Today was an options expiration date, and the stocks closed higher. We had strength early on from Europe, but then some very surprisingly good housing data caused added cheer. The data was taken as permanent, but much still points toward the bump up being temporary. Even a negative call for 222 more bank closures by Meredith Whitney failed to jolt the markets.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 9,502.33 +152.28 (1.63%)
S&P 500 1,025.68 +18.31 (1.82%)
Nasdaq 2,020.36 +31.14 (1.57%)

For 25 years, Steven Halpern, editor of TheStockAdvisors.com, has surveyed the leading financial newsletter advisors asking for their favorite stocks for the coming year. This article is one of 100+ ideas in the Best Stocks for 2008 report.

"Nanotech has an incredibly broad application spectrum and the sector offers enormous opportunities," explains Gregg Early in The Real Nanotech Investor.

"My conservative favorite for 2008 is Bayer (OTC: BAYRY). Although the stock is up 50% since we first added it to our portfolio less than a year ago, its return isn't surprising given current market conditions.

"Bayer has a number of things going for it beyond its significant incorporation of nanotech into various product lines; it even sells Baytubes, proprietary ready-to-use, multi-walled carbon nanotubes. It's also a big, safe stock.

"But it's still undervalued relative to its pharma competitors. And it's a German company that has the spending power of a euro-based firm with significant exposure in every major developed and developing market in the world.

"Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) has the 'Swedish blues'," jests global expert Yiannis Mostrous, noting the stock fell sharply after issuing a warning. Nevertheless, he remains bullish.

In his The Silk Road Investor, the adviser explains, "Ericsson issued a warning for its gross and operating margins for the third quarter, which fell to 35.6% (43.0% last quarter) and 12.9% (19.4% previously). Promptly, the stock tumbled 24%."

He contends, "Although this is a severe blow to the stock price, the company remains one of the long-term holdings in the global infrastructure area."

The reason? He suggests, "Wireless telecom remains one of the best long-term growth stories. The beauty is that this growth story is applicable to both developed and developing economies. Emerging markets, in particular, are important because they continue to build huge wireless networks, with China and India at the forefront."

On tonight's MAD MONEY on CNBC, Jim Cramer continued his stock pick series for "Investing in Europe" with Germany's Siemens AG (NYSE:SI/ADR). He likes the conglomerate that participates in 9 sectors and considers it Europe's version of General Electric (NYSE:GE). The breadth of its businesses also lets it win projects that other companies cannot handle.

Here is the problem with this call: Siemens is a great company but its valuations look higher than most of the other large conglomerates. Its market cap is $131 billion on a currency adjusted basis. Part of its100% rise in ADR's is because of the weak dollar, but even in Euros this stock is up more than 60% over the last year. Keep in mind that these are all ADR's, and even active ADR's tend to trade fewer shares in the US than their US-based competitors.

Philips Electronics (NYSE:PHG) was his top EU pick on Monday, and that is another conglomerate.

His pick from Tuesday was Switzerland's ABB Ltd. (NYSE:ABB), a key infrastructure play.

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.