In the high 40s, General Mills is trading near its 52-week low. But the company's sales are strong, and its balance sheet is solid. A dividend yield of 3.4% adds to the stock's allure. Some bulls see the shares in the low 60s in a year.

The shares have plunged nearly 70% to a recent 25. But if crude climbs to $70 a barrel, they could rise to the high 30s.

The Seattle e-tailer reported Thursday that its earnings had jumped 24% to $177 million, or 41 cents a share, beating the Street's consensus by 10 cents. The shares (AMZN) closed at 84.46 Friday, up 8% for the week and more than double their 52-week low of 34.68. (They changed hands at 70.52 at the time of our story.) The big surprise was a 5% operating margin -- about one percentage point higher than expected, says Bernstein Research Internet analyst Jeffrey Lindsay. The robust margin indicates that Amazon's online retailing model is operating efficiently, letting it increase profits during a time when many rivals' earnings are weak or nonexistent. Lindsay says that the company implied that its Kindle handheld digital reading device helped improve cash flow and profit margins, but the analyst gives most of the credit to the company's high-tech distribution and fulfillment systems. Amazon's low prices are a draw during these tough times, but the company is also benefiting from a fundamental shift in consumer behavior. People are buying more online, and Amazon continues to grab a bigger slice of the growing pie. At its current price, Amazon trades at more than 50 times expected profits for the next four quarters. At that lofty multiple, the shares may have gotten ahead of themselves for the short term. But over the long haul, they could reward patient holders by cracking 100.

Yet speculators have begun using options to brace for a possible spike in short interest and borrowing costs. The trades in question are called "conversions" and essentially replicate a short-stock position. Among other things, conversions lock in the cost of borrowing stock -- and could benefit if that cost subsequently soars. "Such a huge increase in borrowing cost can only happen if the short interest in BAC increases to a level similar to that of Citi," says Sveinn Palsson, Credit Suisse option strategist. So "it's fair to conclude that options are pricing in a significant likelihood that eventually BAC will be subject to a preferred-to-common conversion." Last week, for example, Jefferies' strategists reminded investors to get ahead of any potential preferred-to-common exchange by buying the preferred and shorting the common (whether using options or otherwise). They flagged BofA as a candidate because it has the lowest ratio of tangible common equity to total assets among the largest banks, other than Citi. BofA has just recovered from a fourth-quarter drubbing to report first-quarter profits of $4.2 billion. But mark-to-market accounting and its acquisition of Merrill Lynch helped drive a big chunk of those gains. CEO Kenneth Lewis declared the bank won't need additional capital, but concerns linger that BofA, with its large holdings of consumer and credit-card loans, is more susceptible to rising unemployment. In any case, traders mounting synthetic short positions have tended to focus on options that won't expire until November or even later -- possibly to allow more time for weakness to surface.

Alan Lancz, proprietor of Alan B. Lancz & Associates in Toledo, Ohio, is long Toyota and short U.S. autos, but thinks Toyota will go lower still. "If we get a pullback in the market, Toyota will be susceptible just like any other cyclical. The 55-to-low-60s area is attractive." Longer term, Toyota shares should fare well. After the last two recessions, the stock rose sharply. From the 1992 bottom, it gained 75%. From the 2003 bottom, it nearly tripled. And Toyota has lots of room to grow, despite gaining share from the Big Three in U.S. and Europe; today, it has just 17% of U.S. sales (versus 22% for GM), 5.4% of Europe and 10% of China. (It has 45% of mature Japan.) It's able to spend vastly more on R&D than the Big Three.

Arjun Murti, Goldman Sachs Energy equity analyst, believes that investors should build positions in energy equities ahead of improvements in supply-demand dynamics in the second half. Expectations for energy demand have fallen with global growth assumptions. A mere stabilization in demand could be a powerful positive force in the face of supply reduction. Furthermore, not just large-cap companies are driving the divergence. Moves in the options and credit markets seem most bullish for Hess (ticker: HES), Murphy Oil (MUR), XTO Energy (XTO) and Sunoco (SUN). On average in the past three months, implied volatility eased by 17% and five-year CDS spreads tightened by 45%. Given these bullish signals and the 10% pullback in these stocks, they may be setting up for a strong rally, relative to the market.

Arjun Murti, Goldman Sachs Energy equity analyst, believes that investors should build positions in energy equities ahead of improvements in supply-demand dynamics in the second half. Expectations for energy demand have fallen with global growth assumptions. A mere stabilization in demand could be a powerful positive force in the face of supply reduction. Furthermore, not just large-cap companies are driving the divergence. Moves in the options and credit markets seem most bullish for Hess (ticker: HES), Murphy Oil (MUR), XTO Energy (XTO) and Sunoco (SUN). On average in the past three months, implied volatility eased by 17% and five-year CDS spreads tightened by 45%. Given these bullish signals and the 10% pullback in these stocks, they may be setting up for a strong rally, relative to the market.

Arjun Murti, Goldman Sachs Energy equity analyst, believes that investors should build positions in energy equities ahead of improvements in supply-demand dynamics in the second half. Expectations for energy demand have fallen with global growth assumptions. A mere stabilization in demand could be a powerful positive force in the face of supply reduction. Furthermore, not just large-cap companies are driving the divergence. Moves in the options and credit markets seem most bullish for Hess (ticker: HES), Murphy Oil (MUR), XTO Energy (XTO) and Sunoco (SUN). On average in the past three months, implied volatility eased by 17% and five-year CDS spreads tightened by 45%. Given these bullish signals and the 10% pullback in these stocks, they may be setting up for a strong rally, relative to the market.