Today and yesterday will go down in the history books as THE BAILOUT DAYS. The market was up sharply on record volume and short squeezes almost everywhere after the government bailout plans and the ban on short selling financial stocks. As the advance-decline line was massive with 85% NYSE stocks and 71% of NASDAQ stocks up on last look today, we wanted to mostly cover some of the ones which failed to chase the market. Here are today's unofficial closing bell averages:
DJIA 11,385.51 +365.82; +3.32%
NASDAQ 2,264.83 +65.73; +2.99%
S&P500 1,250.90 +44.39; +3.68%
10YR T-Bond 3.769% +0.332%
52-week lows
Top Analyst Upgrades
Top Analyst Downgrades

The biggest winner of the troubled financial stocks in today's final minutes was American International Group (NYSE: AIG). There was no news from the company, it was all the bailout and barring of short sales in the stock. Its shares were up more than 57% at $4.24 in today's final minutes before the close.

As we wanted to focus on the stocks that lagged today, here is that list of key stocks....

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) was down 4% at $20.02 in the final minutes before the close but shares had been down as low as $19.27 today. Its loss of search market share again hurt the stock and day traders pounded it early on.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: British Airways (BAIRY), Symantec (SYMC), OfficeMax (OMX), Qwest (Q) and Metlife (MET) were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• ABN Amro upgraded British Airways (OTC: BAIRY) to Hold from Sell on valuation.

• Friedman Billings believes Symantec's (NASDAQ: SYMC) fundamentals are about to show significant improvement over the next year and upgraded shares to Outperform from Market Perform.

• JP Morgan raised OfficeMax (NYSE: OMX) shares to Overweight from Neutral on valuation.

• Qwest (NYSE: Q) was upgraded to Sector Outperformer from Sector Performer, expecting revenue growth to be driven by the improving enterprise business. JP Morgan added Qwest to its Focus List.
  

• Metlife (NYSE: MET) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Merrill, based on valuation...
  

OTHER UPGRADES:

• ValueClick (NASDAQ: VCLK) was upgraded to Sector Perform from Underperform at Pacific Crest.

• Penn West (NYSE: PWE) was upgraded to Sector Perform from Underperform at RBC Capital.

• Friedman Billings upgraded Cubic (AMEX: CUB) to Market Perform from Underperform.

• Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Jones Apparel (NYSE: JNY) to Equal Weight from Underweight.

• Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM) was raised to Sector Outperformer from Sector Performer at CIBC.

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

While the market plummeted 311 points today on loan worries; it is easy for people to forget the market is still up. Last week when the Dow broke 14,000; it was up 12.3% for the year. Now the market is up 8.1%. But are we really in a crisis? Market corrections are a normal part of the action and we will live through it. People celebrate when their favorite retail stores have a sale and drop prices; but when the stock market has a sale they panic.

The NYSE had volume of 4.2 billion shares with 313 shares advancing while 3,036 declined for a loss of 275.98 points to close at 9,654.38. On the NASDAQ, 3.5 billion shares traded, 553 advanced and 2,583 declined for a loss of 48.83 to 2599.34.

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ: AKAM) fell $8.91 (-19%) to $38.27 on outlook. The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (NYSE: GT) fell $2.87 (-9%) to $29.18 on cut forecasts. Sotheby's (NYSE: BID) fell $5.60 (-11%) to $45.50. OfficeMax Incorporated (NYSE: OMX) fell $3.1 (-8%) to $33.65 after Office Depot (NYSE: ODP) weighed down the sector with lower results.

The options market saw about two and have time normal activity with 11.3 million puts and 8.6 million calls for a put call ratio of 1.3. A lot of this volume was on the indexes we usually ignore index option volume because it isn't that interesting by the PowerShares QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ: QQQQ) saw heavy volume on the August 50 calls (QQQHX) with over 109,815 options trading and the 49 calls (QQQHW) moved over 84,000 contracts. On the put side of things there were a lot of people buying insurance with the August 48 puts (QQQTV) moving 147,000 options trading and the August 49 puts (QQQTW) counted over 122,000 options traded. Apple Computer (NASDAQ: AAPL) saw heavy volume on the August 150 calls (APVHJ) with over 74,816 options trading as the stock moved up 6% today. General Motors (NYSE: GM) saw heavy volume on the January 40 calls (GMAH) with over 33,000 options trading.

Kevin Kersten is an Options Analyst with InvestorsObserver.com. Mr. Kersten does own Office Depot Stock.

Office Depot (NYSE: ODP) warned that its quarter would be disappointing due to weak economic conditions in the U.S. and slow sales of PCs because Vista adoption is anemic.

It would be tempting to view the Office Depot warning as isolated, but it probably is not. The first line of companies that are likely to be having similar problems are Office Max (NYSE: OMX) and Staples (NASDAQ: SPLS). The three companies are already doing badly. Office Depot's shares are down 20% over the last year, and the shares of the other two companies are flat.

Sales at the companies may well be something of an economic indicator of how business in general is doing. They sell a wide range of products from PCs to office furniture. If these purchases are being delayed it means that a lot of the corporate economy across the country is being pinched.

The poor sales at Office Depot and its competition is also probably a sign that PC sales and Vista adoption are weaker then is thought in some circles. With Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) and Hewlett-Packard (NASDAQ: HPQ) trading near 52-week highs, Wall Street clearly assuming there is a pick-up in computer sales. And, if Vista sales are indeed slow, Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) next quarter could be soft.

Look out below.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

Yes, it's June already, and as the heat begins to rise, so does rumor rage.

