Wall Street analyst upgrades helped boost stocks like Oracle Corp ( ORCL ) and Vail Mountain Resorts ( MTN ). If Nike is any indication, the third quarter earnings picture could be quite treacherous to maneuver for investors (and potentially fatal for traders betting the wrong way in the short term). As the Federal Reserve continues to punish savers, investing in income-producing assets is one of the few options individual investors have to remain ahead of real-life inflation.