The Kirk Report

No Energy

It was yet another tough day for the market.

While it is still early, the initial knee-jerk reaction to earnings reports isn't as bullish as the bulls expected. And, the technical action in the market (i.e. strong opens & weak closes) doesn't leave us with much confidence that the worst is over.

Along the market, I had my own issues today including a power outage that left me dead in the water for vast majority of the day. I'm at least fortunate that I didn't have any open positions on, but you can rest assure that I'm now even more motivated to pay up for an emergency generator, especially ahead of the Minnesota winter season.

As always, I hope you're holding up well out there and you are making lots of money. See you tomorrow.

Kirk's Market Radar

• For a Turnaround Tuesday, I'm not very impressed


• Standard & Poor's sees a +5% upside move in the S&P 500 by the end of year


• Depressed consumer confidence appears to have bottomed out?


• The Big Picture with Jim Puplava & John Loeffler


• Q&A with Ron Muhlenkamp


• Jim Cramer and The Golden Parachute


• Stocks on the radar? Not too many, but I'm am looking at BCRX, NDAQ, RCCC, NURO, NGS, & INFY


• Yet another gloomy outlook for 2006


• Bulls live above the 200-day moving average, and bears live below it


• As a rule of thumb, for each extra dollar households spend on fuel during an energy shock, spending on other things gets reduced by 50 cents


• New CD glitters as gold-linked investment


• No big surprise - I have moved some cash to high-yield checking accounts


• Even though trading is serious stuff, you must be able to laugh at yourself and keep some humor in it at all times


• United Airlines has received $3 billion in exit financing


• The chances that General Motors will file for bankruptcy are now about 30% according to one industry analyst


• It's a very bearish omen when a company cuts or eliminates its dividend


• Jeffrey Saut raises some cash and believes the next two weeks will tell the story


• My wife has had a string of bad luck lately and I hoping that it isn't contagious


• More investing thoughts about a potential Avian Flu outbreak


• China's economy grew +9.4% in the first nine months of this year


• Chinese portfolio insurance


• John Snow wants China to adopt a more flexible currency trading system


• Venezuela switches to Euros


• Most stocks are slightly overvalued most of the time and on average, broad stock market panics (i.e. major long-term buying opportunities) historically come along roughly every three years


• Forbes goes stock screening (nasdaq stars, insider selling, cash-rich companies, and falling estimates)


• Yes, BusinessWeek's stock screener is still my overall favorite


• IBD profiles VoIP player Cbeyond Communications and Iris (IRIS)


• 20 small companies with great profits


• Business is pretty good in outsourcing


• Inflation-proof your portfolio


• Your own common-sense observations will frequently provide you with all of the investment insight you'll need to become successful. Yet, most investors I talk to don't trust these observations because they are not commonly accepted, or contrary to the opinions they read in the financial press or the message boards they monitor. Over time, you'll need to learn to trust your instinct based on those observations because more often than not, they'll be right on the money


• I've also experienced similar problems with my iPod


• Why Motorola's new iTunes phone is a flop


• The coming mobile-video deluge


• When you're at the top, people are bound to throw stones


• Meet the automatic millionaires


• A perfect portfolio of Vanguard funds


• Common sense reminds us that no one can harvest something that didn't grow


• Dr. Wish examines Nicholas Darvas' trading techniques


• Crossing Wall Street with Eddy Elfenbein


• "The business and ethical standards of corporate America, of investment America, and of mutual fund America have been gravely compromised." - John Bogle


• AAII outlines what every investor should know about mutual funds


• Like everything else, ETFs can be a smart way to invest, but they're only as smart as the people who use them


• No home payments for 6 months?


• Helen of Troy (HELE) receives the ugly chart of the day award


• Will earnings season be more of a garbage season as companies continue to house clean under the auspices of hurricane damage?


• Game theory only goes so far


• A blog about stocks and baseball


• The mortgage fraud blog


• A personal assistant for guys who desire to keep their loved ones happy


• Mini-SUV?


• "If we do not discipline ourselves the world will do it for us." - William Feather

Earnings To The Rescue?

Premarket futures are up as investors have faith that strong earnings reports will inspire a turnaround. Earnings from Genentech (DNA) and Alcoa (AA) have certainly given the bull's some preliminary encouragement. Furthermore, investors anxiously await the reports from Apple Computer (AAPL) and Advanced Micro (AMD) after today's closing bell.

Like last earnings season, traders will be focused not only on the earnings reports themselves, but more importantly, the reactions the stocks have after the news is reported as well as the guidance for the 4th quarter. Many traders try to play the anticipation game ahead of the earnings releases, but as you know, I avoid that common strategy. Instead, I'll be focused on finding muted reactions to very good news as well as other inefficiencies that always seem to come up during earnings season.

Beyond the focus on earnings reports, investors will also be watching oil prices which are firming up today as well as the minutes from the Fed's September 20th meeting due out at 2 P.M. Have a great day!