A very busy day tomorrow.... not sure if it matters at this moment but we'll keep reading about the fundamentals hoping that by 2010 it will matter again. For the short run, remember it is not the news but the reaction to the news that matters - when stocks begin to rally on bad news we can believe that light at the end of the tunnel is not a train. If any of us still have limbs...
Our 2 larger regional banks both report tomorrow - BB&T (BBT) and PNC Financial (PNC); so far both have mostly held up well although the latter has been hit the past few days. We'll look for the same metrics as usual, bad loan allowance and how badly current loans are degrading. I'm hoping these are my Wells Fargo's (WFC).
Unfortunately Capital One Financial (COF) [credit cards] and Citigroup (C) [just a big mess but a government favorite] also report. Merrill Lynch (MER) too - although it's going to be part of Bank of America (BAC) . Zions Bancorp (ZION) is another regional bank which actually has done very well of late but I decided against due to quite a bit of CA exposure- but the market seems to like it of late.
In airlines, we have Continental (CAL) and Southwest Airlines (LUV) - in assessing these as investments you have to combat lower oil prices (pro) with the inability for anyone to afford to fly anymore (con) for these... if airlines are your game Delta (DAL) and AMR (AMR) reported today.
- A steep drop in fuel prices has not given airlines much reason to celebrate due to a worsening economy that threatens to curb demand for flights heading into next year. "People will defer those vacations, defer a lot of business trips," said Nathan Smith, an analyst for Frost & Sullivan. "We're already seeing that."
In solar, we have two US companies on opposite side of the scale - never can find a way to make a profit Evergreen Solar (ESLR) and large scale Suntech Power (SPWRA) - this sector is simply hated right now
One of the few biotechs we watch Gilead Sciences (GILD) will report - no safe haven there as hedge funds own(ed) a ton of this one
In tech, Google (GOOG) reports - at their roots they are an advertising firm and the two biggest advertisers have been financial and automotive. I just keep waiting for the floor to drop here but maybe its been a slow motion destruction - other than one post earnings super rally this stock has been bad for a long time. IBM (IBM) already pre-announced so we know their story. Then there is Nokia (NOK) - my gosh I cannot even look at that chart; this was one of the biggest money makers for investors for many years; a safe, best of breed company. Nothing is safe anymore.
In consumer land, one of my favorite shorts noted last year is Harley Davidson (HOG) - the perfect big ticket item bought for through house ATM that is now simply an unaffordable luxury for many. Before this recent leg down, the "housing related" stocks were rallying on the "imminent recovery" in housing - Sherwin Williams (SHW) was one of those; I'll be interested in what they have to say about how "imminent" things are.
In the healthcare side is retail favorite Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) - there have been rumors the past few quarters that hospitals might cut back on new purchases of the high priced machines due to lack of credit so this has been hanging over the stock for a long time.
In commodity/global growth land we have steel maker Nucor (NUE) and coal giant Peabody Energy (BTU) - I don't think it really matters what they say anymore; hedge funds seem to have unlimited supply of these stocks to sell off.
In the large conglomerate land, we always like to take a peak at a United Technologies (UTX) which is basically General Electric (GE) without the TV station or financial arm.
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