MOST NOTEWORTHY: Energy East, SunTrust Banks and Suncor were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Jefferies upgraded shares of Energy East (NYSE: EAS) to Buy from Hold on valuation, pointing out the return on the transaction if the Iberdrola/EAS merger deal closes is 21.9%. The firm raised their target to $28.50 from $25.50.
  
• Baird upgraded SunTrust Banks (NYSE: STI) to Outperform from Neutral citing valuation and notes the company is unlikely to need to raise capital.
  
• CIBC raised Suncor (NYSE: SU) to Outperformer from Sector Performer following news that Alberta's Energy Resource Conservation Board has lifted restrictions on production on the company's Firebag SAGD project.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Sterling Bancshares (NASDAQ: SBIB) was lifted to Outperform from Market Perform at Keefe Bruyette.
  
• Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) was upgraded at Morgan Stanley to Equal Weight from Underweight.
  
• Kinetic Concepts (NYSE: KCI) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: E-Trade, Sterling Bancshares and Research in Motion and were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Bank of America downgraded shares of E-Trade (NASDAQ: ETFC) to Sell from Neutral, as they no longer believe the value of the company's retail brokerage business can offset negative value at the bank.
  
• Sterling Bancshares (NASDAQ: SBIB) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Baird on valuation.
  
• Morgan Keegan lowered its rating on Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) to Market Perform from Outperform, and believes the 8000 series upgrade cycle will likely slow and that share performance will be impacted by expectations of a slowing economy..

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• UAL Corp. (NASDAQ: UAUA) and Johnson Controls (NYSE: JCI) were downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Lehman.
  
• Chesapeake (NYSE: CHK) was lowered to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley.