MAJOR PAPERS:

• New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has filed a suit accusing Dell Inc (NASDAQ: DELL) and affiliate Dell Financial Services of deceiving consumers, including fraud, false advertising and deceptive business practices, to increase computer sales, reported the Wall Street Journal (subscription required).
• Alan Greenspan signed Allianz's (NYSE: AZ) Pacific Investment Management, known as Pimco, as his first economic consultant client, according to the Wall Street Journal.
• Barron's Online's (subscription required) "Inside Scoop" column reported that Blue Nile Inc (NASDAQ: NILE) CEO Mark Vadon sold 250,000 shares and CFO Diance Irvine sold 40,000 shares, with InsiderScore.com's Ben Silverman advising caution on Blue Nile due to the selling.
• The Financial Times (subscription required) reported that Citigroup Inc (NYSE: C) shares rose sharply in after-hours trading yesterday after Edward Lampert, the hedge fund manager who controls Sears Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ: SHLD), disclosed he had acquired an $800M stake in Citigroup.

WEBSITES:

• TechCrunch.com reported, citing two sources with knowledge of the deal, that News Corporation's (NYSE: NWS) MySpace will acquire Flektor for a price in the $10M-$20M range.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) reported that Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE: WMT) is helping to bring eBay Inc's (NASDAQ: EBAY) Skype "to the masses," by selling Skype Internet calling phone gear in the electronics section of its stores.
• The Wall Street Journal's "BreakingViews" section speculated that a merger between General Electric Company's (NYSE: GE) NBC and Yahoo Inc (NASDAQ: YHOO) would "make industrial sense."
• The Financial Times (subscription required) reported that the Bancroft family, which control a majority of the voting shares of Dow Jones and Company Inc (NYSE: DJ), is split over the idea of meeting with News Corporation (NYSE: NWS) Chairman Rupert Murdoch to discuss his $5B offer for Dow Jones.
• The Financial Times reported that Internet jewelry retailer Blue Nile Inc (NASDAQ: NILE) is launching operations in Europe.

OTHER PAPERS:

• According to the Sunday Telegraph, Rio Tinto (NYSE: RTP) has hired Morgan Stanley to help defend itself in the event of an unsolicited takeover approach.
• The Sunday Telegraph reported that Clear Channel Communications Inc (NYSE: CCU) is expected to put its international poster business up for sale for as much as $3.2B.
• The Telegraph reported that rival groups are looking to stop Alcoa Inc's (NYSE: AA) hostile bid for Canadian aluminum producer Alcan Inc (NYSE: AL).
• The Economic Times reported that Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE: RL) is in talks with "leading Indian business houses including the Tatas," according to sources.
  

WEBSITES:

• DigiTimes.com reported that the ATI Radeon HD that was just introduced by Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NYSE: AMD) has fallen short of expectations in terms of price, performance and energy efficiency.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Dow Chemical (DOW), Smart Modular (SMOD), Wolverine World Wide (WWW), Win-Dixie Stores (WINN) and Blue Nile (BLUE) were today's noteworthy initiations:

• UBS is positive on the ethylene cycle over the next two years and believes Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW) can beat 2008 consensus estimates, initiating shares with a Buy rating.

• JMP Securities started Smart Modular (NASDAQ: SMOD) with a Strong Buy as a unit volume growth theme without much dependence on commodity memory chip pricing.

• Citigroup expects further upside given Wolverine World Wide's (NYSE: WWW) strong portfolio of brands, further growth opportunities through line extensions and international growth. The firm started Wolverine World Wide with a Buy rating and $33 target.

• Winn-Dixie Stores (NASDAQ: WINN) was started with a Market Perform rating, citing low levels of profitability and unproven ability to drive sustainable profitable sales.

• American Technology believes the valuation of Blue Nile (NASDAQ: NILE) leaves little room for upside, despite a highly attractive business model and strong fundamentals, and started shares with a Sell rating and $45 target...

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Susquehanna started King Pharma (NYSE: KG), Sepracor (NASDAQ: SEPR) with Neutral ratings and Sciele Pharma (NASDAQ: SCRX) with a Positive rating.

• Citigroup initiated shares of Quicksilver Inc (NYSE: ZQK) with a Hold rating.

• Longbow started Mips Tech (NASDAQ: MIPS) with a Buy rating and $12 target.

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

Bidz.com, an online auction site for jewelry, filed for its IPO about a year ago.

Yet, the deal never got traction and the company withdrew its offering this week. Interestingly enough, the company said the reason is that it could not get some of its shareholders to agree to a lock-up.

To me, this is kind of strange. Lock-ups are normal in IPOs. Basically, they prevent shareholders from selling their stock for a period of time (usually six months after the offering).

And, even when a lock-up expires, there are usually continuing restrictions on selling stock (such as during black-out periods and so on).

OK, so if Bidz.com's shareholders are very interested in selling their stock, how does canceling the offering help things?

I really don't know.

