Stocks were again higher throughout most of the trading day, yet the final closing bell "red or black" levels were not certain until literally the last few minutes of the day. Fed Treasury buying and anticipation of a Ben Bernanke speech kept the lid on Treasury yields as well. Chips remained weak today and some airline scares did not exactly serve as a great catalyst to drive all transports. What is often "Merger Monday" felt more like "Mixed Monday" today.

Here were the unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow Jones: 12,400.03 +23.31 (0.19%)

S&P500: 1,332.87 +0.46 (0.03%)

Nasdaq: 2,789.19 -0.41 (-0.01%)

Top Analyst Upgrades/Downgrades

More inflationary data in the economics and earnings reports matter not at the current time. Less unrest in Egypt, or a lack of escalating unrest, helped out as well. Better than expected auto sales also managed to come through despite awful weather for much of the month in many key markets. All in all, Tuesday was just another strong day for the market and it marked a positive start for the month of February. We got a close above S&P 1300 today!

Here were Tuesday's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow Jones 12,040.16 +148.23 (1.25%)
S&P 500 1,307.59 +21.47 (1.67%)
Nasdaq 2,751.19 +51.11 (1.89%)

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades

Another day that went right down to the wire. We had a real rise in rates and a move against commodities today. Irish banks had more help again early this morning. The end of day close was a coin-toss between red and black until the last few minutes. Here were the unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow Jones 11,372.48 +13.32 (0.12%)
S&P 500 1,228.28 +4.53 (0.37%)
Nasdaq 2,609.16 +10.67 (0.41%)

Top Analyst Calls

Arena Pharmaceuticals (ARNA), which soared over 10% in Monday morning trading, has set a new 52-week high of $6.75. Over the past month, Arena signed a licensing deal for its potential weight-loss drug, lorcaserin, with Japan's Eisai; released study results for the drug; and got a boost from a decision by a Food and Drug Administration panel on rival's Vivus (VVUS) drug. Arena's shares have more than doubled during that time.

The Eisai licensing deal is potentially worth about $1.3 billion. Meanwhile, the study results Arena released showed lorcaserin helped nearly half the patients lose 5% of their weight and improved their chances of keeping it off. Arena's drug did that while exhibiting a safer safety profile than either of its competitors' treatments: Vivus's Qnexa and Orexigen's (OREX) Contrave.

Pharmaceutical company Vivus (VVUS) has lost more than half of its value in pre-market trading Friday. Unfortunately for VVUS, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rejected the company's Qnexa weight-loss drug late Thursday -- citing a lack of long-term safety data.

The news triggered a glut of downgrades and target price cuts, including downgrades from Brean Murray, Needham, JP Morgan, and Jefferies.

The drop for VVUS is understandable when considering that Qnexa is the company's main drug. There is a slight (ever-so-slight) glimmer of hope for VVUS, as the FDA is not obliged to follow the recommendations of its panels. Of course, the agency usually does follow the recommendations of its panels.

Today was a wishy-washy day. We started out strong with overseas trading in stocks, but the G20 debt cut pledge seems unbelievable and is still in the years ahead rather than today. Judges upheld Sarbanes-Oxley, except for one issue, which was an attack against the measure of corporate governance. Financial regulatory reform may have just run into another snag after Senator Robert Byrd, a democrat from West Virgina, died at the age of 92 ahead of a key vote this week. Consumer spending also rose 0.2%, but income rose 0.4%, and that is being taken somewhat cautiously, despite being positive.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 10,138.52 -5.29 (-0.05%)
S&P 500 1,074.56 -2.20 (-0.20%)
Nasdaq 2,220.65 -2.83 (-0.13%)

Top Analyst Calls

Analyst Upgrades

• Wells Fargo upgraded Universal Health (UHS) to outperform from market perform to reflect the company's potential acquisition of Psychiatric Solutions (PSYS). The firm sees a 60% chance of Universal Health acquiring Psychiatric Solutions and estimates the deal would be accretive.
• Oppenheimer upgraded Lamar Advertising (LAMR) to outperform from perform following the company's Q1 results and Q2 guidance as it expects growth to pick up in Q3. The firm has a $44 price target for shares.
• UBS upgraded Las Vegas Sands (LVS) to buy from neutral based on valuation and Singapore outlook. The firm raised its price target to $28 from $24.
• Priceline.com (PCLN) was upgraded to buy from hold at ThinkEquity.
• Alcoa (AA) Was upgraded to outperform from market perform at BMO Capital.
• Brookfield Asset Management (BAM) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: General Motors, Green Mountain Coffee, Orexigen and Norsk Hydro were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Banc of America upgraded shares of General Motors Corporation (NYSE: GM) to Neutral from Sell as they believe the agreement with the United Auto Workers union offsets a worsening outlook for sales.
  
• Piper Jaffray upgraded shares of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (NASDAQ: GMCR) to Outperform from Market Perform after a meeting with management as they believe shares offer a compelling buying opportunity at current levels based on their 2009 estimates.
  
• JMP Securities upgraded shares of Orexigen Therapeutics (NASDAQ: OREX) to Strong Buy from Market Outperform as they believe the company's lead product candidates, Empatic and Contrave, could become front-line therapies for obesity due to improved durability of efficacy, increased safety and tolerability, and lack of addiction.
  
• Norsk Hydro (NYSE: NHY) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Citigroup. The firm sees upside in the stock from the volume growth and further improvements in downstream operations.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Lehman upgraded Temple Inland (NYSE TIN) to Overweight from Equal Weight.
  
• Ciena Corporation (NASDAQ: CIEN) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Merrill Lynch.
  
• HSBC upgraded ENI SpA (NYSE: E) to Overweight from Neutral.
  
• Nollenberger raised shares of Symyx Technologies (NASDAQ: SMMX) to Buy from Neutral.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Select pharmaceutical companies, timber companies and Kona Grill Inc (NASDAQ: KONA) and were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Medarex Inc (NASDAQ: MEDX) was initiated with a Positive rating at Susquehanna. The firm said Medarex has multiple drivers include a potential buyout by one of its existing partners, as well as clinical progress and the success of its technology platform in monoclonal antibody therapeutics.
• Susquehanna also initiated shares of Dyax Corporation (NASDAQ: DYAX), Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: MLNM), and Idera Pharmaceuticals Inc (AMEX: IDP) with Neutral ratings and Dynavax Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: DVAX) and Coley Pharmaceutical Group Inc (NASDAQ: COLY) with Positive ratings.
• Rayonier Inc (NYSE: RYN), Plum Creek Timber Company Inc (NYSE: PCL) and Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE: WY) were initiated with Buy ratings at Merrill Lynch.
• Kona Grill was initiated with an Outperform rating at Cowen. The firm believes Kona can grow its asset base 10-fold at strong store-level cash-on-cash ROICs.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Jefferies initiated shares of Input/Output Inc (NYSE: IO) with a Buy rating and $19 target.
• Goldman Sachs initiated shares of Minerals Technologies Inc (NYSE: MTX) with a Buy rating and $80 target.
• JP Morgan initiated shares of Orexigen Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: OREX) with an Overweight rating and is positive on the company's obesity pipeline.