TradingMarkets 7 Stocks You Need to Know for Wednesday

Stocks began the holiday-shortened week on a positive footing, with the Nasdaq the biggest percentage gainer on the day. The Dow was up 68.72. The Nasdaq Composite finished Tuesday up 36.57. And the S&P 500 closed ahead by 9.42.

Here are 7 Stocks You Need to Know for Wednesday

An upgrade by Credit Suisse Group AG from "neutral" to "outperform" helped make Citizens' Communications (CZN | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) the big winner in the S&P 500. CZN was up more than 4% on Tuesday.

Vodafone Group (VOD | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), one of the world's largest wireless communications corporations announced the departure of its CEO, Arun Sarin, who will be replaced by his deputy, Vittorio Colao.

Darden Restaurants (DRI | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) - operators of Red Lobster, Olive Garden and Bahama Breeze - found its shares upgraded today by Merrill Lynch, which suggested that the company was better positioned to weather a slowdown in consumer discretionary spending.

A Citigroup downgrade from "buy" to "hold" sent shares of General Motors (GM | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) lower on Tuesday in what is the seventh consecutive down day for shares of the automaker.

UBS AG (UBS | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) lost more than 13% on Tuesday after disclosing that the bank likely had further losses to come due to exposure to the subprime mortgage debt.

Reporting earnings before the open on Wednesday, American Eagle Outfitters (AEO | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) is expected to announce earnings per share of $0.19.

Dollar Tree (DLTR | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) is scheduled to announce earnings on Wednesday before the bell. Analysts are expecting EPS of $0.42.

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