Analyst upgrades:

• Merrill upgraded shares of AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) to Neutral from Underperform to reflect the company's pipeline momentum and lack of negative catalysts.
  
• Keefe Bruyette upgraded Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB) to Outperform from Market Perform on valuation as they believe DB should trade at a higher multiple.
• Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS.A) was raised at HSBC to Overweight from Neutral.
• American International (NYSE: AIG) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS.

Analyst downgrades:

• Merrill cut Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO) to Underperform from Neutral as the firm sees better opportunities elsewhere in the sector.
  
• Merriman downgraded Rackable Systems (NASDAQ: RACK) to Neutral from Buy following the company's mixed Q2 results to reflect its customer concentration and fluctuating margins.
• Janus Capital (NYSE: JNS) was downgraded at JP Morgan to Underweight from Neutral.
  
• Fortress (NYSE: FIG) was cut to Sell from Hold at Citigroup.

Analyst initiations:

• UBS believes Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) has a competitive advantage and their checks indicate new Macs, new iPhone colors and potentially new iPods may come early on in the second half of 2008. The firm initiated shares with a Buy rating and $195 target. UBS also initiated Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) at Neutral.
• KeyBanc initiated Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ: BBBY) with an Underweight rating and $25 target based on slowing core growth at Bed Bath and likely margin erosion from the ramp in growth at Christmas Tree Shops and buybuy Baby.
• Infineon (NYSE: IFX) was initiated with a Buy rating at Deutsche Bank.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Webster Financial, Eaton and Macrovision were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Keefe Bruyette upgraded shares of Webster Financial (NYSE: WBS) to Outperform from Market Perform on valuation as they feel the company is adequately capitalized and in a position to withstand the weakening credit markets.
  
• JP Morgan upgraded Eaton (NYSE: ETN) to Overweight from Neutral citing bullish management comments at its conference last week.
  
• Piper upgraded Macrovision (NASDAQ: MVSN) to Buy from Neutral citing the closure of the Gemstar deal.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Lehman upgraded U.S. stocks to Overweight from Underweight.
  
• Goldman added Hess Corp (NYSE: HES) and Mosaic (NYSE: MOS) to its Conviction Buy List.
  
• Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO) was raised at HSBC to Neutral from Underweight.
  
• Jefferies upgraded ASM International (NASDAQ: ASMI) to Hold from Underperform.

Former Vice President Al Gore is doing quite nicely staying out of the current political fray.

Generation Investment Management Ltd., which he co-founded with ex-Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS) banker David Blood in 2004, attracted nearly $5 billion to its main Global Equity Fund and is probably restricting inflows into the fund next month, according to Bloomberg News.

The fund has some pretty high ideals according to its Web site: "We focus on the economic, environmental, social, and governance risks and opportunities that can materially affect a company's ability to sustain profitability and deliver returns. Our research plays an important role in forming our views on the quality of the business, the quality of management, and valuation."

So how does that translate in the real world? Al Gore isn't providing performance details, according to the Bloomberg story. It's kind of weird for Gore to be so mum considering that its biggest holding Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO) is up more than 60% over the past year in U.S. trading.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: World Wrestling, Novo Nordisk and Nestle were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• B. Riley downgraded shares of World Wrestling Entertainment (NYSE: WWE) to Neutral from Buy on valuation with the stock only 1% below their target price. However, B. Riley admits shares may move higher during the next 30-35 days, due to the upcoming WrestleMania event in Orlando, FL.
  
• Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Merrill on valuation and a lack of near-term catalysts; shares were also lowered to Peer Perform from Outperform at Bear Stearns.
  
• ING lowered Nestle (OTC: NSRGY) to Hold from Buy as they expect organic growth to slow in 2008.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Banc of America downgraded Paychex (NASDAQ: PAYX) to Neutral from Buy.
  
• HSBC downgraded Repsol SA (NYSE: REP) to Neutral from Overweight.
  
• Del Monte Foods (NYSE: DLM) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wachovia.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Coca-Cola, Novo Nordisk and Equinix were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Bear Stearns upgraded The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) to Outperform from Peer Perform, as they expect it to post solid earnings short-term with potential upside, and over the long-term due to its upgraded business model.
• Bernstein raised its rating on Novo Nordisk AS (NYSE: NVO) to Outperform from Market Perform, as they believe consensus estimates do not reflect the company's growth potential.
• Merriman upgraded shares of Equinix Inc (NASDAQ: EQIX) to Buy from Neutral on valuation following the recent sell-off. The firm expects strong Q4 results.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• BG Group Plc (OTC: BRGYY) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
• PetSmart Inc (NASDAQ: PETM) was raised to Buy from Neutral by Goldman Sachs.
  
