TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says that from a chart perspective, this could be about the greatest bull market in history.

Chart to chart to chart this weekend and all I see, except for a couple of health maintenance, medical device and drug companies plus some fertilizer stocks, is just a remarkable and, yes, unheralded run in every single group.

Some of them are of the pure recovery style: every oil and gas, now including refinery, as the crude price inches back to $100 and natural gas has started its way back up; the life insurers that were left for dead when we decided that all commercial mortgages would be destroyed taking them with the bad loans; the overly-indebted companies like Textron (NYSE: TXT) (Cramer's Take) that have roared back without any real support from anyone.

But others are just monumental. Anything paper or wood or glass. These aren't quitting.

Analyst upgrades:

• Citigroup upgraded Cooper Industries (NYSE: CBE) to Buy from Hold on valuation as it believes commercial construction concerns are well known. The firm raised its target on shares to $40 from $37, and coupled the upgrade with a downgrade of Rockwell Automation (NYSE: ROK) to Sell from Hold.
• Credit Suisse upgraded BJ Services (NYSE: BJS) to Neutral from Underperform following its acquisition by Baker Hughes (NYSE: BHI). The firm raised its target to $17.
• Credit Suisse also upgraded Amkor Technology (NASDAQ: AMKR) to Outperform from Neutral and raised its target to $8 from $7. The firm expects Amkor to benefit from near-term strength in the supply chain and the mix shift towards higher value packaging.
• Textron (NYSE: TXT) was upgraded to Conviction Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
• Siemens (NYSE: SI) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at UBS.
• Stanley Works (NYSE: SWK) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Janney Montgomery.

Analyst upgrades:

• Citigroup upgraded American Express (NYSE: AXP) to Buy from Hold and added the stock to its Top Picks Live list following the company's investor day. Citi believes American Express' credit trends are improving and raised its price target on shares to $36 from $28.
• Janney Montgomery upgraded Gardner Denver (NYSE: GDI) to Buy from Neutral after meeting with management to reflect expectations for EPS growth in 2010 and valuation. The firm has a $38 target on the stock.
• BofA/Merrill upgraded Freeport McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) to Buy from Underperform and raised its target to $87 from $49 based on strong copper fundamentals.
• Cbeyond (NASDAQ: CBEY) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Stephens.
• Gibraltar Industries (NASDAQ: ROCK) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Baird.
• Fortress (NYSE: FIG) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Keefe Bruyette.

Three products that are probably bad bets in this environment are private jets, helicopters and golf carts. Add in a large captive finance arm and an auto parts unit and you have Textron (NYS: TXT), the latest hobgoblin to join the dividend slasher parade and corporate Deathwatch. The Piqqem Sentiment on Textron is hard negative. The good folks at Ockham's Research hammer home these points and more.

Textron has had trouble in the past accessing commercial paper markets (and it's surely not having trouble now, right?) and raising equity capital. More than 50% of the assets on the books of its captive finance arm are non-performing and that could worsen as more companies that owe it money start to tip over in the various blighted industries it services. Add a slashed dividend to spook value and institutional investors. The upshot? Textron is basically ready to keel over, unfortunately.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says stocks are headed lower, perhaps much lower, even if the banks receive the help they need.

You can see it dawn on people one by one. We aren't coming out of this morass, we are just going into it. The president and Congress aren't serious about it. But more importantly, somehow, the companies are stunned by it.

If you want to read about what it is like to recognize that things are falling apart, go read the Textron (NYSE: TXT) (Cramer's Take) quarter. They actually thought there would be some improvement at year-end. That's not going to happen to a Cessna manufacturer with a commercial finance division of dubious worth. Perhaps there was some hyperbole, but Textron said it was the worst manufacturing time ever!

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

• Accenture Ltd. (NYSE: ACN) reported strong Q1 numbers as its clients sought ways to cut costs.
• Best Buy Inc. (NYSE: BBY) may interest short sellers despite its earnings prospects for 2009.
• International Paper Co. (NYSE: IP) to shed dead wood to reduce the impact of the recession on earnings.
• Manpower Inc. (NYSE: MAN) withdrew Q4 profit and revenue guidance, sending shares lower.
• Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) lowered its Q4 earnings forecast to well below analysts' estimates.
• Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) forecast its first-ever loss for the fiscal year on lower demand/higher yen.
• Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG) missed Q1 expectations and announced cost cutting and store redesign.

Also, bank earnings will be hit next by cancelled M&A deals.

