Analyst upgrades:

• JP Morgan upgraded J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) to Neutral from Underweight based on lower input costs, stabilization in home, lower markdown dollars, and valuation.
• Oppenheimer upgraded Novellus (NASDAQ: NVLS) to Perform from Underperform as it believes Novellus' market share has stabilized and that the company is a potential acquisition target. The firm raised its price target to $20 from $9.
• Bernstein upgraded ConAgra (NYSE: CAG) to Market Perform from Underperform citing strength in grains and moderating input costs.
• ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
• China Housing (NASDAQ: CHLN) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Roth Capital.

Yesterday no fewer than 20 companies around the world announced 40,000 layoffs. As I posted, that's the flip side of the great inflation report that came out this week. And those 40,000 are among the first of 2.1 million U.S. jobs that are forecast to disappear in 2009 -- particularly if the $825 billion stimulus plan does not pass.

Here are some of yesterday's cuts from the U.S. companies:

• Circuit City Stores is liquidating and taking 30,000 jobs along for the ride
• Hertz Global Holdings Inc. (NYSE: HTZ) is eliminating 4,000 jobs worldwide due to a drop in travel demand.
• WellPoint (NYSE: WLP) the second-largest U.S. health insurer, will end 1,500 jobs, which include 600 workers and 900 open positions.
• Clear Channel (NYSE: CCO) -- the largest U.S. radio broadcaster -- will lay off 1,500 employees on January 20.

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

• American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. (NYSE: AXL) reported a strike-related Q1 loss.
• Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE: ACI) Q1 profit tripled on increased demand and higher prices.
• Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) posted better-than-expected earnings despite Dreamliner delays.
• Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) better-than-expected quarter didn't impress Jim Cramer.
• ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) reported Q1 earnings and revenue above analysts' forecasts.
• Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL) reported a big loss on a one-time charge and fuel costs.
• Dow Chemical Co. (NYSE: DOW) posted a smaller-than-forecast profit drop and predicted a good Q2.
• EI DuPont de Nemours & Co. (NYSE: DD) Q1 earnings rose 26% but missed expectations.
• Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) surprised Wall Street by swinging to a profit in the first quarter.
• Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. (NYSE: GT) easily surpassed analyst estimates for the first quarter.
• Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) Q1 earnings and revenue rose due to international growth.
• Hershey Co. (NYSE: HSY) profit fell but was in line with analysts' expectations.

The earnings crunch is in full swing, and here are a few of the highlights of this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) swung to a profit on the strength of drug sales.
• AK Steel Holding Corp. (NYSE: AKS) swung to a fourth-quarter profit and easily beat estimates.
• Aladdin Knowledge Systems Ltd. (NASDAQ: ALDN) posted solid results and raised its forecast.
• Amdocs Ltd. (NYSE: DOX) reported a record quarter and reaffirmed its guidance.
• Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) beat exectations, but concerns remain about FDA scrutiny.
• Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) easily beat expectations and offered revised guidance (see live blog, transcript).
• Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) posted a solid quarter on strong international growth.
• Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) beat estimates on strong direct-to-customer and same-store sales.
• ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) posted a strong fourth quarter due to rising oil prices.
• CSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX) beat expectations as increased productivity offset increased fuel costs.
• Eaton Corp. (NYSE: ETN) posted solid fourth quarter results due to growth overseas.
• Equity LifeStyle Properties Inc. (NYSE: ELS) beat expectations in the fourth quarter and offered guidance.
• Franklin Resources Inc. (NYSE: BEN) reported solid results and increased its quarterly dividend.
• Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) posted a solid fourth quarter and affirmed its 2008 guidance.
• Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) posted strong results due in part to demand for Vista.
• Nintendo Co. (OTC: NTDOY) profit soared on demand for the Wii, and the company raised is sales outlook.
• Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) reported a strong fourth quarter and increased market share in handset sales.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Wyeth (WYE), Luminent Mortgage Capital (LUM), CheckFree (CKFR), EOG Resources (EOG) and K-Swiss (KSWS) were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Cowen downgraded Wyeth (NYSE: WYE) to Neutral from Outperform based on limited long-term limited visibility.

