MOST NOTEWORTHY: General Motors (GM), Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI), LSI Corp (LSI), Chevron (CVX), National City (NCC) and LivePerson (LPSN) were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Goldman Sachs upgraded General Motors (NYSE: GM) to Buy from Neutral as they believe the stock will rise on expectations of sizeable concessions from union talks. The broker said this is a "tactical trading call."

• Morgan Joseph upgraded shares of Sirius Satellite Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI) to Buy from Hold citing the OEM ramp & modest consensus estimates.

• American Technology added LSI Corp (NYSE: LSI) to their Focus List as they believe investors are discounting a lot of negative assumptions at the current valuation. They recommend using the recent weakness to aggressively build positions below $9.

• Bank of America upgraded shares of Chevron Corp (NYSE: CVX) citing valuation and potential volume increases in its deepwater portfolio.

• AG Edwards upgraded National City (NYSE: NCC) to Hold from Sell and Roth upgraded LivePerson to Hold from Sell on valuation...

OTHER UPGRADES:

• UBS upgraded Pier 1 Imports (NYSE: PIR) to Buy from Neutral.

• Bristol-Myers (NYSE: BMY) was upgraded to Outperform from Peer Perform at Bear Stearns.

• Sandler added American Express (NYSE: AXP) to its Focus List. Baird raised Applied Biosystems (NYSE: ABI) to Outperform from Neutral.

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

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Blockbuster Inc (BBI), Molson Coors Brewing Co (TAP), Illumina, Inc (ILMN), and ARM Holdings plc (ARMHY) were today's more noteworthy upgrades:

• Citigroup upgraded Blockbuster Inc (NYSE: BBI) to Buy from Hold based on valuation, improving box office visibility and their belief that the lower-priced online-only rental product will help improve costs.

• Molson Coors Brewing (NYSE: TAP) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS based on valuation, volume strength and pricing.

• Matrix believes strong demand for genetic analysis equipment is boosting profits for Illumina (NASDAQ: ILMN), upgrading shares to Strong Buy from Sell; Matrix sees upside to their Intrinsic Value Calculation of $50/share.

• ARM Holdings (NASDAQ: ARMHY) was upgraded to Overweight from Underweight at JP Morgan to reflect the strength in the high-end handset market...

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Bristol Myers Squibb Co (NYSE: BMY) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Citigroup.

• RBC Capital raised Sapient Corp (NASDAQ: SAPE) to Outperform from Sector Perform.

• Sandler upgraded Chemical Financial Corp (NASDAQ: CHFC) to Hold from Sell.

• UBS raised WESCO International, Inc (NYSE: WCC) to Buy from Neutral.

• Piper Jaffray upgraded shares of Omnicell, Inc (NASDAQ: OMCL) to Outperform from Market Perform.

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

MAJOR PAPERS:

• In today's Wall Street Journal (subscription required):
• Top Banker Woody Young has left Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc (NYSE: LEH), according to people familiar with the matter.
• Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) may have benefited from piracy, according to media companies.
• Tribune Company (NYSE: TRB) is leaning away from accepting offers from outside bidders and may restructure on its own.
• According to Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali Naimi, the world oil market is in "much, much better health and balance" now and, if trends hold, there will be no need for further production cuts or increases in supply when members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries meet next month.
• The Financial Times (subscription required) reported that MasterCard Inc (NYSE: MA) is expected to announce a pilot program with the GSM Association that will allow migrant workers to use cellphones for international money transfers.
• The Deutschland edition of the Financial Times reported that Private Equity is looking at Infineon Technologies ADS (NYSE: IFX).

OTHER PAPERS:

• According to the U.K. Times, Sanofi-Aventis ADS (NYSE: SNY) has called off talks with Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY) over a potential deal.
• The Washington Post reported that thousands of Army Humvees are lacking the Frag Kit 15 armor upgrade, which is not anticipated to be completed until this summer.
• Investor's Business Daily's "The New America" column highlighted Web conferencing leader WebEx Communications Inc (NASDAQ: WEBX).

Note: The Daily Option Update is provided by Options Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

Volatility Index S&P 500 Options-VIX down .14 to 10.28.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) - puts more active than calls as prices increase on purchase for Hedges. Amazon was trading up .71 to $38.38 around 2 p.m.. Amazon is expected to report EPS of $0.22 after the close. Lazard has a Hold rating on Amazon said on 1/31/07, "At current price levels, we believe the stock largely discounts strong growth, operating margins expansion, and improving free cash flow generation." Amazon call option volume of 43,043 contracts compares to put volume of 60,717 contracts. Amazon February option implied volatility of 58 is above its 26-week average of 39 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price fluctuations.

Neurochem Inc.'s (NASDAQ:NRMX) May option implied volatility keeps Climbing into Spring Risks. Neurochem issued a press release this morning indicating results from the first phase 3 study of NRMX's Alzhemed for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease is expected in the spring of 2007. Neurochem and partner Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) have a PDUFA date for Kiacta for AA Amyloidosis on 4/16/07. Neurochem call option volume of 4,859 contracts compares to put volume of 5,129 contracts. Neurochem May call option implied volatility is at 152; puts are above 211 according to Track Data, indicating large price fluctuations. NRMX puts are expensive because Neurochem is difficult to borrow.

Option volume leaders today were: Altria Group Inc. (NYSE:MO), Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), Equity Office Properties Trust (NYSE:EOP), Bristol Meyers Squibb Co. (NYSE:BMY) and Sepracor Inc. (NASDAQ:SEPR).