High growth/modest risk plays don't appear too often, but Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold (NYSE: FCX) is one, which is why I'm Reiterating my Buy rating for the company's shares, first recommended on March 23, 2009 at a price of $41.87.

If you bought Freeport in March, you're up an impressive 97%, and there's much more ahead.

Analyst upgrades:

• Deutsche Bank upgraded Freeport McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) to Buy from Hold to reflect the company's better than expected Q3 results and improved volume outlook. Deutsche raised its target on shares to $100 from $72.
• Thomas Weisel upgraded Motorola (NYSE: MOT) to Overweight from Market Weight and raised its target to $11 from $7 and said they expect Motorola to benefit from several upcoming catalysts that include new Android-based smartphone products and they believe the handset division could break even by year end of 2010.
• Janney Montgomery upgraded Regal Entertainment (NYSE: RGC) and Cinemark (NYSE: CNK) to Buy from Neutral on expectations both companies will benefit from a strong box office in Q4. The firm has a $14 price target on Regal shares and a $13.50 target on Cinemark shares.
• Marshall & llsley (NYSE: MI) was upgraded to Neutral from Underweight at JPMorgan.
• F5 Networks (NASDAQ: FFIV) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at UBS.
• William Blair upgraded Lindsay Corporation (NYSE: LNN) to Outperform from Market Perform.

Freeport McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) closed at $65.48. Copper is recently up 3.85% to 296.250 according to Bloomberg. FCX call option volume of 44,375 contracts compares to put volume of 19,700 contracts. FCX September option implied volatility is at 48, November is at 55; below its 26-week of average of 65, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

streetTracks (NYSE: GLD) is recently down 18 cents to $93.69 in pre-open trading. Gold is recently down 0.34% to $955.55 according to Bloomberg. GLD September call option implied volatility is at 15, puts are at 16, October calls are at 17, puts are at 19; below its 26-week average of 26, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says even stocks without exposure to that country will probably be on sale today.

If China has pulled back 20%, do we have to pull back 20%, even though they were up 80% and we are up 9%? Are we so in lock step now that when China catches a cold, we are the ones with pneumonia?

I don't think so. It's such an easy story to stretch out, though you can see that our Freeports (NYSE: FCX) (Cramer's Take) and our Exxons (NYSE: XOM) (Cramer's Take) can get hammered.

Analyst upgrades:

• Citigroup upgraded American Express (NYSE: AXP) to Buy from Hold and added the stock to its Top Picks Live list following the company's investor day. Citi believes American Express' credit trends are improving and raised its price target on shares to $36 from $28.
• Janney Montgomery upgraded Gardner Denver (NYSE: GDI) to Buy from Neutral after meeting with management to reflect expectations for EPS growth in 2010 and valuation. The firm has a $38 target on the stock.
• BofA/Merrill upgraded Freeport McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) to Buy from Underperform and raised its target to $87 from $49 based on strong copper fundamentals.
• Cbeyond (NASDAQ: CBEY) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Stephens.
• Gibraltar Industries (NASDAQ: ROCK) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Baird.
• Fortress (NYSE: FIG) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Keefe Bruyette.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says in the wake of an upgrade, FCX has to do a big equity offering.

What will Richard Adkerson do? I can tell you what the CEO of Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) (Cramer's Take) ought to do in the wake of the Bank of America-Merrill Lynch upgrade to buy from sell. He ought to do the biggest darned equity offering in history.

I like Richard. He's candid, he's a great copper man, but he spent too much at the high on Phelps Dodge and wasn't prepared when copper prices plummeted as his balance sheet's simply not so hot. So he had to cut his dividend at the bottom, literally at the exact bottom.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says the plunge in China overnight is being blamed on the industrial metal, so expect some carry-over.

It turns out copper was the metric. Drats, I thought it was the dollar or oil. I thought we were supposed to buy the cyclicals on earnings being better than expected. I thought we might be buying the minerals and the steels and the oils off the morning proxy of the Baltic Freight Index, known as the Baltic Fright Index in the days when it kept going down, and kept us out of the Freeports (NYSE: FCX) (Cramer's Take) and Vales (NASDAQ: VALE) (Cramer's Take) and Union Pacifics (NYSE: UNP) (Cramer's Take) and U.S. Steels (NYSE: X) (Cramer's Take).

Silly me.