• JP Morgan downgraded shares of Luminent Mortgage (NYSE: LUM) to Underweight from Neutral citing difficult CMO and CDO market conditions.

• JP Morgan downgraded CheckFree (NASDAQ: CKFR) to Neutral from Overweight following the company's acquisition by FiServ (FISV).

• Matrix cut shares of EOG Resources (NYSE: EOG) to Sell from Buy to reflect lower natural gas prices and increasing costs.

• Matrix believes soft demand for athletic shoes is leading to declining sales for K-Swiss (NASDAQ: KSWS), and cut shares to Sell from Buy...

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• JMP Securities downgraded CapitalSource (NYSE: CSE) to Outperform from Strong Buy.

• Oppenheimer has turned negative on oil and gas names for the near-term, as they now believe the downside risk exceeds upside potential; they cut shares of Apache Corp (NYSE; APA), BP PLC (NYSE: BP), ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP), Chevron (NYSE: CVX) and ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM), among others, to Neutral from Buy.

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

MOST NOTEWORTHY: ConocoPhillips (COP), Transocean (RIG), LifePoint Hospitals (LPNT), EOG Resources (EOG) and Quicksilver Resources (KWK) were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Banc of America cut ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) to Neutral from Buy on valuation and the lack of upstream catalysts.

• Deutsche Bank cut Transocean (NYSE: RIG) to Hold from Buy based on the GlobalSantaFe (GSF) merger.

• Raymond James downgraded LifePoint Hospitals (NASDAQ: LPNT) to Market Perform from Strong Buy following the company's cut in guidance. Merrill Lynch downgraded LifePoint Hospitals to Neutral from Buy.

• Citigroup downgraded EOG Resources (NYSE: EOG) and Quicksilver Resources (NYSE: KWK) to Sell from Hold as both trade above the sector averages for NAV and cash flow and neither is well protected in the likely event commodity prices deteriorate...

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• BMO Capital downgraded Biovail (NYSE: BVF) to Market Perform from Outperform.

• Brean Murray cut Spectrum Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: SPPI) to Sell from Buy.

• Wedbush downgraded Cosi Inc (NASDAQ: COSI) to Hold from Buy.

• RBC Capital downgraded Ventana Medical (NASDAQ: VMSI) to Sector Perform from Outperform.

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

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Pfizer Inc (PFE), Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM), ConocoPhillips (COP), Xerox Corp (XRX), and Amazon.com, Inc (AMZN) were some of today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Prudential downgraded shares of Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE) to Neutral from Overweight with a $29 target to reflect concerns about competition from generic medications and a lack of new products.

• Deutsche Bank cut both ExxonMobil Corp (NYSE: XOM) and ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) to Hold from Buy on valuation.

• Citigroup downgraded shares of Xerox Corp (NYSE: XRX) to Sell from Hold as the firm believes the acquisition of Global Systems could hurt profits in the short-term. The broker recommended trimming positions of Xerox on any strength.

• Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) was cut to Underperform from Market Perform at Piper Jaffray based on valuation...

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Stifel lowered its rating of Jones Soda Co (NASDAQ: JSDA) to Hold from Buy on valuation.

• Deutsche Bank downgraded shares of Chevron Corp (NYSE: CVX) to Sell from Hold based on valuation.

• CIBC downgraded shares of Coventry Health Care, Inc (NYSE: CVH) to Sector Performer from Outperformer on valuation.

• Needham downgraded Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: VRTX) to Hold from Buy.

• Adtran, Inc (NASDAQ: ADTN) was cut to Sell from Hold at Brean Murray.

• JP Morgan removed Johnson Controls, Inc (NYSE: JCI) from its Focus List citing recent share strength.

