Equity markets opened slightly lower this morning and have wobbled back up somewhat, with the NASDAQ off just 0.01%, the S&P 500 index off -0.27%, and the DJIA down -0.44% about an hour before the markets close for the day. The euro sunk to a near four-month low to the US dollar on yet more fears about Portugal's sovereign debt. Gold has gained nearly 4% today and oil is up 1.26% on supply concerns due to the shutdown of the Alaska pipeline, which delivers 630,000 barrels/day to the lower 48 states.

Here are the numbers for late afternoon trading today:

Dow Jones: 11,637.37 -37.39 (-0.32%)
S&P 500: 1,269.75 -1.75 (-0.14%)
Nasdaq: 2,707.80 +4.63 (0.17%)

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) earnings prospects may suffer if holiday sales are poor.
• Circuit City Stores Inc. (NASDAQ: CC) disappointing results were followed by a restructuring announcement.
• Conexant Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CNXT) raised its guidance, send shares up sharply.
• Constellation Brands Inc. (NYSE: STZ) posted a Q2 loss due in part to restructuring Australian operations.
• Con-Way Inc. (NYSE: CNW) reduced Q3 guidance resulted in an analyst downgrade.
• Family Dollar Stores Inc. (NYSE: FDO) reported better-than-expected Q4 earnings, sending shares higher.
• Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) Q3 earnings prospects led to an analyst's upgrade.
• International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) fell on rumors it would miss earnings estimates.
• Marriott International Inc. (NYSE: MAR) Q3 profits fell and it warned of challenges through 2009.
• Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS) fell short of expectations and warned of a production slowdown.
• Nabors Industrial Ltd. (NYSE: NBR) warning about earnings led shares near a new low.
• Pepsi Bottling Group Inc. (NYSE: PBG) beat Q3 expectations despite struggling with economic woes.
• Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHG) earnings prospects led to an analyst's downgrade.
• UBS (NYSE: UBS) said it expects to return to profitability after four straight quarterly losses.
• Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG) Q4 earnings fell short of expectations, though sales increased.

Also, Jim Cramer reminds us that earnings still matter. Changing accounting rules may affect the earnings of big banks.

Upcoming quarterly reports include Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA), Safeway Inc. (NYSE: SWY), Yum! Brands Inc. (NYSE: YUM), Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST), Monsanto Co. (NASDAQ: MON), General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE).

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: EMC Corp, Emulex, VCG Holding and Conexant were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Citigroup downgraded shares of EMC Corp (NYSE: EMC) to hold from buy and Emulex (NYSE: ELX) to sell from buy and lowered its targets to $17 from $22 and to $12 from $20, respectively, to reflect their more cautious stance on the storage space after channel checks indicated a broadly softening demand environment, most notably for 'higher ticket' items.
  
• Merriman downgraded shares of VCG Holding (NASDAQ:VCGH) to neutral from buy following the Q4 miss, as they believe acquisitions could slow in the near-term. They prefer to move to the sidelines until the company's outlook improves.
  
• Oppenheimer downgraded Conexant (NASDAQ: CNXT) to perform from outperform as they believe the CEO departure could interrupt the company's turnaround.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Hercules Offshore (NASDAQ: HERO) was cut to hold from buy at Deutsche Bank.
  
• JP Morgan downgraded Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI) to neutral from overweight.
  
• Affymetrix (NASDAQ: AFFX) was downgraded to underperform from peer perform at Bear.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: UBS AG, ProLogis, AMB Property, Navteq and PDL BioPharma were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• JP Morgan upgraded shares of UBS (NYSE: UBS) to Neutral from Underweight as they believe the company can start fresh after yesterday's pre-announcement.
  
• Banc of America upgraded shares of ProLogis (NYSE: PLD) and AMB Property (NYSE: AMB) to Buy from Neutral to reflect their positive outlook on global industrial REITs and believes they are positioned to benefit from global demand for industrial space.
  
• Navteq Corporation (NYSE: NVT) was upgraded at Deutsche Bank to Hold from Sell to reflect the acquisition by Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK).
  
• Wachovia raised shares of PDL BioPharma Inc (NASDAQ: PDLI) to Outperform from Market Perform following the CEO resignation and potential sale of the company.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Thor Industries (NYSE: THO) was upgraded to Buy from Gradually Accumulate at Soleil.
  
• Gabelli upgraded Hershey Company (NYSE: HSY) to Hold from Sell.
  
• Forest Laboratories (NYSE: FRX) was upgraded at Citigroup to Hold from Sell.
  