Analyst upgrades:

• Jefferies upgraded SAP (NYSE: SAP) to Buy from Hold on expectations license declines will trough in Q2 and margins will expand going forward due to cost control and price increases. The firm has a $46 price target on shares.
• BofA/Merrill upgraded STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM) to Buy from Underperform on expectations the company will benefit from improving industry fundamentals in 2010.
• Citigroup upgraded Freeport McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) to Buy from Hold to reflect the firm's positive copper outlook, as well as valuation following the recent pullback in shares. The firm has a $58 price target on the stock.
• Phototronics (NASDAQ: PLAB) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
• Anglo American (NASDAQ: AAUK) was raised to Hold from Sell at RBS.
• Peabody Energy (NASDAQ: BTU) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says the rally here seems too strong for the news and data we're getting.

Just as when Doug Kass says, "Tell me something I don't know," I think this market knows something we don't know, either about a turn in commercial real estate to rival that of residential -- the real estate investment trusts are holding in well -- or a second stimulus plan, a real one that will put more people to work.

The employment numbers aren't good enough to merit this kind of rally, and we know the layoffs for June were preposterously high. We know that the auto build will be slightly better than expected a few months ago, but it's still pathetic and the auto idlings are about to start.

Analyst Upgrades

• Wachovia upgraded Choice Hotels (NYSE: CHH) to Outperform from Market Perform based on its high margin franchise, valuation, and brand acquisition opportunities, among other reasons.
• Canaccord upgraded Freeport McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) to Buy from Speculative Buy based on asset and management quality, size, and liquidity, and view as a potential hedge against inflation and U.S. dollar weakness.
• Cowen upgraded Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) to Outperform from Neutral. The firm expects Amazon to gain more of the consumer wallet as it focuses on lower prices and a superior shopping experience vs. online and offline competitors.
• Ctrip.com (NASDAQ: CTRP) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Nomura.
• FedEx (NYSE: FDX) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.
• Marathon Oil (NYSE: MRO) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman.

Analyst Upgrades

• Citigroup upgraded Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB) to Hold from Sell citing reduced legacy risks and strength in the fixed income franchise.
• Janney Montgomery upgraded Fuel Systems (NASDAQ: FSYS) to Buy from Neutral based on valuation, the OEM market in Europe for alternative transportation is growing faster than expected, and the $30M equity raise was smaller than expected.
• Freeport McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform by FBR Capital. The firm believes that the company will benefit from copper supply issues over the long term, and it thinks the stock has reached an attractive entry point.
• Black & Decker (NYSE: BDK) was upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Credit Suisse.
• American Tower (NYSE: AMT) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan.
• EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) was upgraded at Barclays to Overweight from Equal Weight.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says China and the fund managers have a huge influence on price action.

We got Japanese steel price increases last night to stay in line with the recent American price increases. We have copper at a multiple-month high and looking like it will go higher.

Do you know what the common denominator of those two prices increases is?

Little to no demand outside of China. That's right, steel capacity is running about 40% worldwide. There's been no increase in copper capacity because there is no real demand. Both steel and copper companies are citing raw costs -- iron for steel and energy for copper -- as reasons they "have to" raise prices, even though Richard Adkerson, the CEO of Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) (Cramer's Take) admitted yesterday in an interview with Bloomberg that there isn't any "real" demand outside of China.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says you may hear reasons why the rally shouldn't have occurred, but you can't deny it did happen.

On Tuesday I wanted to shoot myself, as always when I woke up and went online to see what was going on. Here's a partial list of the beautiful data points that were in my purview in the first hour of looking over the market:

1. A trenchant note from a major strategist at a bank I trust who is talking about why the market must be avoided because private-equity valuations are collapsing, so what's the point of owning equities.

Analyst upgrades:

• UBS upgraded Target (NYSE: TGT) to Buy from Neutral and raised its price target to $52 from $45 citing reduced inventories, some credit stability, and an improved back-to-school period.
• Credit Suisse said concerns regarding Safeway's (NYSE: SWY) price position are overblown and that earnings risk is limited. The firm upgraded shares to Outperform from Neutral and raised the target price to $25 from $22.
• Oppenheimer upgraded Canadian Solar (NASDAQ: CSIQ) to Outperform from Perform as it believes the story is underappreciated following the recent sector rally. The firm has a $14 price target on the stock.
• CME Group (NASDAQ: CME) was upgraded to buy from Neutral at Goldman.
• Freeport McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan.
• Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at FTN Equity.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says it's hard not to capitulate when your clients demand irrationality.

When I was weighted short and we would have these seemingly endless days of rallying, it was the mornings that would get me. The mark-ups of the futures, the refusal of Asia or Europe to go down, the "tone." It was relentless.

Then I would get to the office and, after a long period in which all I heard were downgrades, I would be greeted by upgrades, where I would always scream, "Now? Now they upgrade Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) (Cramer's Take)?" Or, "He's putting Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) (Cramer's Take) on the list now, after this run?" Or, "Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) (Cramer's Take) goes from hold to buy? After it ran up 4 points? What is he thinking?"