Crude surpassed $126.00 before retreating down by $1.85 to $124.11 late in the day. Many are citing that the interest in owning the dollar is also partly to thank for today's gains. Below are the unofficial closing bell prices for major index levels:

• DJIA 12,879.24 (+133.36; +1.05%)
• S&P 500 1,403.50 (+15.22; +1.10%)
• NASDAQ 2,487.86 (+42.34; +1.73%)
• 10YR-TBond 3.775% (+0.008%)
• 52 WEEK LOWS
• ANALYST CALLS

AnnTaylor Stores Corp. (NYSE: ANN) rose today after it forecast that first quarter profit will exceed projections. Additionally, the women's apparel store reported its plans to drop its older women fall line but push the opening of its Loft outlets. Shares were up 16% at $28.50 in the final minutes of trading.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer wonders what's going on with the Clear Channel deal.

The focus on this Clear Channel (NYSE: CCU) (Cramer's Take) breakdown, the endless focus, is on the $500 million that the private-equity team, Bain/Lee, will have to pay Clear Channel.

What's more important, I believe, is the billions of dollars I believe the bankers will owe Bain/Lee if they don't find some way to cut this price and make this deal smaller.

There have been dozens of deals that were struck during this period that the bankers wished they could walk away from but didn't. Which says to me, how desperate are they now NOT to have to pay the $22 billion in this very large deal. How desperate are they given the fact that a judge will, I believe, find against them and the damages will be immense, as big as the billions that Lee/Bain can show -- and will -- they would have made if the deal closed in the out years.

If you wanted two situations to describe today's rally, first you can thank S&P and second you can thank Barney Frank. S&P and Moody's have had the markets by the you-know-whats, but today they issued a report calling "the end in sight" on write downs.

Congressman Barney Frank was out calling for the FHA to get involved as a mortgage backstop to help one or two million mortgage holders. It is pretty impressive that the market rallied when we simultaneously saw gold hit $1,000/ounce and oil hit $110/barrel. Below are the unofficial closing levels for the markets.

• DJIA 12,145.74 (+35.50; +0.29%)
• S&P500 1,315.48 (+6.71; +0.51%)
• NASDAQ 2,263.61 (+19.74; +0.88%)
• 10 Yr T-Bond 3.534% (+0.051%)
• 52-week stand-out stocks

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Lee Enterprises (LEE), The Pep Boys (PBY), Cumulus Media (CMLS), VeraSun Energy (VSE) and Acuity Brands (AYI) were today's more noteworthy upgrades:

• Wachovia upgraded Lee Enterprises (NYSE: LEE) to Market Perform from Underperform on valuation.

• RBC Capital raised Pep Boys (NYSE: PBY) to Sector Perform from Underperform citing upside potential from its real estate monetization strategy.

• Cumulus Media (NASDAQ: CMLS) was upgraded to Hold from Sell at Citigroup based on the proposed buyout offer.

• VeraSun Energy (NYSE: VSE) was upgraded to Hold from Sell at Soleil based on the acquisition of three 110mgy ethanol projects from ASAlliance.

• Gabelli upgraded Acuity Brands (NYSE: AYI) to Hold from Sell following the company's announcement that it will pursue a tax-free spin-off of its specialty products business...

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Keefe Bruyette upgraded Delphi Financial Group (NYSE: DFG) to Outperform from Market Perform.

• RightNow Technologies (NASDAQ: RNOW) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.

• Pacific upgraded Secure Computing (NASDAQ: SCUR) to Outperform from Sector Perform.

• Lehman raised Xcel Energy (NYSE: XEL) to Equal Weight from Underweight.

• Stanford upgraded Amylin Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: AMLN) to Buy from Hold.

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

Although the FCC said current rules prohibit a merger between Sirius Satellite Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI) and XM Satellite Radio Holdings (NASDAQ: XMSR), FCC chairman Kevin Martin said the rules barring a merger could be altered, if requested. "The commission looks at anything that is presented to it (and) all of the commission's rules are open to be changed," Martin said, according to a Reuters report

While many believe a possible merger between the two companies would be difficult, including the Wall Street Journal, Bank of America, Janco Partners and CRT Capital Group, they all stop at the same two obstacles: the FCC's regulations and the potential for a monopoly.

If you consider XM and Sirius to be in the same group of broadcasting radio companies as Cumulus Media (NASDAQ: CMLS), Citadel Broadcasting (NYSE: CDL), Clear Channel Communications (NYSE: CCU), and others, then the potential for a monopoly does not exist.

And what if the FCC changed the rules?