Analyst upgrades:

• Wachovia upgraded shares of The Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS) to Outperform from Market Perform on expectations for greater pricing power given Goldman's position as the largest remaining independent securities firm.
• Keefe Bruyette upgraded Investment Technology Group Inc (NYSE: ITG) to Outperform from Market Perform as they believe the company will take market share with the reshaping of the large wire-house brokerage community. The company's target was raised to $37 from $33.
• Broadpoint raised Hoku Scientific Inc (NASDAQ: HOKU) to Buy from Neutral as they believe the contract with Tianwei New Energy reduces financing risk.
• ACE Ltd (NYSE: ACE) and The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE: TRV) were upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
• Axcelis Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: ACLS) was upgraded to Buy from Hold and Evergreen Solar Inc (NASDAQ: ESLR) was lifted to Hold from Sell at Citigroup.

Analyst downgrades:

Hoku Scientific (NASDAQ:HOKU) is trading up 14% on news that one of its utilities projects has been approved.

Lundin Mining (NYSE:LMC) is up almost 7% on a strong first quarter.

KongZong (NASDAQ:KONG) is down about 15% on poor earnings.

Ascent Solar (NASDAQ:ASTI) is down over 4% on dilution concerns from an offering of new shares.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com and the author of the Ten Stocks Under $10 newletter.

EDS (NYSE:EDS) is up 2% on news of a takeover by Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) with most of the gain coming yesterday afternoon when rumors surfaced.

HP is off 1.2% after a sharp drop near the end of the close yesterday.

Deutsche Telekom (NYSE:DT) is off 3% on continuing rumors that it might buy in to Sprint (NYSE:S).

Hoku Scientific (NASDAQ:HOKU) is off 7% on weak earnings.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247walls.com and author of the Ten Stocks Under $10 letter.

Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) is up over 3% on a brokerage upgrade.

Hoku (NASDAQ: HOKU) is up 10% on a new contract to install its solar-power systems.

MGIC (NYSE: MTG) is off over 10% on a downgrade from Moody's.

Force Protection (NASDAQ: FRPT) is off 9% on a delisting notice from Nasdaq.

Shares may trade differently in the pre-market than they do in the regular session.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Suntech Power (NYSE: STP) has announced that it will make a strategic investment in Nitol Solar. STP will acquire newly issued ordinary shares in Nitol Solar, an independent polysilicon producer, comprising a minority interest in Nitol Solar for a total consideration of up to $100 million.

This is of course subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions. The companies have some history as STP entered into a multi-year first phase supply agreement with Nitol Solar in August 2007 for the supply of committed monthly volumes of polysilicon to STP from 2009 to 2015.

If you look at the reports from companies like LDK Solar Co., Ltd. (NYSE: LDK) from just this morning with being fully booked in wafer orders, and with major players taking options to buy supply from producers like Hoku Scientific Inc. (NASDAQ: HOKU) that doesn't even have its main factory on line yet, you can tell that the solar companies are doing everything they can to secure more capacity.

Other deals will be coming down the pipe, and its just surprising that some of these players haven't tried using their stocks as currency to acquire each other.

MBIA (NYSE: MBI) is trading off over 7% on weak earnings.

Mastercard (NYSE: MA) is up over 3% on news of a strong quarter.

Audible (NASDAQ: ADBL) is up 22% on news of a takeover bid from Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN).

Hoku Scientific (NASDAQ: HOKU) is trading up 7% on news of a contract extension from Sanyo.

Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) is off almost 4% on a poor 2008 outlook and analyst downgrades.

Shares may trade differently in the pre-market than they do in the regular session.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Hoku Scientific (NASDAQ: HOKU) is moving up 32% on news it has financing for a new plant.

Alloy (NASDAQ: ALOY) is trading up 46% on a sharp improvement in earnings.

Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC) is up 4.4% on a general recovery in financial shares.

Zumiez (NASDAQ: ZUMZ) is trading off 8.4% on poor November same-store sales.

