Analyst upgrades:

• Janney Montgomery upgraded Kenexa (NASDAQ: KNXA) and SuccessFactors (NASDAQ: SFSF) to Buy from Neutral on expectations corporate IT spending will accelerate in the second half of 2009. The firm raised its target on Kenexa to $14 from $8 and on SuccessFactors to $12 from $9.
• Jefferies upgraded PSS World Medical (NASDAQ: PSSI) to Buy from Hold to reflect the company's cost-cutting measures and efforts to gain market share. The firm raised its target on shares to $25 from $17.50.
• FBR Capital upgraded Sunpower (NASDAQ: SPWRA) to Outperform from Market Perform following the company's Q2 results to reflect increased business prospects in the "rooftop" segment of the market. FBR raised its target on shares to $40 from $22.
• Cooper Industries (NYSE: CBE) was upgraded to Outperform from Perform at Oppenheimer.
• Temple-Inland (NYSE: TIN) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
• Juniper Networks (NASDAQ: JNPR) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says you'll miss some great opportunities if you blindly believe all the bad news.

You want a rebuke to the "never-ending woes of commercial and residential real estate mortgage bonds"? You get one every day in this market, and today is no different. Look at what is up big today: Genworth (NYSE: GNW) (Cramer's Take), Lincoln National (NYSE: LNC) (Cramer's Take), Wyndham (NYSE: WYN) (Cramer's Take), Regions Financial (NYSE: RF) (Cramer's Take) and Zions (NASDAQ: ZION) (Cramer's Take). Each in its own way needs the residential or commercial real estate markets to be robust to thrive, and if the myriad articles I read about the horrible state of the mortgage bond market and the dim commercial real estate prospects were true, why would you be making money in Wyndham, a gigantic timeshare company? How could Regions and Zions be rallying? They are among the worst of the worst; unless you consider Genworth and Lincoln National, which are supposed to be roadkill because of all of their mortgage bonds.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says the safety theme will come back if only because these companies' earnings will be good in six months.

Editor's note: Jim Cramer will present his 2009 stock outlook for the first time at TheStreet.com Investment Conference on Saturday, Oct. 25. Click for details.

Now they come after the Procter & Gambles (NYSE: PG) (Cramer's Take) and the General Mills (NYSE: GIS) (Cramer's Take) and the like, betting that the action will be better in the cyclicals with all of this money being printed worldwide.

Commodities are also coming back because of reflation. And we have to feel that many of the infra and ag names are finally sold out by the hedge fund redemptions.

Here I am speaking of a Freeport McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) (Cramer's Take), with its good yield and a belief that the hedge funds are at last done.

I don't buy it. I like a balanced portfolio, but I want to buy the GIS/PG all the way down because we are going into a recession, not going out of one. These companies pay dividends, raise dividends and have great commodity tailwinds.

Colgate's (NYSE: CL) (Cramer's Take) down a lot too, and I am liking that one.

As the U.S. market wraps up a wild day in which central banks cut rates in unison, one sector has no doubt at all about where it wants to go -- down. Three leading insurance companies have lost as much as a 28% of their stock market value in today's trading alone. How so? As I posted, insurers are the next part of the financial foundation to crumble due to mortgage-backed securities (MBS) gone sour.

Here's the latest insurance industry carnage:

• XL Capital (NYSE: XL) -28%. The property-casualty insurer holds $29 billion in asset-backed securities such as MBSs and collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), 330% of its shareholders' equity.
• Met Life (NYSE: MET) -27%. This life insurer announced plans to sell 75 million shares and to fire an unspecified number of employees. It also expects to earn between 83 cents and 93 cents per share -- way below analysts' $1.44 forecast.
• The Allstate Corp. (NYSE: ALL) -21%. This property-casualty insurer holds $83 billion in fixed income securities such as MBSs, 421% of its shareholders' equity -- and the $22 billion in Level 3 -- difficult to value -- fixed income securities exceed its $19.7 billion in capital.

I expect this problem to affect every insurance company to some extent. Will the $810 billion rescue plan relieve these institutions of their bad investment decisions? We might know in a year. Until then, look out below.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in the securities mentioned.

Hartford Financial (NYSE: HIG) closed at $62.06 Thursday. HIG October option implied volatility of 52 is above its 26-week average of 40 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

Travelers (NYSE: TRV), a leading property casualty insurer, closed at $44.61 Thursday. TRV October option implied volatility of 37 is above its 26-week average of 32 according to Track Data, indicating larger price movement.

Genworth Financial (NYSE: GNW) closed at $15.02 Thursday. GNW October option implied volatility of 71 is above its 26-week average of 52 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

XL Capital (NYSE: XL), provider of global reinsurance coverage, closed at $18.63 Thursday. XL October option implied volatility of 78 is above its 26-week average of 73 according to Track Data, suggesting larger movement.

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

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says our problems are so widespread, he sees lots more IndyMacs before we're out.

You don't need me to tell you it's awful out there. You don't need me to tell you that there's no quick fix for any of these things. But what might help you understand why it feels so bad this time is that I have never, in my career, seen so many companies go off track at the same time. This is one unbelievable moment, and it is made more horrible by the day as companies' stocks just get pummeled, causing people to then question the very viability of the companies involved.

First, obviously, are Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) (Cramer's Take) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) (Cramer's Take). We don't know what will happen, but we do know that their futures are much darker than their pasts. Their best hope: a Democrat becomes president and shows the usual love to both. But as investments, they are pretty much perma-losers going forward. The losses are that heavy. Yes, it is true that two years from now they will be better, but will the government let them limp through to that? View them as calls on a Democratic win.

We all know that Citigroup (NYSE: C) (Cramer's Take), Wachovia (NYSE: WB) (Cramer's Take), Washington Mutual (NYSE: WM) (Cramer's Take) and National City (NYSE: NCC) (Cramer's Take) are in trouble. Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) (Cramer's Take) says it isn't in trouble, but obviously the market doesn't believe management because the stock failed to rally when it said its dividend was safe. Any short-selling hedge fund could hire 30 actors and have them line up at a Washington Mutual or two and get a bank run going. Then we would have to hear about a "hasty" Treasury department plan to bail out WM. Hasty? How can these guys not see it coming?

XL Capital (NYSE: XL), provider of global reinsurance coverage, closed at $67.84.

Bear Stearns says: "XL shares have been weak recently as investors have been concerned with its exposure to SCA. XL has exposure to SCA through two areas: 1) its 46% ownership and 2) five reinsurance contracts."

XL November option implied volatility of 51 is above its 26-week average of 27 according to Track Data, suggesting larger risk.

Security Capital Assurance (NYSE: SCA), a holding company whose subsidiaries provide credit enhancement and protection products, closed at $10.12.

SCA over all option implied volatility is at 163 according to Track Data, suggesting larger risk.

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