• Roth Capital upgraded Conexant Systems (NASDAQ: CNXT) to Hold from Sell.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: National Semiconductor Corp (NSM), Seagate Technology (STX), Adolor Corp (ADLR), Conexant Systems, Inc (CNXT) and Blyth, Inc (BTH) were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Matrix downgraded National Semiconductor (NYSE: NSM) to Buy from Strong Buy because inventory oversupply conditions have dissipated more rapidly than expected. Matrix believes National Semi will see price stability and orders increase as excess products continue to move through the supply chain.
• Needham cut Seagate Technology (NYSE: STX) to Buy from Strong Buy following the company's lowered guidance as the firm believes margin improvement has been "temporarily derailed"; however, the firm believes valuation limits downside at current levels.
• Adolor Corp (NASDAQ: ADLR) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Friedman Billings, to Neutral from Outperform at Cowen, to Neutral from Buy at First Albany, to Sell from Hold at Citigroup and to Hold from Buy at both American Technology and W.R. Hambrecht, after reporting additional safety issues related to Entereg.
• Elsewhere, Roth Capital downgraded shares of Conexant Systems Inc (NASDAQ: CNXT) following lowered Q2 guidance and cited weakness in end markets and lack of near-term catalysts.
• Stanford cut Blyth, Inc (NYSE: BTH) to Sell from Hold on valuation.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Matrix cut Nike, Inc (NYSE: NKE) to Hold from Buy.
• Goldman took Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ: MSFT) off its Conviction Buy List.
• JP Morgan took CSX Corp (NYSE: CSX) down to Neutral from Overweight based on valuation.
• Prudental downgraded Groupe Danone (NYSE: DA) to Neutral from Overweight.
• ASML Holding NV (NASDAQ: ASML) was downgraded to Market Weight from Overweight.

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

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Shutterfly, Inc (SFLY), Marvel Entertainment, Inc (MVL), National CineMedia, Inc (NCMI) and Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) were some of today's noteworthy initiations:

• Cantor sees significant opportunities for growth at Shutterfly Inc (NASDAQ: SFLY), driven by new business lines, international expansion and new products, among other things, and started SFLY Shares with a Buy rating.

• Stifel initiated Marvel Entertainment (NYSE: MVL) with a Buy rating and believes the impending film slate provides a long-term growth opportunity and serves as a catalyst.

• Thomas Weisel started National CineMedia Inc (NASDAQ: NCMI) with an Overweight rating, as the firm still believes the company is among the fastest-growing, ad-supported media companies in the U.S. given its ownership in NCM LLC, which has established a leadership position in the cinema advertising market.

• FTN Midwest started Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE: WMT) with a Neutral rating.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Jefferies started Conexant Systems, Inc (NASDAQ: CNXT) with a Hold rating.

• Wachovia initiated NYMEX Holdings, Inc (NYSE: NMX) with an Outperform rating.

• Goldman Sachs started LSI Corp (NYSE: LSI) with a Neutral rating.

• Citigroup started Kroger Co (NYSE: KR) with a Buy rating.

• Stein Mart, Inc (NASDAQ: SMRT) was initiated Morgan Joseph with a Buy rating.

• Citigroup started Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) with a Hold rating based on valuation.

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

Several companies that trade well over 10 million shares every day have ended up with current stock prices that are the same as they were at the turn of the new year. For companies that have securities that trade billions of shares a year, getting back to where they were in January is an impressive feat. Most traveled up and down over the last eleven plus months to end up... flat.

All of these companies are among the fifty most widely traded stocks in the US by volume. Each has a very different story about how it worked hard to get back to where they began.

Wal-Mart

For a dull company, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) stock has danced all over the place. But, it started at about $46, and that is where it is now. The market took it up when there was some belief that holiday cost-cutting would bring back the thundering herds of shoppers. But, weak same-store sales snuffed out that hope.

EMC

EMC Corporation (NSYE: EMC) is the world's largest data storage company. Its purchase of RSA Security was viewed as too expensive and that alienated some of the shareholder base. Recent studies that show it is increasing the lead in its key storage business and may have made the faithful happy again. But, it has gone from $14 at the beginning of the year to $14 now.

Symantec

With its popular Norton PC anti-virus software and a move into enterprise security, the market warmed to Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ:SYMC). It showed good growth in its last quarter. But, shareholders are frightened that the security features in Microsoft Vista could kill Symantec's goose.

Broadcom

Clearly a leader in making chips and other hardware for the broadband revolution, Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ:BRCM) has been viewed as a company that would benefit from the explosion of multimedia applications across the internet and wireless. But, it has been in protracted patent litigation with Qualcomm. And, options back-dating problems have not helped. Flat at about $33.

Conexant Systems

This supplier of semiconductor systems solutions for large broadband deployments is not a household name. It still manages to trade 14 million shares a day. The company has been in unsuccessful patient litigation with Texas Instruments, but some analysts feel that with most of the financial burden of the legal issue behind it and a large convertable bond being paid down the company can improve earnings.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.