Share prices in the pre-market may change when the markets open for regular sessions.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Yesterday was a stinger with the markets down 2%+ all around. But that doesn't mean there isn't money to be made, even on the long side! After going through many charts Thursday night, I've come up with two ideas that should work in this volatile environment. For my current take on how to play the market please see this recent post.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Countrywide Financial (CFC), Hoku Scientific (HOKU), Lam Research (LRCX), Weight Watchers (WTW) and NutriSystem (NTRI) were today's more noteworthy downgrades:

• Friedman Billings downgraded Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC) to Underperform from Market Perform until credit stabilizes.

• Piper Jaffray downgraded Hoku Scientific (NASDAQ: HOKU) to Underperform from Outperform and sees several near-term risks, including competitive threats from larger and well-financed polysilicon start ups as well as financing risk.

• ThinkEquity downgraded Lam Research (NASDAQ: LRCX) to Source of Funds from Accumulate, expecting a recovery in the foundry segment but at 90nm, the nodes where Lam's market share is not high.

• Lehman downgraded Weight Watchers (NYSE: WTW) to Underweight from Equal Weight and NutriSystem (NASDAQ: NTRI) to Equal Weight from Overweight...

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• First Albany downgraded Sketchers USA (NYSE: SKX) to Neutral from Buy.

• UBS downgraded Georgia Gulf (NYSE: GGC) to Reduce from Neutral.

• Bear Stearns cut GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) to Underperform from Peer Perform.

• AG Edwards cut Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU) to Hold from Buy.

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

Hoku Scientific Inc (NASDAQ: HOKU) subsidiary, Hoku Materials, just signed a pact with SunTech Power Holdings Co Ltd (NYSE: STP) wherein Hoku will sell and deliver polysilicon to Suntech beginning in mid-2009. The deal, which was announced yesterday after the markets closed, has sent the stock skyrocketing up nearly 60% to $7.97 in after-hours trading. SunTech closed yesterday at $32.28 and later gained 9c in the extended trading. Shares of Hoku and SunTech are currently trading up $7.38, or up 60.65%, and at $33.00, or up 2.11%, respectively.

The $678M agreement, which has a 10-year term and also allows either company to opt out of the last two years, provides for the delivery of polysilicon, used to make solar energy panels, at set prices. This deal follows an agreement in January between Hoku and Sanyo Electric Co Ltd (OTC: SANYY) that may bring an additional $370M in payments to the materials science company.

Hoku is currently in the process of building a $220M polysilicon production plant in Idaho in order to transition further into the solar industry. The plant will produce polysilicon for its own solar panel business, creating 200 jobs in the process, and will offer excess supply to the semiconductor market.

Analysts at investment bank Thomas Weisel believe this could be a good deal for Hoku, particularly amid its transition into the solar industry. The firm, however, is still concerned about Hoku's ability to raise $150M in debt financing, which it is seeking for the plant. Hoku believes it is currently on track with the plant, but if the company is unsuccessful in building the polysilicon plant or if it does not meet certain milestones with its products, the initial direct deposit must be returned to SunTech.

Cramer came out on CNBC's STOP TRADING segment discussing the ethanol and alternative energy names that have been running up yesterday and today ahead of Bush's State of the Union tonight.

Cramer said he'd be selling the VeraSun Energy Corp. (NYSE:VSE) and Hoku Scientific Inc. (NASDAQ:HOKU) big run-ups here. In his video this morning I alluded to him saying he'd tell people to sell those immediately tomorrow at the open. Cramer maintains that ethanol stocks might work only if oil is $100 per barrel. He even said ethanol is a colossal joke that everyone is in on, but it's a joke that can be played until 9:31 AM.

With the ratings this low and with so many other candidates having thrown their hats into the ring, it is likely that the coverage may be on how the candidates react rather than the impact the administration has now.

Jon Ogg is a partner in 24/7 Wall St., LLC; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.