Earnings releases scheduled for early January include Navistar (NYSE: NAV), Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ: BBBY), Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ), Family Dollar (NYSE: FDO), and Monsanto (NYSE: MON).

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage.

Textron (NYSE: TXT - option chain), the aircraft company that makes Cessna and Bell, among others, is down steeply today after the company cut its fourth-quarter adjusted EPS forecast to 30 cents to 40 cents, from a previous estimate of 80 cents to 90 cents. Analysts are expecting an adjusted profit of 83 cents per share. If you think this stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on TXT.

This morning, TXT opened at $13.55. So far today the stock has hit a low of $12.13 and a high of $14.35. As of 3:34. TXT is trading at $12.27, down $3.11 (-20. 27%). The chart for TXT looks bullish and S&P gives TXT a positive 4 STARS (out of 5) buy ranking.

For a bearish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a February bear-call credit spread above the $17.50 range. A bear-call credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of call options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make an 8.7% return in four months as long as TXT is below $17.50 at February expiration. Textron would have to rise by more than 41% before we would start to lose money.

TXT hasn't been above $17.50 since early November and shown resistance around $16 recently.

Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investors Observer. At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls positions in TXT.

Analyst upgrades:

• Goldman upgraded shares of BP Plc (NYSE: BP) to Buy from Neutral on valuation as they believe the recent pullback provides an attractive entry point.
  
• VF Corp. (NYSE: VFC) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse citing its acquisition platform and international growth. The company's target was increased to $100 from $88.
  
• Deutsche Bank upgraded shares of Tenet Healthcare (NYSE: THC) to Buy from Hold and increased its target to $8.50 from $7 to reflect increased confidence in the company's ability to beat expectations over the next 12 months and reduce its net debt.
• US Steel (NYSE: X) was raised to Sector Outperformer from Sector Performer at CIBC.
  
• United Technologies (NYSE: UTX) was upgraded at UBS to Buy from Neutral.

Analyst downgrades:

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Stanley Works, the Generic Drug sector, Fiserv and Fidelity National were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Deutsche Bank downgraded shares of Stanley Works (NYSE: SWK) to Hold from Buy as they see risk to Q2 and FY08 earnings due to a slowdown in the European industrial and consumer categories. The firm lowered their target to $52 from $62.
  
• Wachovia cut the Generic Drug sector to Market Weight from Overweight Wachovia sees near-term challenges for Teva Pharmaceutical (NASDAQ: TEVA), Mylan (NYSE: MYL) and Watson Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: WPI). The firm thinks Teva will become a very strong company over the long-term, following its takeover of Barr (NYSE: BRL). However, the firm adds that Teva will need to integrate the acquisition nearly perfectly, and Mylan may feel compelled to make another acquisition, even as it is still integrating Merck Generics, while Watson's growth prospects are still uncertain.
  
• Oppenheimer downgraded Fiserv (NASDAQ: FISV) and Fidelity National (NYSE: FIS) to Perform from Outperform based on multiple pressure from the challenging banking environment and growth headwinds.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Satyam (NYSE: SAY) was downgraded to Underperform from Outperform at Credit Suisse and Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
  
• UBS downgraded Textron (NYSE: TXT) to Neutral from Buy.
  
• Constellation Energy (NYSE: CEG) was downgraded at Jefferies to Underperform from Hold.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: AbitibiBowater, GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca and Capital One were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Lehman downgraded AbitibiBowater (NYSE: ABH) to Equal Weight from Overweight citing dilution from the recent $350M convertible offering, cost pressures, and a more cautious outlook near-term for pulp markets.
  
• JP Morgan cut GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) and AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) to Underweight from Neutral on long-term earnings growth concerns.
  
• Keefe Bruyette lowered Capital One (NYSE: COF) to Underperform from Market Perform to reflect the company's credit outlook.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Nokia (NYSE: NOK) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS and to Underweight from Overweight at JP Morgan.
  
• Textron (NYSE: TXT) was cut at Credit Suisse to Neutral from Outperform.
  
• Merriman downgraded Blue Coat Systems (NASDAQ: BCSI) to Neutral from Buy.

Bell Boeing has received a $10.4 billion U.S. Department of Defense contract for the V-22 Osprey that guarantees production of at least 167 more of the aircraft through 2012, Bell Boeing announced Monday.

Bell Boeing is a strategic alliance between Bell Helicopter, a unit of Textron (NYSE: TXT) company, and Boeing (NYSE: BA).

The five-year contract includes 26 CV-22 aircraft for the U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command and 141 MV-22 aircraft for the U.S. Marine Corps. The contract includes an option for additional aircraft.

