BloggingStocks: Analyst upgrades: Pali Capital upgraded Lazard (LAZ) to buy from neutral, citing a healthy restructuring environment, improving M&A and strength in the asset management segment. The firm has a $46 target on shares. Baird upgraded Scansource ... Read more

Firm notes they are downgrading their view on the sector given unfavorable indications from our cyclical framework suggesting a modest inventory correction, even in the face of improving electronic demand and a more constructive outlook for the global economies. They are also downgrading shares of INTC, TXN, MRVL, and LSI to Neutral, and MXIM, NSM, POWI and MCHP to Underperform. Merrill now rates a modest 5 stocks (BRCM, XLNX, ALTR, ADI and LLTC) as Buys within their[More...]

S&P 500 - Risers Pulte Homes Inc. (PHM) $10.04 +6.13% Lennar Corp. Class A (LEN) $15.17 +6.08% KB Home (KBH) $15.56 +5.99% D R Horton Inc. (DHI) $12.30 +5.18% M B I A Inc. (MBI) $3.69 +4.83% Marshall & Ilsley (MI) $5.48 +4.77% N Y Times Class A (NYT) $9.07 +4.61% Sun Microsystems Inc. (JAVA) $8.49 +4.17% Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $13.66 +4.04% Developers Diversified Reality (DDR) $8.84 +3.88% S&P 500 - Fallers Macy's Inc. (M) $17.83 -8.23% Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) $34.63 -5.38% Gamestop Corp. (GME) $24.14 -4.13% American International Group Inc. (AIG) $36.24 -3.59% Owens-Illinois Inc. (OI) $33.90 -2.45% Southwestern Energy (SWN) $44.42 -2.40% Motorola Inc. (MOT) $8.64[More...]

Deal-making activity heated up with the mega-deal announcement from Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A) of its plans to acquire Burlington Northern (BNI) for $100 per share in a deal valued at approximately $44 billion, the largest in Berkshire history Stanley Works (SWK) announced plans to purchase Black & Decker (BDK) in a deal valued ...

• Deal-making activity heated up with the mega-deal announcement from Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A) of its plans to acquire Burlington Northern (NYSE:BNI) for $100 per share in a deal valued at approximately $44 billion, the largest in Berkshire history

• Stanley Works (NYSE:SWK) announced plans to purchase Black & Decker (NYSE:BDK) in a deal valued at $4.5 billion

• Denbury Resources (NYSE:DNR) announced plans to acquire Encore Acquisition (NYSE:EAC) in a cash and stock deal valued at $3.2 billion

• Ford (NYSE:F) said it is planning to raise $2 billion through the sale of senior convertible notes due 2016, and $1 billion through common shares sold in private deals

• UBS (NYSE:UBS) noted "we do not expect an immediate recovery in client net new monthly flows," as it reported its fourth straight quarterly loss. The third quarter loss of $552.4 million was larger than anticipated

• Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) downgraded US semiconductor shares to "cautious" warning the industry is now in the final stages of the semiconductor cycle. Intel's (NASDAQ:INTC) rating was lowered to "equalweight" from "overweight," along with shares of Altera (NASDAQ:ALTR), Linear Tech (NASDAQ:LLTC), Xilinx (NASDAQ:XLNX) and Maxim (NASDAQ:MXIM)

• During yesterday's session Citigroup's (NYSE:C) analyst slashed its rating on Research in Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) to "sell" from "buy," also downgrading Palm (NASDAQ:PALM) to "sell" from "hold." Meanwhile, the firm upgraded Motorola (NYSE:MOT) shares to "buy" from "hold," noting positive surprises likely from new phone offerings based on Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android operating system

• Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE:ADM-A) reported fiscal first quarter earnings of 77 cents per share on sales of $14.9 billion.  The company said, "Looking ahead, we see demand improving in some key markets, and we have the assets and acumen to capture value as the global economy resets"

• American Tower (NYSE:AMT) reported inline third quarter earnings of 17 cents a share on revenues of $444.10 million. The firm backed its 2009 guidance

Zacks Investment Research