"Despite coming close to bankruptcy in 2002, Williams Co. (NYSE: WMB) has some of the premier assets in each of its business segments: exploration & production, mid-stream and pipelines," says turnaround expert George Putnam.

In his The Turnaround Letter, he explains, "The company now has the financial strength not only to survive the current downturn but to grow and prosper."

"Begun in 1908 as a pipeline construction company, Williams is now a major, integrated natural gas company; it produces, gathers, processes and transports natural gas throughout the United States.

It is pretty obvious to investors that the Internet has accelerated the decline in print newspaper readership. It is also clear that the Internet is contributing to business model changes (and in many cases outright news/editorial budget reductions) at print magazines.

However, that the Internet would also compel changes in broadcast network news -- and in particular, the nightly network newscast -- might be viewed as less obvious. But that, in fact, appears to be the case.

Already dealing with a cable/satellite channel explosion that's decreased their viewership due to audience fragmentation (basically people have more channel choices), network news now must increasingly cope with the reality that adults tuning in have already seen and/or read about on the web the day's top news stories by the time the nightly newscast airs.

Today was a perfect storm for Twitter, the microblogging application led by Evan Williams (who created Pyra Labs and Blogger, selling it to Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) in 2003 as blogging went bigtime). The company was all over business technology media, making an appearance at the Wall Street Journal with a rather ingenue "User's Guide to Twitter" and in the New York Times with an explanation of why Twitter turned down a merger with Facebook.

Katherine Boehret likes Twitter but takes it to task for many of the things Twitter clients like Twhirl do wonderfully; notify you of @ replies (when someone Tweets you directly using an @ sign before your name, i.e. @sarahgilbert), for instance, and complains of the tinyurl conversion issue which most Twitter old hands work around by using their own url shortening services (many of my friends built their own). She doesn't even approach the question that's on everyone's minds: How will Twitter make money?

Claire Cain Miller does approach the question, but doesn't have much of an answer. Her analysis of why Twitter turned down Facebook is brief -- it wasn't the right time, Twitter has "too much to do" yet -- and needs to learn how to make money. The one hazy concept we all agree on is that Twitter might charge businesses to talk to customers with its service; providing proactive alerts to companies when Twitterers complain about their service, giving them the opportunity to respond (and perhaps charging for consulting on how to best make use of the interaction) might be worth a lot. A few businesses now are very good at that; when I complained about my Comcast internet connectivity on Twitter, for instance, I quickly was pinged by a Comcast technician offering to help.

One particularly brilliant user of Twitter for business purposes is Rael Dornfest (who is a friend of mine, so I suppose I'm biased);

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says forget calling a financial bottom -- everything you need is right in front of you.

Do you think this week will finally end the oil inventory nonsense? Do you think this week could be the breakout where oil doesn't trade on the slight build or the "heavier than expected" chatter?

I sure hope so.

Yesterday was a horrible market, but midday, when the market was really beginning to roll over, the whole complex turned. This was quite an achievement given the overwhelming collapse of the futures and the propensity of the bears to push things down.

Today with the futures breaching $140 -- remember, I think they're on the way to $150 -- we can see the error of relying on these numbers, which I have said for years now are meaningless. Witness how many times the inventories have been more full than expected and yet oil has doubled.

I want to go back to the cheaper-than-oil stocks, though. Natural gas. Oil has to go down $65 to get to where natural gas is right now. Meaning that historically oil trades at six times the price of natural gas. So natural gas -- forget the season, which is supposed to be bad for nat gas -- needs to come higher.

Much higher.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Williams, Kilroy Realty and Dynavax Tech were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• RBC upgraded shares of Williams (NYSE: WMB) to Outperform from Sector Perform to reflect their expectation for three years of double-digit production growth in the company's E&P business.
  
• Kilroy Realty (NYSE: KRC) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral as they believe the current valuation does not reflect the company's pure asset value.
  
• Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Dynavax Tech (NASDAQ: DVAX) to Outperform from Perform as they expect positive phase III results for Heplisav around mid-2008, driving shares higher.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• UBS raised Linear Tech (NASDAQ: LLTC) and Nalco Holding (NYSE: NLC) to Buy from Neutral.
  
• JP Morgan raised its rating on Verenium (NASDAQ: VRNM) to Neutral from Underweight.
  
