A lot of earnings reports were issued last week. The market was busy sorting them all out. I'm going to take a fast look at several of the issuing companies.

American Express (NYSE: AXP): Don't leave home without it. Good advice for the card, perhaps, but what about the company? Should your portfolio leave home and forget this stock? I'd say so. It's not that American Express lost the earnings game. On the contrary, Bloomberg reported a beat. American Express earned 44 cents per share from continuing operations, adjusted. This was six pennies ahead of forecasts. Okay, I applaud such performance. And shares are way off the single-digit 52-week low. Thing is, I'm in love with another card business. Visa (NYSE: V). As I've stated before, I enjoy the beauty of Visa's lower-risk model. It doesn't have to put up with loan risk. Yes, the situation at American Express might be improving, but I'm not going to buy this one.

We had a lot of big names trading up to new 52 week highs again today. The overall markets were pretty flat, with the DOW closing the day down 0.14%, the NASDAQ closing the day's trading up 0.04%, and the S&P ending the day a bit lower to finish today's trading down 0.28%.

Here are a few of the names that moved higher during the day to set new 52 week highs.

Pharmaceutical company Merck (NYSE: MRK), whose colleagues include Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), issued its Q2 numbers earlier in the week. Quite frankly, I found them to be boring. Of course, maybe boring isn't too bad these days, right? It's a lot better than an exciting ride on a profit-decline express.

Well, actually, Merck did see a decline in its bottom-line profit, but it wasn't an outrageously awful drop or anything like that. Merck made an adjusted 83 cents per share compared to an adjusted 86 cents per share in the comparable period. Three less pennies isn't the worst thing in the world on a relative basis. Plus, revenues increased 3% if you exclude currency effects (including them gives a decrease of 3%).

This morning, Schering-Plough (NYSE: SGP) announced that the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) acccepted for review the company's Marketing Authorisation Application for asenapine. If approved, it will be sold as Sycrest in the form of a tablet for the treatment of schizophrenia and manic episodes associated with bipolar I disorder.

Currently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is reviewing a new-drug application for asenapine under the brand name Saphris.

SGP noted that it "highlighted asenapine as one of the Five Stars in our late-stage research and development pipeline at our R&D Update meeting in November 2008. At that time, we said that our aspirational filing date for asenapine in Europe was in 2009."

Wyeth (NYSE: WYE) closed at $43.11. Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) announced on January 26 the acquisition of WYE for $33 in cash and 0.985 of a share of PFE. PFE closed at $14.04. WYE April and May option implied volatility of 23 is near its 13-week average of 23, according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price movement.

Schering-Plough (NYSE: SGP) and Merck (NYSE: MRK) approved a definite merger agreement on March 9. SGP shareholders will receive 0.5767 shares and $10.50 in cash for each share of SGP. SGP closed at $24.19. MRK closed at $27.16. SGP April and May option implied volatility of 37 is near its 2-week average according to Track Data, suggesting non-directorial price movement.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

This post was written by Minyanville Contributor Steve Smith.

Pharmaceuticals have been alive and merging. The most recent deal is this morning's news that Gilead (NASDAQ:GILD) wants CV Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CVTX), which comes on the heals Roche's purchase of Genentech(NYSE:DNA) and Merck's (NYSE:MRK) proposed merger with Schering Plough(NYSE:SGP).

Finally, a morning where stocks are set to bounce at the open as some positive signs pushed U.S. stock futures higher. As investors await Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke's comments, there were some positive signs from the banking sector and on the deals front.

Citigroup (NYSE:C)'s Pandit said the bank was profitable during the first two months of the year. Also, Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW) decided tentatively to go ahead with its acquisition of Rohm & Hass (NYSE: ROH) after all. There were also reports Genentech (NYSE: DNA) was on the verge of being fully acquired -- all coming a day after the mega-deal between Merck (NYSE: MRK) and Schering Plough (NYSE: SGP).

Merck (NYSE: MRK) and Schering-Plough (NYSE: SGP) approved a definite merger agreement; SGP shareholders will receive 0.5767 shares and $10.50 in cash for each share of SGP. MRK is recently trading at $21.90 in pre-open trading, below its close at $22.74. MRK April option implied volatility of 55 is above its 26-week average of 50, according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

SGP is recently trading at $20.70 in pre-open trading, above its close of $17.63. SGP March option implied volatility is at 88; April is at 69; above its 26-week average of 55, according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

What's one mega-deal when the world's economy is about to shrink for the first time since World War II? Indeed, U.S. stock futures declined significantly Monday morning, indicating markets could sell off again at the start of trading today. Even the $41.1 billion merger between Merck (NYSE: MRK) and Schering-Plough (NYSE: SGP) didn't seem to do much as the global economic crisis cast a shadow over pretty much any good news.

The World Bank came out with a pessimistic outlook, saying the global economy is likely to shrink for the first time since World War II, and trade will decline by the most in 80 years. While the International Monetary Fund predicted in January a 0.5% global growth this year, the World Bank said world growth will be 5% below its potential, without giving a precise estimate.