Both Boeing and Textron moved higher on the news. Boeing shares gained 83 cents to $74.30 and Textron rose 47 cents to $55.07 in early Monday trading.

The V-22 is a tiltrotor aircraft with proprotors and engines installed in nacelles at the tips of both wings.

Analysis: The contract is good news on a number of fronts, the most obvious of which is additional work for Boeing and Textron. In the last six months Boeing shares have declined roughly $30 to about $74 on rollout delays for its next-generation 787 Dreamliner commercial aircraft, and the U.S. economic slowdown. The news is also a mild shot in the arm for the U.S. economy, which given the large number of industrial jobs lost to cheaper overseas manufacturing zones, can use all of the domestic industrial jobs it can get.

Before the bell: Futures mixed as Wall Street awaits Paulson's plan

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C)'s Vikram Pandit was brought in to make changes at the struggling bank, and that's exactly what he's doing (or at least trying). After much management changes the past weeks, today the financial services company unveiled a restructuring plan that includes setting up an independent credit-card unit and overhauling consumer banking along geographical, rather than product, lines.

Schering-Plough (NYSE: SGP) stock is dropping nearly 17% and Merck (NYSE: MRK) is dropping over 10% in premarket trading after a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine concluded that doctors should cut their use of cholesterol drugs Vytorin -- a combination of Merck's Zocor and SGP's Zetia -- and Zetia.

Teva Pharmaceutical (NASDAQ: TEVA) is buying Bentley Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: BNT) for $360 million in cash, or $15.02 a share, in a move to expand operations in Spain. Bentley's drug delivery business will be spun off to shareholders prior to the Teva transaction. The purchase price represents a 9% premium to Bentley's closing stock price Friday of $13.74.

Before the bell: Stock futures lower -- second day of declines ahead?

Some analyst calls this morning:

• Caris & Company initiated coverage on Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) with an Average rating and a $96 target price. It also initiated coverage on Nokia (NYSE: NOK) with an Above Average rating.
• Stanford Research initiated coverage on Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) with a Buy and on Red Hat (NYSE: RHT) with a Hold.
• Bear Stearns upgraded Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN) from Peer Perform to Outperform and downgraded Saks (NYSE: SKS) from Peer Perform to Underperform.
• Jefferies & Co downgraded Adobe Systems (NASDAQ: ADBE) from Buy to Underperform, lowering that target price from $50 to $30.
• Banc of America downgraded Polo Ralph Lauren (NYSE: RL) from Buy to Neutral. It also downgraded Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB) for Outperform to Sector Perform.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) agreed to buy Audible Inc. (NASDQ: ADBL), the provider of digital spoken word audio content, for $11.50 a share, a 23% premium to its Wednesday's closing price.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Semiconductor stocks, Norfolk Southern and Textron were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Banc of America downgraded semiconductor stocks as they believe the cyclical recovery that began in early 2007 has "run its course." Banc of America reduced its estimates for sales of integrated circuits in 2008 and lowered their 2008 semiconductor sales growth to 7% from 11%. The firm downgraded Advanced Micro (NYSE: AMD) to Sell from Neutral as they believe the company's Barcelona product will not stem market share losses in servers and desktops vs. Intel (NASDAQ: INTC). They also believe AMD's cost structure will be pressured by higher depreciation and higher material costs in 2008.
  
• JP Morgan downgraded Norfolk Southern (NYSE: NSC) to Neutral from Overweight citing continued weakness in volumes vs. easy Q4 comps, lack of visibility into an upturn and lack of catalysts.
  
• Citigroup lowered its rating on Textron (NYSE: TXT) to Hold from Buy on valuation, as they see a less compelling risk/reward following the 2007 rally.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Fossil (NASDAQ: FOSL) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Piper.
  
• CIBC downgraded UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) to Sector Performer from Sector Outperformer.
  
• Deutsche Bank downgraded Harte-Hanks (NYSE: HHS) to Sell from Hold.

Look for Textron (NYSE: TXT) to continue to benefit from the global economy's tailwind.

Strong global economic growth should continue to generate solid demand of the company's Cessna jets and planes, which accounted for 51% of its profits. Further, analysts expect Textron's Bell division to perform well in 2008-2009 on strong commercial and military helicopter orders.

Textron's Industrial division should also post solid results, manufacturing everything from golf carts to lawn care machinery to auto parts. A decent, stable dividend adds to the mix. The Reuters F2007/F2008 EPS consensus estimates for TXT are $3.49/$4.09.