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

MOST NOTEWORTHY: First Data Corp (FDC), Molson Coors Brewing Co (TAP), MetLife, Inc (MET), GSI Commerce, Inc (GSIC) and Foundation Coal Holdings, Inc (FCL) were some of today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Citigroup cut First Data Corp (NYSE: FDC) to Hold from Buy and AG Edwards cut the Colorado-based Computer Services company to Hold from Buy, following the acquisition by KKR; AG Edwards also removed First Data from its Focus Portfolio.

• Bernstein downgraded Molson Coors Brewing Co (NYSE: TAP) to Market Perform from Outperform based on valuation.

• Goldman Sachs removed MetLife Inc (NYSE: MET) from its Conviction Buy List.

• Bear Stearns cut GSI Commerce (NASDAQ: GSIC) to Underperform from Outperform based on valuation.

• Matrix USA downgraded Foundation Coal Holdings Inc (NYSE: FCL) to Sell from Buy.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Jefferies downgraded Novell, Inc (NASDAQ: NOVL) to Hold from Buy on valuation after yesterday's "April Fool's-inspired" rally as the firm believes upside from the initial Microsoft-(MSFT) driven SLES deals and restructuring are priced in.

• Stifel downgraded Pearson PLC (NYSE: PSO) to Hold from Buy on valuation.

• Benchmark downgraded ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) to Sell from Hold on valuation.

• Buckingham downgraded Diebold Inc (NYSE: DBD) to Neutral from Accumulate on valuation.

• CIBC downgraded Ipsco Inc (NYSE: IPS) to Sector Performer from Outperform based on valuation.

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

MOST NOTEWOTHY: ConocoPhillips (COP), InfoSpace, Inc (INSP), Verizon Communications (VZ) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) were some of today's more notable downgrades:

• Goldman Sachs downgraded ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) to Neutral from Buy.

• Stanford cut InfoSpace Inc (NASDAQ: INSP) to Sell from Hold as the firm believes shares are overvalued since the company has no clear plans to reignite growth.

• Buckingham downgraded Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) to Neutral from Accumulate.

• Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) was cut to Hold from Strong Buy at Matrix as the firm believes growing competition is driving down selling prices and narrowing margins.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Goldman downgraded Anadarko Petroleum Corp (NYSE: APC) to Sell from Neutral.

• Merriman cut Fiberstars, Inc (NASDAQ: FBST) to Neutral from Buy.

• Bank of America downgraded Dollar General (NYSE: DG) to Neutral from Buy.

• Cantor cut AudioCodes Ltd (NASDAQ: AUDC) to Hold from Buy following the company's lowered Q1 outlook.

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

Boone Pickens insists that oil has to go to $70 a barrel this year. The supply is simply going to get too tight. Of course, a number of experts disagree with Pickens arguing the the technology for extracting oil is getting better.

If Wall Street accepts Pickens case, the stocks in Exxon (NYSE:XOM), Conoco (NYSE:COP), and Chevron (NYSE:CVX) are headed back up. When oil spiked over $70, all three stocks took a nice ride into August of last year. As oil moved back under $60 in the Fall, all three stock retreated. With oil moving up again the stocks have moved back near their highs. Before last week's big sell-off, Exxon hit $75, very near a multiple year high. If oil goes over $70, it is not hard to see the price moving over $80.

Of course, the oil companies may be among the few beneficiaries of rising oil and gas prices. If Pickens is right, the industries that were murdered with the last run up in oil will suffer again. Retailers from Target (NYSE:TGT) to Lowe's (NYSE:LOW) and the big car companies, especially GM (NYSE:GM) and Ford (NYSE:F) who need some help from the economy if their restructurings are going to work.

With the market falling and consumer sentiment on edge, is very bad news unless you own oil shares.

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

The numbers are in and it appears that the United States used ONE PERCENT LESS imported crude oil this year. That statistic may be meaningless to some folks but to me it really says something and, judging by the oil pundits' attempts to scare us into believing that gasoline will reach $5 a gallon in a couple years, I'd say that some petroleum share holders are running a bit scared. Oh yeah, did I tell you that my brother's new General Motors (NYSE:GM)' truck can burn straight ethanol? Those oil barons would need to stunt a couple of refineries, crimp a pipeline or two and halt a few tankers to offset that development. Will 2007 be the year of unimaginable oil distribution "disruptions?" Only time will tell.

