orexigen's (OREX) Contrave.

Despite another negative housing market reading and despite a Moody's downgrade of Ireland, U.S. stocks managed to hold on to the gains after a poor 261 point loss on Friday. Today's gains were a welcome sign considering that the huge drop on Friday could have set a reversal of fortune after so many days of gains.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 10,154.43 +56.53 (0.56%)
S&P 500 1,071.25 +6.37 (0.60%)
Nasdaq 2,198.23 +19.18 (0.88%)

Top Stock Analyst Calls

Today we saw action fueled by earnings from banks and weakening consumer sentiment, but this also comes after a barely-down day and after an 800 point run in the last two weeks on the DJIA. Banks were soft on regulatory fears as well outlining hurdles ahead.

Here were today's closing bell levels:

Dow 10,097.90 -261.41 (-2.52%)
S&P 500 1,064.88 -31.60 (-2.88%)
Nasdaq 2,179.05 -70.03 (-3.11%)

Next Week's DJIA earnings
Top Analyst Upgrades/Downgrades

Pharmaceutical company Vivus (VVUS) has lost more than half of its value in pre-market trading Friday. Unfortunately for VVUS, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rejected the company's Qnexa weight-loss drug late Thursday -- citing a lack of long-term safety data.

The news triggered a glut of downgrades and target price cuts, including downgrades from Brean Murray, Needham, JP Morgan, and Jefferies.

The drop for VVUS is understandable when considering that Qnexa is the company's main drug. There is a slight (ever-so-slight) glimmer of hope for VVUS, as the FDA is not obliged to follow the recommendations of its panels. Of course, the agency usually does follow the recommendations of its panels.

Freeport McMoRan (FCX) closed at $61.48. Copper is recently up 1.64% to 282.50 according to Bloomberg. June put option implied volatility of 65, July is at 62, August is at 61, November is at 57, versus its six-month average of 47, according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price movement.

Vivus (VVUS) closed at $11.88. A U.S. FDA advisory committee is tentatively set to review the company's new drug application for experimental Qnexa obesity treatment on July 15. VVUS June put option implied volatility is at 73, September is at 180, December is at 151, versus its 26-week average of 100, according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

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

US Airways (LCC) closed at $8.35. WTI crude futures are recently down 0.42% to $71.14, according to Bloomberg. LCC overall option implied volatility of 82 is below its 26-week average of 78, according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

Stocks with implied volatility above 30-day mean: Vivus (VVUS), Rambus (RMBS), Moody's (MCO) according to IVolatility.

SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) overall implied volatility at 24; 26-week average is 23. Gold above $1,248.50.

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

Vivus Inc. (VVUS) announced Wednesday morning that it's terminating an agreement with FemPharm to develop an experimental testosterone treatment for women. As a result, the rights for the product, Luramist, will be returned to FemPharm, and Vivus will refocus its efforts on two other drugs in the pipeline: Qnexa for obesity and avanafil for erectile dysfunction.

"The decision to terminate the agreement was made in view of the significant long-term safety requirements for the approval of testosterone products in women," explained company president Peter Tam. "We believe it is in our shareholders' best interests to pursue other therapeutic candidates."

VIVUS Inc. (VVUS) is on the upswing today, after the company reported positive results from a late-stage trial of its treatment for erectile dysfunction. Not only does avanifil result in a surprisingly high "magnitude of success in the first 15 minutes," but the treatment was also well-tolerated. The company noted that "there were no drug-related serious adverse events in the study," and added that there were low rates of common side effects, including headache and flushing.

VIVUS is entering a crowded market with its erectile dysfunction drug, with heavyweights such as Viagra and Cialis boasting substantial market share. However, "Knowing that avanafil can be effective within 15 minutes should create an attractive position in the PDE5 market," asserted Charles Bowden, M.D., who serves as senior director of clinical development.

Today was one of those days where many traders looked like and acted like they wanted to just lock in gains after what was the first full week for many traders in about three weeks. Yet shares stayed strong. Options expiration dates and a S&P rebalance brought in some added volatility and money managers are now scared to tell their clients that they are not all-in on stocks. So while markets were up most of the day, the real closing bell with all of today's events was something that felt as though it would be down to the wire.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 9,819.52 +35.60 (0.36%)
S&P 500 1,068.26 +2.77 (0.26%)
Nasdaq 2,132.86 +6.11 (0.29%)

Top Analyst Upgrades
Top Analyst Downgrades
Top Day Trader Stocks

Today was indicative of another mixed day for equities, and other markets were mixed as well. We saw a sharp rise in bond yields due to a more hawkish fear from Wall Street about the FOMC rather than the wider than expected trade deficit reported this month. Oils closed down again on increased production today, although we still sit north of $130/barrel. Here are the unofficial closes of major US index levels:

• DJIA 12286.18 (+5.86)
• S&P500 1358.10 (-3.66)
• NASDAQ 2448.94 (-10.52)
• 10YR T-NOTE 4.099% (+0.107%)
• Top 10 Analyst Calls

There were also many biotech stocks today (ACHN, CRXL, MNKD, SQNM, CYTR, CYTX, INGN, ATHX, MITI, GTOP) which saw mystery moves to the downside on either not big news or as a follow-on trading move after news from the last few days.

American Superconductor Corp. (NASDAQ: AMSC) saw a sharp rise and shares were up almost 20% to $43.25 in the final minutes of trading today. The company secured a follow-on order today from China worth more than two-year's worth of revenues for the company.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: CKE Restaurants (CKR), Cardinal Health (CAH), eBay (EBAY) and CA Inc (CA) topped today's noteworthy initiation list today:

• Nollenberger believes the Hardee's franchise is entering a period of accelerated growth and initiated shares of CKE Restaurants (NYSE: CKR) with a Buy rating and $27 target.

• Goldman views Cardinal Health (NYSE: CAH) as a as a high quality, focused franchise with strong fundamental outlook driven by margin expansion and improvements in non-drug wholesale businesses and restructuring efforts, reinstating its Buy rating on the company.

• American Technology initiated eBAY Inc (NASDAQ: EBAY) with a Buy rating and $43 target, believing the company is the top play on growth of U.S. e-commerce and they expect upside to numbers tonight.

• Needham believes CA Inc (NYSE: CA) Inc remains in transition as it continues to work on the repackaging of its vast product array into five solution sets and started the company with a Hold rating.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Lazard initiated F5 Networks Inc (NASDAQ: FFIV) with a Buy rating and $100 target.

• Citigroup started Clearwire Corp (NASDAQ: CLWR) with a Hold rating and $23 target.

• Morgan Stanley assumed coverage of Vornado RealtyTrust (NYSE: VNO) with an Equal Weight rating.

• SourceFire Inc (NASDAQ: FIRE) was initiated with a Hold rating and $12 target.

• The Wet Seal (NASDAQ: WTSLA) was initiated with an Outperform rating at Cowen.

• Roth Capital initiated shares of Vivus Inc (NASDAQ: VVUS) with a Buy rating and $15 target.

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