But, given the intense competition that Bidz.com faces -- such as from eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY), uBid, Blue Nile (NASDAQ: NILE) and so on -- I have to suspect there are other reasons for canceling the offering.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

In the spirit of Valentine's Day, Beth Gaston Moon, an analyst from Schaeffer's Investment Research, reviews a trio of companies that are poised to benefit from the sentiments surrounding the annual lovers' holiday.

Here, she looks at Tiffany & Co. (NYSE:TIF), with its coveted blue boxes; online jewelery retailer, Blue Nile (NASDAQ:NILE); and Limited Brands (NYSE:LTD), with its Victoria's Secret line.

The analyst explains, "The traditional robin-egg blue color of Tiffany & Co. is instantly recognizable, particularly among those with especially generous mates. The luxury retailer has been pointed skyward since early August, tacking on more than 40% and hitting a new 52-week high above the support of its 10-week moving average."

As a contrarian, she adds, "On a sentiment front, TIF could be in the midst of a short-covering rally. Last month, the number of TIF shares sold short dropped 12% as frustrated bears moved toward the exits.

"Nearly 7% of the stock's float remains shorted, however, amounting to a short-interest ratio of about seven days to cover. A continued 'short squeeze' could supply TIF with additional buying momentum. The March 40 call looks like an appealing, though slightly aggressive, play at this juncture."

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI) and Cheesecake Factory (CAKE) were two notable companies on the downgrade list today:

• Bear Stearns downgraded Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI) to Underperform from Outperform following the company's lowered subscriber guidance, while Morgan Joseph downgraded Sirius to Hold from Buy;
• Merriman downgraded Cheesecake Factory Inc. (NASDAQ:CAKE) to Sell from Neutral, citing slowing unit growth rates and concerns that Grand Lux Cafe is not a true second concept for the company.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Blue Nile Inc. (NASDAQ:NILE) was downgraded to Strong Sell from Buy at Matrix USA, citing slowing sales and narrowing margins; they also see downside to its $26 intrinsic value.
• Wachovia downgraded Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE:SLB) to Market Perform from Outperform on valuation.
• AG Edwards downgraded American Express Co. (NYSE:AXP) to Hold from Buy, based on valuation and concerns of 2007 consumer spending.

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

MOST NOTEWORTHY: ConocoPhillips (COP) and Starbucks (SBUX) were two notable companies on the upgrade list today:

• Deutsche Bank upgraded ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) to Buy from Hold with an $80 target, citing expectations for a reduction in spending and a shift towards share buybacks; additionally,
• Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ:SBUX) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral with a $42 target at UBS, citing valuation.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Wachovia upgraded the Healthcare REIT Sector to Market Weight from Underweight, citing decreasing interest rate trends and more positive trends of individual stocks in the sector.
• RBC Capital Markets upgraded Blue Nile Inc. (NASDAQ:NILE) to Outperform from Sector Perform with a $40 target, citing benign trends on both diamond and keyword pricing, efficiencies in marketing, share buybacks and valuation.
• Goldman Sachs upgraded Vodaphone PLC (NYSE:VOD) to Buy from Neutral on valuation.

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

The deals and general craziness of Black Friday have already been well-covered in this space, so I thought it might be interesting to turn your attention to the actual stock reactions. My intentions were simple enough (but aren't they always?): grab a list of retail stocks and calculate the returns from the close on Wednesday, November 22, through this morning. Sorting the list would give a quick (but early) overview of how the Street was reacting to the "day."

I have ample data manipulation tools at my disposal, so I figured this to be an easy task. What I didn't count on was not being able to find what I considered to be a satisfactory list of retail stocks. The lists I found were either too broad or too narrow. I wanted the usual suspects like Best Buy (NYSE:BBY), Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT), and Gap (NYSE:GPS), while also picking up some of the smaller players like Bebe Stores (NASDAQ:BEBE) and Chico's FAS (NYSE:CHS). Additionally I wanted to capture some of the brands like Crocs (NASDAQ:CROX) and dELiA*s (NASDAQ:DLIA), while excluding consumer goods producers and fast food restaurants.

Unable to find a list that suited my (admittedly arbitrary) desires, I began to handpick names and compile a list of 72 stocks. The graph below shows the top and bottom performing stocks through noon today.



Blue Nile (NASDAQ:NILE), Pier One (NYSE:PIR), and Coldwater Creek (NASDAQ:CWTR) are the weakest stocks, while Lowe's (NYSE:LOW), American Eagle Outfitters (NASDAQ:AEOS), and Jo-Ann Stores (NYSE:JAS) are the strongest.

As you can infer from the graph, the bulk of the returns are flat to lower as two of the "best performing" stocks, Aeropostale (NYSE:ARO) and Limited Brands (NYSE:LTD), show a loss. In other words, buying just ahead of Black Friday doesn't seem like it would have been a good short-term trading strategy. Going forward though, I would expect to see some stocks distinguish themselves and separate from the pack. With my list now created (and saved!) it should be much easier to track. If there is interest in this, I can post periodic updates.

Nick Perry is an analyst with Schaeffer's Investment Research.