MOST NOTEWORTHY: Advance Auto Parts Inc (NYSE: AAP), Solectron Corporation (NYSE: SLR), Carnival Corporation (NYSE: CCL) and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (NYSE: RCL) and were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• JP Morgan upgraded shares of Advance Auto Parts to Neutral from Underweight citing increased confidence in the company's turnaround efforts.
• Solectron was upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Credit Suisse to reflect the company's acquisition by Flextronics International (NASDAQ: FLEX).
• Carnival was upgraded to Strong Buy from Outperform and Royal Caribbean was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Raymond James.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• BHP Billiton Ltd (NYSE: BHP) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Citigroup on valuation and their expectations for higher commodity prices.
• Matrix USA upgraded shares of Callaway Golf Company (NYSE: ELY) to Hold from Strong Sell, as the firm believes growing demand for new products is driving positive fundamental trends.
• Lehman upgraded Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW) to Overweight from Equal Weight, citing the potential for an accretive acquisition of buyback.

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

MOST NOTEWORTHY: The electronics manufacturing services sector was today's noteworthy initiation:

• Credit Suisse initiated coverage of the EMS sector with an Underweight. The firm believes the industry is burdened with overcapacity in high-cost manufacturing regions, with hyper competition, allowing for no pricing power.
  
• The analyst initiated Flextronics International Ltd (NASDAQ: FLEX) with an Outperform rating.
  
• Benchmark Electronics, Inc (NYSE: BHE), Jabil Circuit, Inc (NYSE: JBL), Plexus Corp (NASDAQ: PLXS) and Sanmina-SCI Corp (NASDAQ: SANM) were started with Neutral ratings.
• Celestica Inc (NYSE: CLS) and Solectron Corp (NYSE: SLR) were initiated with Underperform ratings.
  

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Nollenberger initiated Chico's FAS, Inc (NYSE: CHS), Cache, Inc (NASDAQ: CACH) and AnnTaylor Stores Corp (NYSE: ANN) with Neutral ratings.
  
• Nollenberger also started coverage of Bebe Stores, Inc (NASDAQ: BEBE) and American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE: AEO) with Buy ratings.

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

Some profit taking after another record day yesterday might be in the cards today as the Nasdaq futures are lower, but the S&P 500 futures are flat to positive in early morning, indicating to a similar start for stocks.

After Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testified before the Senate Banking Committee yesterday, calming concerns about inflation and hence rate hikes, he returns to testify before the House Financial Service Committee today, although he'll likely repeat what he had said yesterday.

At 8:30 a.m. today, before the market opens, weekly initial jobless claims numbers will be out, as well as January import and export prices and the February NY Empire State Index.

At 9:00 a.m., December net foreign purchases will be reported and shortly after, data for January industrial production and capacity utilization as well as the February's NAHB housing market index. Finally, at 12:00 p.m., the Philadelphia-area manufacturing survey is due for release.

Oil edged above $58 a barrel today, trading in a narrow range after oil prices fell more than a dollar yesterday following data on oil stocks. Today, the U.S. government will release natural gas storage.

Some economic news from overseas:

• Japan, the world's second-largest economy, saw its economy growing at a 4.8% annual pace in the fourth quarter, the fastest in almost three years as consumer spending rebounded and business investment jumped. This fueled speculation the central bank may raise interest rates. Stocks in Asia closed higher mostly.
  
• In the U.K., retail sales unexpectedly fell 1.8% in January by the most in four years. A housing price survey showed slowing growth, suggesting the latest surprise interest-rate hike discouraged spending. European stocks are generally down, also due to some earnings disappointments.
  

In corporate news:

Continuing the shakeup in its top ranks, Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) has hired Solectron Corp. (NYSE:SLR) CEO Michael Cannon to the newly created position of president of global operations.

Guess, Inc. (NYSE:GES) is climbing over 6% in pre-market after the jeans maker reported fourth quarter profit after the close yesterday that nearly doubled and approved a 2-for-1 stock split. Guess will also start paying a quarterly dividend of 12 cents a share.

Oil services provider Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE:BHI), on the other hand, reported a 27% increase in earnings increased to $326.2 million, or $1.02 per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial were looking for earnings of $1.19 per share. Quarterly revenue rose 23% to $2.45 billion. Consensus estimates put sales at $2.46 billion.