PACKETEER INC (NASDAQ: PKTR)

On the block? If some investors have their way it is. The developer of wide area network, or WAN, Application Optimization systems expects first quarter revenues to fall about 20% from the fourth quarter's $42.7M. Leading the insurgency is "activist investor" Elliott Associates which holds 6.3% of the shares. In a letter to the firm's board, Elliott wrote that the company has "proven unable" to take advantage of its "leading technology." Better to be in the arms of a bigger company? The vultures think so.

GUITAR CENTER INC (NASDAQ: GTRC)

Quicker than you can strum your guitar, this number appears to be up. Up for sale. The information is coming faster than a high strung solo. Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS) is playing the lead. What an auction it will be. For the leading retailer of musical instruments, the stock disappoints, the direct response business is out of tune. A Goldman analyst reportedly said the company is a turnaround candidate, but may sell. Talk about blowing your own horn. We hear the LBOs are lined up right outside the Westlake Village headquarters in California. Everyone have a number?

INFOSPACE INC (NASDAQ: INSP)

How many pesetas, uh Euros, does it take to make about a billion dollars? Ask Spain's LaNetro Zed. That's about what some think they're offering to buy InfoSpace, the developer of tools and technology that helps "regular" folk find content and information on the Internet or on their mobile. Privately-held LaNetro Zed provides mobile phone content and services. What's the hook here that they'd pay that much? Access to the U.S. market, of course. The answer, by the way, is about 800M Euros.

OFFICE DEPOT INC (NYSE: ODP)

If you just lined up $1B worth of borrowing, which could go up to $1.25B, what would you do with it? Buy something, maybe? Sound like a good idea? Well, that's what Office Depot just did, and may do. Now who are they going to buy? OfficeMax Inc (NYSE: OMX), maybe? Maybe. If true, then, along with Staples Inc (NASDAQ: SPLS), there would be just two biggies in retail office supplies, and the Depot would be number one.

OPENWAVE SYSTEMS INC (NASDAQ: OPWV)

And we're off! The stock has been on an upward trend for about a month. Volume is increasing. Sybase Inc (NYSE: SY) is in the lead to buy the phone browser and messaging company. What about Harbinger's push on the inside? Now it's BridgePort Networks in the pack. Will Openwave overtake it? The field is tightening. Others could move up and take the lead. No one knows for sure how this one gwill end, folks. What a finish it's going to be!

DILLARD'S INC (NYSE: DDS)

The founders may be seeking "strategic alternatives." Eyes wide open, please.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) is near a deal to sell its plastics division to Saudi Basic Industries for $11B, reported the Wall Street Journal (subscription required).
• Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc (NYSE: BUD) has stopped making its Spykes malt beverage amid poor sales and criticism that it was marketing to underage drinkers, reported the Wall Street Journal.

OTHER PAPERS:

• According to the Telegraph, citing Cadbury-Schweppes ADS (NYSE: CSG), two rival private-equity groups are preparing to bid for the U.S. beverages arm of the company, with bids in the GBP8B range.
• The Times of India reported that Citigroup Inc (NYSE: C) is putting its captive business process outsourcing arm, which could be worth between $1B-$1.5B, on the block.
• BusinessWeek's "Inside Wall Street" column focused on OfficeMax Incorporated (NYSE: OMX), Verichip Corporation (NASDAQ: CHIP) and Morton's Restaurant Group (NYSE: MRT):
  
• Office Max may be a target for Staples Inc (NASDAQ: SPLS) or Office Depot Inc (NYSE: ODP).
  
• Verichip, a maker of RFID chips, is starting to get attention on Wall Street.
  
• Morton's is being helped by boardroom business being conducted at the upscale steakhouse.

Prudential is hitting the large electronics sellers after Best Buy numbers disappointed yesterday. The firm cut Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) to Neutral and Circuit City (NYSE:CC) to Underweight.

Staples Inc. (NASDAQ:SPLS), Orthfix (NASDAQ:OFIX), and Office Max Inc. (NYSE:OMX) were all initiated with a Buy at Banc of America.

Trucker valuations are a concern at Deutsche Bank: YRC Worldwide (NASDAQ:YRCW) and J.B.Hunt (NASDAQ:JBHT) were both cut to Hold because of excessive valuation despite the private equity and management buyouts in the sector.

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods announced a competing call by starting American Express (NYSE:AXP) as an Outperform and MasterCard Inc. (NYSE:MA) as an Underperform (MA trading down almost 0.5% on this rating call).

Full list of research calls here.

Jon Ogg is a partner in 24/7 Wall St, LLC. He dows not own securities in the companies he covers.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Western Union (WU) and Office Max (OMX) top today's modest list of initiations.

• Western Union was initiated with a Buy at Soleil Securities. The firm believes Western Union is well positioned to take advantage of the projected growth in the world's immigrant population.
• Office Max was initiated by Piper Jaffray with an Outperform rating and $50 target. The firm still believes there is upside to Office Max's turnaround story led by their management team.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Diamond Offshore (DO) was initiated with a Buy rating and $107 target at Calyon Securities citing valuation and industry fundamentals for the rating.
• UBS assumed coverage of Alltel (AT) with a Neutral citing a weak wholesale/roaming revenue outlook. Alltel was also initiated by Pacific Crest with a Market Perform Alltel, citing modest growth prospects.
• And finally, Electronics for Imaging (EFII) was initiated with a Neutral at the Banc of America. The firm believes Q4 estimates will need to come down based on the impact of further delays at Canon (CAJ) on the 70 page per minute printer, pushing a lunch to March 2007.

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