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: APC) reported that its Q4 profit tripled but it fell short of estimates.
• Biogen Idec Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB) met earnings estimates but it is getting more pressure from Carl Icahn.
• BP (NYSE: BP) surprised Wall Street with a multibillion dollar Q4 loss due to lower oil prices.
• Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) beat Q2 estimates but warned that incoming orders have declined.
• Dick's Sporting Goods Inc. (NYSE: DKS) reaffirmed its previous Q4 guidance, which pleased investors.
• Estee Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE: EL) topped Q2 earings estimates and it announced job cuts.
• Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) Q4 earnings fell on higher claim expenses and lower investment income.
• JDS Uniphase Corp. (NASDAQ: JDSU) adjusted earnings were in line with estimates but revenue fell.

Pharmaceutical giant Schering-Plough (NYSE: SGP) stepped into the earnings spotlight today, and it is reaping the rewards of a positive report. SGP posted fourth-quarter earnings of $480 million, or 27 cents per share; but adjusted earnings came in at $633 million, or 39 cents per share.

This beat fourth quarter results of a year ago, when the company lost $2.08 per. Today's announcement also handily trounced the Street's expectations of 30 cents per share for the quarter, per analysts' estimates.

If you've been watching earnings this past week, or if you read last week's Week in Preview, then this coming week may leave you feeling a bit like Bill Murray in Groundhog's Day. That is, again analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect earnings declines to be more frequent and deeper than earnings gains.

Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT), Dow Chemical Co. (NYSE: DOW), Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: APC), IAC Interactivecorp (NASDAQ: IACI), Moody's Corp. (NYSE: MCO), Elizabeth Arden Inc. (NASDAQ: RDEN), Devon Energy Corp. (NYSE: DVN), Diebold Inc. (NYSE: DBD), Tyco International Ltd. (NYSE: TYC), United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS), Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. (NYSE: RL), ITT Corp. (NYSE: ITT), and Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) are scheduled to report quarterly results this week, and they're all expected to report double-digit declines in earnings.

But again this week, let's take a look who Wall Street feels may have done well in the past quarter.

Analyst upgrades:

• Goldman upgraded Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT) to Buy from Sell and added shares to its Conviction Buy List citing valuation. The firm also upgraded the Semiconductor Capital Equipment Sector to Attractive.
  
• Morgan Keegan believes Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) will emerge from the slowdown as a stronger company with greater market share and expansion into adjacent markets. Shares were upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform.
• Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.
  
• Daimler (NYSE: DAI) was upgraded at UBS to Neutral from Sell.
• Friedman Billings upgraded Mariner Energy (NYSE: ME) to Market Perform from Underperform on valuation and the company's upcoming catalysts in the deepwater GOM.
• Swiss Reinsurance (OTC: SWCEY) was raised to Buy from Hold at Citigroup.

Analyst downgrades:

• Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman.
• Deutsche Bank cut Hess Corp (NYSE: HES) and Marathon Oil (NYSE: MRO) to Hold from Buy and Suncor (NYSE: SU) and ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) to Sell from Hold after cutting their oil price forecast for 2009 to $60/bbl and 2010 to $58/bbl.
  
• Merrill downgraded Akzo Nobel (OTC: AKZOY) to Neutral from Buy on expectations the company's coatings end markets will worsen and chemicals division will see pressure next year.
• Monster (NASDAQ: MNST) was lowered at Citigroup to Hold from Buy.

Analyst upgrades:

• Keefe Bruyette upgraded MetLife (NYSE: MET) to Outperform from Market Perform as they believe the company's capital and liquidity profile are very solid relative to this week's sell-off.
  
• The firm also upgraded shares of MSCI (NYSE: MXB) to Outperform from Market Perform on valuation as they believe near-term challenges are already priced into shares.
  
• Burlington Northern (NYSE: BNI) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan based on valuation and strong pricing outlook.
• Costco (NASDAQ: COST) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
  
• Pali Capital lifted Virgin Mobile (NYSE: VM) to Neutral from Sell.
  
• Merrill upgraded Pall (NYS: PLL) and Xcel Energy (NYSE: XEL) to buy from Neutral.

Analyst downgrades:

• Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Trimble Navigation (NASDAQ: TRMB) to Perform from Outperform as they believe the company's Engineering and Construction division is facing a challenging period due to the credit market strain.
  
• Stephens downgraded Seacoast Banking (NASDAQ:SBCF) to Underweight from Equal Weight as they believe a dilutive capital raise is possible given future losses from real estate credits in coastal Florida.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says don't blame the currency, it's all about supply and demand.

The dollar.

How often do we hear that this currency as the culprit of the m.o. of everything that the "sophisticated" types think is happening. It is almost conspiratorial:

• the Fed raises rates;
• commodity prices come in because they are a hedge against the weak dollar;
• oil fluctuates in price because of the dollar;
• the dollar controls stocks and bonds.

I am not an unsophisticated player. I recognize that the dollar has some importance when investing in strong currency countries and when the translation to the dollar occurs, a la the amazing results in a company like a Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) (Cramer's Take) or a Schering-Plough (NYSE: SGP) (Cramer's Take) or a H.J. Heinz (NYSE: HNZ) (Cramer's Take).

But the dollar and oil? Okay, I hear the intellectuals, but how about the empiricals: oil went from $119 to $148 while the dollar was steady against the Euro. Do the facts matter? What happens if they get in the way of the intellectuals' stories.