• Discover (NYSE: DFS) was upgraded to Overweight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Netflix (NFLX), NiSource (NI), TiVo (TIVO), Williams-Sonoma (WSM) and KLA-Tencor (KLAC) were today's more noteworthy downgrades:

• Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) was cut to Hold from Buy at Needham to reflect the lowered subscriber guidance and their belief that things can get worse before getting better. Shares were also downgraded at Cowen, to Neutral from Outperform, and Lehman, to Equal Weight from Overweight.

• NiSource (NYSE: NI) was cut to Underweight from Equal Weight at Lehman based on the expected increases in interest expense and taxes.

• TiVo (NASDAQ: TIVO) was downgraded to Short from Sell at SMH Capital and believes the current valuation now reflects 20% penetration of the Comcast Corp (CMCSK)-owned digital sub base for the joint venture product bundle, which the firm considers aggressive. In addition, the firm believes TiVo's new pricing structure doesn't add much value.

• Matrix cut Williams-Sonoma (NYSE: WSM) to Sell from Hold on valuation and deteriorating operating results.

• Citigroup downgraded shares of KLA-Tencor (NASDAQ: KLAC) to Hold from Buy on valuation as they see risk to 2H07 estimates due to slower near-term cost savings and higher integration costs...

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Friedman Billings downgraded American Express (NYSE: AXP) to Market Perform from Outperform.

• Piper Jaffray cut Atheros Communications (NASDAQ: ATHR) to Market Perform from Outperform.

• Jefferies downgraded United Rentals (NYSE: URI) and GlobalSantaFe (NYSE: GSF) to Hold from Buy.

• Merrill downgraded Wyeth (NYSE: WYE) to Neutral from Buy.

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

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Intel (INTC), Capital One Financial (COF), Nestle (NSRGY), Cisco Systems (CSCO), Liz Claiborne (LIZ) and Trump Entertainment Resorts (TRMP) were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Lehman upgraded shares of Intel Corp (NASDAQ: INTC) to Overweight from Equal-Weight as they believe Q2 sales will meet the high-end of guidance with Dell (DELL) and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) restocking in preparation for an improved PC market.

• Friedman Billings upgraded Capital One Financial (NYSE: COF) to Outperform from Market Perform based on expected cost savings on restructuring initiatives.

• Deutsche Bank upgraded shares of Nestle (OTC: NSRGY) to Buy from Hold on valuation as they believe the stock has become the cheapest among the major European food companies.

• Credit Suisse upgraded Liz Claiborne (NYSE: LIZ) to Outperform from Neutral expecting management at its July 11th investor meeting to have a significant announcement regarding strategic alternatives for a large number of its brands.

• Merrill Lynch upgraded Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) to Buy from Neutral as they believe Q4 expectations could be exceeded due to strong business demand. The broker finds shares inexpensive and also added CSCO to its U.S. 1 List.

• Bear Stearns upgraded Trump Entertainment (NASDAQ: TRMP) to Peer Perform from Underperform on valuation...

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Chittenden Corp (NYSE: CHZ) was upgraded to Sector Perform from Underperform at RBC Capital.

• Micron Technology (NYSE: MU) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at American Technology.

• Matrix USA raised Williams-Sonoma (NYSE: WSM) to Hold from Sell.

• Goldman raised Alcon (NYSE: ACL) to Buy from Neutral.

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

Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine just published its ranking of the "best values" in private colleges. The rankings featured two lists: one for the top liberal arts colleges, which offer mostly undergraduate programs, and the other for universities, which also offer graduate degrees.

As a sophomore of Amherst College, I was not surprised to see Swarthmore, Williams, and Amherst round out the top three colleges. Cal Tech, Yale, and Harvard topped the list for the top three universities.

Like many private institutions across the nation, Swarthmore uses its own calculation, in addition to the federal government's formula, to determine who qualifies for need-based aid. "We really want to know your situation and give a fair assessment," says James Bock, the financial aid director at Swarthmore college. The result can be surprising. "People can qualify for aid with incomes of $140,000 and above."

Not only does Swarthmore and these highly competitive liberal arts colleges offer a great education and financial aid packages, but they seem also to come with a degree of social conscience, e.g., the capacity to "change the world energy." Scott Storm, chose Swarthmore because he "wanted a place that was going to be very aware of social and civic responsibilities. One example that was noted was that Swarthmore sent "Swatties" to New Orleans to gut houses and to China to work in Aids clinics.