• Bear upgraded Urban Outfitters Inc (NASDAQ: URBN) to Peer Perform from Underperform.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Red Hat, Capital One and Novo Nordisk were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Banc of America downgraded shares of Red Hat (NYSE: RHT) to Neutral from Buy, despite expectations for solid Q3 results, due to a lack of billings catalysts and their belief that JBoss continues to have trouble gaining momentum.
  
• Capital One (NYSE: COF) was lowered to Hold from Buy at Jefferies, as they expect limited upside until investors have improved visibility on the extent and timing of credit losses.
  
• Merrill downgraded Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO) to Neutral from Buy on a lack of near-term catalysts with the company's diabetes and obesity drug-trial data being already presented.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Goldman removed CME Group (NYSE: CME) from its Conviction Buy List.
  
• JP Morgan lowered Plantronics (NYSE: PLT) to Underweight from Neutral.
  
• Thomas Weisel downgraded SLM Corp (NYSE: SLM) to Market Weight from Overweight.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Knot Inc (KNOT), Cablevision (CVC), Chesapeake Energy Corp (CHK), Green Mountain Coffee (GMCR) and Intermec (IN) were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Merriman downgraded shares of Knot Inc (NASDAQ: KNOT) to Neutral from Buy following the company's mixed outlook to reflect poor visibility.

• Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wachovia following its disappointing Q2 report and guidance. The firm does not expect a higher Dolan bid.

• Wachovia also downgraded shares of Chesapeake Energy Corp (NYSE: CHK) to Market Perform from Outperform. The firm said management expects an equity offering in the next 6-9 months, which is in contrast to recent comments regarding capital discipline and funding plans.

• Green Mountain Coffee (NASDAQ: GMRC) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Piper Jaffray on valuation and tough year/year comparisons.

• Bear Stearns downgraded Intermec (NYSE: IN) to Underperform from Peer Perform on valuation.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Lehman downgraded Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO) to Equal Weight from Overweight.

• Davenport downgraded Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co (NYSE: WWY) to Neutral from Buy on valuation.

• Delta Petroleum (NASDAQ: DPTR) was downgraded at Merrill Lynch to Sell from Neutral.

• JMP Securities lowered Kenexa (NASDAQ: KNXA) to Market Perform from Outperform.

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

A press release [PDF] out this morning confirmed positive Phase III results of Novo Nordisk's (NYSE: NVO) potential blockbuster drug, Liraglutide, which is an analogue of the naturally-occurring hormone GLP-1 in development by Novo for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. The clinical results of the first of five late-stage studies showed that Liraglutide provided significantly better glucose control and led to significantly more weight loss than patients who used Sanofi-Aventis SA's (NYSE: SNY) Lantus.

Novo CEO Lars Rebien Sorensen said the company is looking to apply for regulatory approval of the drug in the U.S. and Europe in the middle of next year, and hopes to receive approval by mid-2009.

This data is excellent news for Novo, who has been trying to gain market share against competitors for some time in the attractive U.S. diabetes market. Unfortunately, the data is also a negative for rivals Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: AMLN), Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) and Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE), who all have diabetes drugs on the market - Byetta and the inhalable insulin Exubera, respectively.

Shares of Novo were up nearly 4.5% this morning on the Liraglutide data, which some analysts called "a positive surprise."

On tonight's MAD MONEY on CNBC, Jim Cramer said the bulls got what they wanted as the Federal Reserve is removing the "firming" bias from their statement today. The market is back, according to Cramer. The defensive stocks bottomed, then the financials, and then the commodities and cyclical stocks. Cramer also noted that Shanghai is back up above its pre-drop levels and he said the short national nightmare is over. But since things are not that great he thinks the Fed will go toward a rate cut.

Cramer now thinks that the big cyclicals like Boeing Co. (NYSE:BA), Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT), United Technologies (NYSE:UTX), Deere & Co. (NYSE:DE), Ingersoll-Rand (NYSE:IR), and Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold (NYSE:FCX) have bottomed. A specific company -- Haynes International (NASDAQ:HAYN) -- is one you will hear a lot about from Cramer. It sold 1 million shares for itself to bolster the balance sheet. It is in performance metals and in the same group as Allegheny Technologies (NYSE:ATI). He thinks the demand for its products is big and now the company got itself off of the pink sheets and has enough stock to make it an in-demand stock and liquid. HAYN is now up 2.4% to $69.50 per share in after-hours, and Cramer thinks it is going higher after shoring up its balance sheet.