It is mind boggling that Hugo Chavez, the authoritarian President of Venezuela is racing towards a mock socialist political system when the two largest socialist regimes in the world, China and Russia, have done the opposite. Even our long standing communist adversary (now trading partner) Vietnam entered the 21st Century on a capitalist influenced spring loaded economic boom.

BusinessWeek reports in its latest edition that the Chavez government has been taking privately held supermarkets under government control:

Oil is trading higher on the day, but prices have fallen a good bit from the high they hit immediately following this week's inventory report.

Prices rose as high as $83.03 a barrel, and are currently trading at $81.97, up $0.48.

The reason why prices spiked so much following the report was the initial reaction to the smaller than expected rise in crude reserves. Analysts had been looking to see a jump of 2.1 million barrels last week, but the report indicated that inventories rose by a much smaller 1.4 million barrels.

Bank of America downgraded oil firm Chevron (CVX) Wednesday to neutral from buy, setting a target price of $90 per share for the stock. This downgrade comes a day after the company announced plans to "improve returns" and streamline the company's organization and portfolio.

Among the actions in this undertaking is staff reductions that will take place through 2011, with 2,000 positions on the chopping block for this year. The downgrade comes after Tuesday's meetings, which prompted Bank of America to say that CVX "had little new to influence an investment case that has been reassuringly consistent in recent years." The brokerage recommended Exxon Mobil (XOM) as a "better value" over the near term.

With the failed global warming submit; leaked emails, faked numbers, suppressed data and major snow storms hitting both Europe and America global warning aka "climategate" seems to have taken a major hit recently. Some are even going as far as predicting the demise of global warming.

This could be a big turning point for global warming. Having been caught in a lie; they have lost massive amount of creditability and now face an uphill battle to convince a skeptical public. Certainly, global warming may regain public credibility, but it will face a lot of scrutiny as it tries.

Analyst upgrades:

• Jefferies upgraded CME Group (CME) to Buy from Hold and has a $330 target on the stock. The firm believes increased regulatory concerns have created a buying opportunity and notes that CME Group's fundamentals are stable-to-improving.
• Susquehanna upgraded Priceline.com (PCLN) to Positive from Neutral and has a $230 target on the stock. The firm believes Priceline.com likely outperformed expectations in Q4.
• Citigroup upgraded AutoZone (AZO) to Buy from Hold citing an attractive valuation, favorable industry trends, and the potential for margin expansion. The firm raised its target price on shares to $188 from $176.
• Genzyme (GENZ) was raised to Sell from Conviction Sell at Goldman.
• Disney (DIS) was upgraded to Neutral from Underweight at JP Morgan.
• Exxon Mobil (XOM) was upgraded at Collins Stewart to Buy from Hold.

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

• Aflac Inc. (AFL) posted better-than-expected Q4 earnings, though revenue fell short, and offered rosy guidance.
• Avon Products Inc. (AVP) posted Q4 earnings growth that met analysts' expectations but shares sold off.
• Cisco Systems inc. (CSCO) higher Q2 earnings topped the consensus estimate but cash flow fell.
• CME Group Inc. (CME) fell short of analysts' Q4 profit expectations, resulting in price-target cuts.
• ExxonMobil Corp. (XOM) posted better-than-expected Q4 earnings and revenue that boosted shares.

Shortly after the introduction of Apple, Inc.'s (AAPL) long anticipated iPad tablet computer I was quite surprised to receive an email from one of our more astute readers boldly stating "Game, set and match. See you at $300"

My immediate reaction was that this overly zealous stock trader and Apple enthusiast had let all reason escape his cranium. For me it reinforced how irrational investors are and how little they understand numbers. Apple stock will not reach $300 this year.

ExxonMobil (XOM) is a tricky stock to consider. The integrated oil entity reported fourth-quarter results on Monday, and there was good news and bad news. According to Jonathan Berr over at DailyFinance, net income was $1.27 per share, several pennies ahead of estimates. The top line also came in better than expected.

Unfortunately, profit on a dollar basis dropped over 20%. And higher oil prices are making things difficult at the refinery stage. While the earnings beat is good, these elements to the story must be given ample consideration.

U.S. stock futures were higher Monday morning as investors try to put January's performance behind them. Wall Street will focus on President Obama unveiled budget, while awaiting results from Exxon Mobil. Also, several economic indicators are due out this morning, including a manufacturing index.

President Barack Obama sent Congress a $3.83 trillion budget on Monday that would pour more money into the fight against high unemployment, boost taxes on the wealthy and freeze spending for a wide array of government programs. The deficit for this year would surge to a record-breaking $1.56 trillion. The president is due to speak about the budget at 10:45 a.m. Eastern.

Oil giant Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM) is going to be reporting its fourth quarter numbers on Monday. Going into Monday's report, Wall Street is expecting to see the company post earnings of $1.19 per share.

During the same period last year the company posted earnings of $1.55 a share.

As we move gradually closer to a stable economy where retail investors are again ready to enter the markets, we see a lot written about which stocks, sectors, and investment types are smart bets for future growth.

Money Magazine recently ran a piece in their Investor's Guide 2010 series entitled "10 Stocks That Can Keep Running," which offers three areas in which the markets are likely to be solid in the coming years. This author's opinion is they were mostly right. But there needs to be a little more explanation for the average retail investor.

Analyst Upgrades

• Barclays upgraded Schlumberger (SLB) to overweight from equal weight based on its deep management team, financial strength and increased exploration activity. The firm raised its target to $73 from $64.
• ThinkEquity upgraded SanDisk (SNDK) to buy from hold based on expectations for a solid 2010 with better NAND pricing trends, leaner channel inventories and lack of new fabs slated in 2010, among other reasons. The firm has a $35 target on the stock.
• Keefe Bruyette upgraded Pinnacle Financial (PNFP) to outperform from market perform, citing the company's strong management and balance sheet. The firm has a $16.50 price target on the stock.
• Watson Pharma (WPI) was raised to neutral from underperform at BofA/Merrill.
• New York Times (NYT) was upgraded to market perform from underperform at Wells Fargo.
• Tenet Healthcare (THC) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at Leerink.

Could natural gas become the new, primary fuel for the United States in the 21st century?

It's possible, if new drilling techniques that have the potential to vastly increase the U.S.'s natural gas supplies are deemed safe by regulators.

Exxon-Mobil (XOM) jolted the energy world with its decision to buy natural gas giant XTO Energy (XTO) for $41 billion. The deal brings Exxon's enormous financial resources to XTO, which has made a name for itself via its expertise in the new technique of hydraulic fracturing, which enables companies to profitably access much more natural gas from current fields, and access gas at previously cost-prohibitive fields.

Natural gas has been the "black sheep" of the energy sector. Natural gas is trading at historic lows.

Why is this purchase noteworthy? Exxon Mobil (XOM) traditionally has been a pure oil company. Now Exxon makes a bold move into the natural gas segment by buying one of the largest US natural gas producers, XTO Energy (XTO).

The markets were slightly up most of the day, but traders seemed to be unsurprised by big news from Dubai and Citi. Many of the "most actives" only moved up or down a percentage point or two. It was not a day in which the market showed any conviction which was surprising given the number of potential catalysts early in the day.

The numbers:

Dow 10,501.43 +29.93 (0.29%)
S&P 500 1,114.10 +7.69 (0.70%)
Nasdaq 2,212.10 +21.79 (0.99%)