Analyst upgrades:

• Kaufman Bros. upgraded American Superconductor (NASDAQ: AMSC) to Buy from Hold as it believes the follow-on contract from Sinovel has positive implications. The firm has a $36 price target on shares.
• Goldman upgraded Nike (NYSE: NKE) to Buy from Neutral citing valuation, visible long-term growth, and signs of sales stabilization. The firm has a $75 target on shares.
• Deutsche Bank upgraded Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ: HBAN) to Buy from Hold on valuation following the recent underperformance. The firm raised its target on shares to $5.50 from $4.
• Novartis (NYSE: NVS) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Citigroup.
• eHealth (NASDAQ: EHTH) was upgraded to Buy from Accumulate at ThinkEquity.
• China Precision Steel (NASDAQ: CPSL) was upgraded to Hold from Sell at Roth Capital.

Analyst upgrades:

• Citigroup upgraded MEMC Electronic (NYSE: WFR) to Buy from Hold after channel checks indicated solar poly price pressures are easing. The firm added MEMC to its Top Picks Live list and raised its price target on shares to $24 from $15.
  
• FBR Capital upgraded PHH Corp (NYSE: PHH) to Outperform from Market Perform to reflect an improvement in mortgage banking fundamentals and recent management changes at the company. The firm raised its target on shares to $23 from $13.
  
• Deutsche Bank upgraded PerkinElmer (NYSE: PKI) to Hold from Sell on valuation, seeing a balanced risk/reward at current levels. The firm raised its target on shares to $19 from $14.
• Pearson plc (NYSE: PSO) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.
  
• Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) was upgraded to Conviction Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
  
• Nymagic (NYSE: NYM) was upgraded to Market Perform from Underperform at Keefe Bruyette.

Analyst upgrades:

• Axys Tech (NASDAQ: AXYS) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Morgan Joseph based on valuation.
  
• Elizabeth Arden (NASDAQ: RDEN) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Wedbush on valuation and the success of the company's Viva La Juicy launch.

Analyst downgrades:

• Keefe Bruyette downgraded Greenhill & Co. (NYSE: GHL) and Evercore Partners (NYSE: EVR) to Market Perform from Outperform on valuation and lowered its estimates to reflect slower than initially expected M&A advisory transactions. Greenhill's target was lowered to $66 from $72 and Evercore's was cut to $14.50 from $16.
  
• Collins Stewart downgraded shares of Thermage (NASDAQ: THRM) to Hold from Buy following the Reliant acquisition to reflect integration and balance sheet concerns.

Analyst initiations:

• Roth Capital views American Oriental (NYSE: AOB) as a cash-rich, multi-faceted pharmaceutical company that is well equipped to handle unforeseen changes in China's Health care market. Shares were initiated with a Buy rating and $10 target.
  
• Jesup & Lamont believes Bristow Group (NYSE: BRS) is well positioned in current downturn as the majority of its business is in production platforms and drilling rigs. The firm started shares with a Buy rating and $37 target.
  
• Barrington initiated BWAY Holding (NYSE: BWY) with an Outperform rating and $9 target. The firm believes the company is an early cycle business that should benefit from cost reduction activity.
• Grand Canyon (NASDAQ: LOPE) was assumed with a Buy rating and $21 target at Piper Jaffray.

Those who were hoping for an Obama victory lap on the floor of the NYSE only got their toes bitten by bears. Weakening economic data and the market preparing for very weak retail sales numbers took away any shot of major gains today, and you can always blame major profit taking after a multi-day rally phase we saw.

Top Analyst Upgrades
Top Analyst Downgrades

Arcelor Mittal (NYSE: MT) was slapped after the global steel giant gave guidance for EBITDA in Q4 at $2.5 to $3.0 billion. This is being taken as an earnings warning with 2008 expectations being implied at roughly $24.2 billion as being more than 10% under consensus expectations. Shares were down 20% at $25.30 on above average volume shortly before the close.

