Analyst Upgrades

• BB&T (BBT) and Aflac (AFL) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• Kodiak Oil & Gas (KOG) to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.
• Zhongpin (HOGS) to neutral from reduce at Global Hunter.
• Marathon Oil (MRO), Noble Energy (NBL) and Manulife Financial (MFC) to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Carrizo Oil & Gas (CRZO) to buy from hold at Canaccord.
• Comerica (CMA) to buy from neutral at Rochdale.

The bulls just keep running. So much so that even the bears have started wearing horns and fake hooves so that they fit in a little better. A tame CPI figure on consumer inflation helped things steady and then a less-bad homebuilder survey allowed the run to continue higher. Oil prices ramped up on lower crude inventories as well. Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 9,790.35 +106.94 (1.10%)
S&P 500 1,068.76 +16.13 (1.53%)
Nasdaq 2,133.15 +30.51 (1.45%)

Top Analyst Upgrades
Top Analyst Downgrades
Top Trader Alerts

MOST NOTEWORTHY: The Managed Care sector, Keryx Biopharma and Citrix Systems were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Goldman downgraded the Managed Care sector to Neutral from Attractive following WellPoint's (NYSE: WLP) reduced 2008 outlook. The firm said WellPoint's issues reflect a company specific underwriting error but also industry-wide pricing pressures which increase the risk of a cyclical slowdown in managed care. WellPoint was also downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan.
  
• Banc of America cut Keryx Biopharma (NASDAQ: KERX) to Neutral from Buy and lowered their target to $1.00 after Sulonex failed to meet its primary endpoint.
  
• Jefferies downgraded shares of Citrix Systems (NASDAQ: CTXS) to Hold from Buy, as they believe the first half of 2008 will be a tough year for software and are increasingly worried about the macro environment.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Level 3 Comm (NASDAQ: LVLT) was downgraded to Underweight from Market Weight at Thomas Weisel.
  
• Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) was lowered to Neutral from Buy at Piper Jaffray.
  
• Credit Suisse removed Bunge Limited (NYSE: BG) from its U.S. Focus List.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Thornburg Mortgage, Keryx Biopharma and Aeropostale were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Jefferies downgraded shares of Thornburg Mortgage (NYSE: TMA) to Underperform from Hold after the company said it is unable to meet margin calls despite asset sales and will restate 2007 earnings.
  
• Keryx Biopharma (NASDAQ: KERX) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Merrill, to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan, to Underperform from Market Perform at Rodman & Renshaw, to Hold from Buy at Jefferies and to Underperform from Outperform at Bear Stearns after the company announced the Sulonex SUN-MICRO Phase 3 trial failed to meet the primary endpoint.
  
• Citigroup lowered Aeropostale (NYSE: ARO) to Sell from Hold as they believe inventory levels are building and that there is downside risk to Q1 estimates.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Deutsche Bank cut Lincare Holdings (NASDAQ: LNCR) to Sell from Hold.
  
• RBC Capital lowered J2 Global (NASDAQ: JCOM) to Sector Perform from Outperform.
  
• Goldman removed Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) from its Conviction Buy List.