So let's see now, that's one percent reduction this year, and I need not remind you that there's a war we're feeding oil to also. If we could establish and maintain this year's relative oil consumption as a pattern, that would mean that by the time my little girl reaches my age, her America will be using nearly one half less oil than it is right now. Actually, I think over the next 10 years we may accomplish a 20% reduction in crude oil imports overall. I double dog dare anyone to tell me that it can't be done.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Yahoo! (YHOO) and ConocoPhillips (COP) were the highlights in today's list of initiations.

• Cantor initiated Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) with a Hold rating and $30 target; the firm believes Yahoo! is playing "catch-up" in the areas of Search and monetization and they expect shares to be range-bound until fixes are evident.

• Credit Suisse re-initiated ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) with a Neutral rating.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• CBS Corp (NYSE: CBS) was initiated with a Buy rating and $38 target at Stifel; the firm believes CBS's TV business model is under-appreciated by the Street and shares are attractively valued.

• RBC Capital Markets initiated shares of Quebecor World (NYSE: IQW) with an Underperform rating; the firm is cautious on shares due to the commoditization in print segments, valuation and low probability of a takeover.

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

OPEC has had enough of falling oil prices [subscription required] as reserves rise and non-OPEC members open the spigots to countries like the U.S. and China.

Oil at $52 is going to break OPEC's rice bowl. OPEC much preferred oil at $77.

It appears that OPEC will have an emergency meeting to see if it should cut its production lower than the drop in 1.7 million barrels a day it has already said it will take off the market. One source inside OPEC even went as far as to say that those betting on lower oil prices will "get their fingers burned."

Management at Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM), Chevron Corp. (NYSE:CVX), and ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) must be dancing in the streets. The price of their stocks has adjusted downward about 10% over the last few weeks.

News of the possible OPEC meeting came on the same day as reports that China's oil consumption [subscription required] rose 14.5% from 2005 to 2006.

Enough said?

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

There's no word yet on how this small development might touch Exxon (NYSE: XOM), Chevron (NYSE: CVX) or Conoco (NYSE: COP), but a little upstart in New Zealand called Aquaflow Bionomic Corporation has successfully test driven a vehicle fueled with a biodiesel blend called B5. The new fuel technology exploits biodiesel, which is readily created from harvested algae grown in nutrient rich sewage settling ponds. The best part is that the algae used is created in huge volumes by a process that is already in wide spread use.

In an article reported on the Green Progress website, Aquaflow states that they are years ahead of original estimates regarding when this technology could become available. They say that the next step is to attain the capacity to produce one million litres of this algae based biodiesel per year.

So far the company has attracted some moderate attention from private investors. They had announced that their prospectus would be available by Christmas time but I've not seen one yet. My request for one has been sent. When I receive it I'll be sure to let you know.

Is the price of oil going up or down? Certainly OPEC wants it to rise, and it is cutting production 1.2 million barrels a day to try to raise the price. If this production cut doesn't work, some OPEC members are prepared for another one.

So far, however, talk of the OPEC cut has not sent oil prices back up. On Friday oil traded at under $57 a barrel. On Monday it continued to fall.

No one on Wall Street expects the oil companies to do poorly when they announce Q3 earnings, but their profits may no longer be rising quarter-over-quarter. If oil prices stay below $60, Q3 may be the beginning of a disappointing series of financial results for the likes of ExxonMobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM), Conoco, and Chevron.

The anxiety that oil prices could hurt big oil earnings is not really showing up in the stock prices of the big producers. But a tumble may be in their future nevertheless. Exxon's stock is at $69.55, very near its 52-week high and up from under $56 in December. Chevron's stock is also within a couple of dollars of its 52-week high of just under $70.

The perception of where crude oil is likely to be in the near future (relatively low) and where the big oil stock prices trade (high) is going to have to be reconciled. It is probably the stock prices that will lose.

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