Greenhill & Co., Inc. (NYSE: GHL) was down after it filed to sell up to 3.5 million shares of common stock in a secondary offering. Shares were down over 11% at $61.61 shortly before the close.

Analyst upgrades:

• Keefe Bruyette upgraded shares of ING Group (NYSE: ING) to Outperform from Market Perform after upgrading the European insurance sector to Overweight from Neutral due to improved risk management.
  
• Keefe Bruyette also upgraded Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) to Market Perform from Underperform to reflect the company's national footprint if the Wachovia (NYSE: WB) deal goes through.
  
• JP Morgan upgraded Dollar Tree (NASDAQ: DLTR) to Overweight from Neutral citing top line performance, growth profile and valuation, among other reasons.
• Jabil Circuit (NYSE: JBL) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.
  
• Amylin Pharma (NASDAQ: AMLN) was raised to Hold from Sell at Citigroup.
  
• Louisiana Pacific (NYSE: LPX) was upgraded at RBC Capital to Sector Perform from Underperform.

Analyst downgrades:

• Jefferies downgraded shares of Ecolab (NYSE: ECL) to Hold from Buy and lowered its target to $50 from $55 to reflect risks to the company's earnings outlook from the weakening economy.
  
• Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) was cut to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank as they believe the economic slowdown will bring slower volumes. Coca-Cola's target was lowered to $56 from $64.

Analyst upgrades:

• Banc of America upgraded shares of Pepsi Bottling (NYSE: PBG) to Buy from Neutral on valuation as they expect better leverage in FY09 and believe an overly bearish outlook is priced in. The company's target was raised to $37 from $35.
  
• Goldman upgraded Washington Mutual (NYSE: WM) to Neutral from Sell and said Q3 results were worse than expected but not as bad as the decline in shares suggests. The analyst said WaMu's capital and reserves appear stable and that the company might be able to avoid another capital raise. WaMu's target was raised to $4 from $5.
  
• Greenhill & Co (NYSE: GHL) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Wachovia.
  
• F5 Networks (NASDAQ: FFIV) was upgraded at JP Morgan to Overweight from Underweight.
  
• Baird upgraded Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD) to Outperform from Neutral.

Analyst downgrades:

• Jefferies downgraded PharmaNet Development (NASDAQ: PDGI) to Underperform from Buy following the lowered guidance as they believe the company's execution and cost control problems have not been solved. The company's target was lowered to $15 from $27.
  
• JP Morgan downgraded shares of Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) to Underweight from Neutral to reflect their weak outlook for the company's Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE) handset unit.
  
• Deutsche Bank downgraded shares of Danaher (NYSE: DHR) to Hold from Buy on valuation and concerns about the company's FX exposure.
  
• Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) was cut to Neutral from Buy at UBS.
  
• Portugal Telecom (NYSE: PT) was lowered to sell from Neutral at UBS and to Underweight from Neutral at JP Morgan.
  
• Quality Systems (NASDAQ: QSII) and BioScrip (NASDAQ: BIOS) were downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Piper.

Analyst initiations:

• Jefferies initiated Massey Energy (NYSE: MEE) with a Buy rating and $80 target. The firm expects substantial margin improvement, free cash flow, and earnings growth with eastern utility coal inventory levels under pressure and a robust export and met coal market.
  
• William Blair started BioMarin Pharmaceutical (NASDAQ: BMRN) with an Outperform rating. The firm expects strong EPS growth during 2008-2010, thinks the company's pipeline is underappreciated by the Street, and feels expectations have been reset to a reasonable level.
• Friedman Billings initiated the Lodging sector with a Market Weight rating, starting InterContinental Hotels (NYSE: IHG) and Marriott (NYSE: MAR) with outperform ratings and targets of $16 and $34, respectively, and Starwood Hotels (NYSE: HOT) with a Market Perform rating.
• Citigroup initiated Diamond Offshore (NYSE: DO) with a Buy rating and $126 target.