At the start of the credit crisis, we created the Bespoke Bank and Broker CDS index that tracks default risk for the major financial companies around the world.

As shown in the historical chart of the index below, CDS prices (credit default swaps) skyrocketed during the worst of the crisis to levels never seen before as questions arose about our entire financial system falling apart. Since the March lows, our Bank and Broker CDS index has declined significantly as the system has regained its footing. CDS prices for the major financials recently reached their lowest levels since well before the Lehman bankruptcy.

While more than 80% of S&P 500 companies beat their earnings estimates this earnings season, the average one-day performance on report days for these stocks was -0.04%. Below we provide a list of the 25 best and worst performing S&P 500 stocks on their report days this earnings season.

As shown, Amazon.com (AMZN) did the best on its earnings report with a huge gain of 26.8%. The New York Times (NYT) was the second best performer with a gain of 22.51%. Other notables on the list of big winners include Motorola (MOT), SanDisk (SNDK), and Ford (F). With such positive reactions to their Q3 earnings reports, these names will definitely be on traders' watchlists during the off-season.

The charts below show the relative strength of the Financial and Technology sectors versus the S&P 500. In each chart, a rising line indicates that the sector is outperforming the S&P 500 while a declining line indicates underperformance. We have also included dots showing each time the Fed has left rates unchanged (blue dots). Believe it or not, the Fed hasn't made a change in interest rates in the last year.

Given the fact that Technology and Financials are the most widely followed sectors in the market, any meaningful rally in equities will need to see both Financials and Technology participating. As shown in the charts, while Financials have stopped rolling over, they are hardly outperforming. Since the last Fed meeting on November 4th, Financials have merely been performing inline with the S&P 500. Unlike Financials, Technology stocks have been outperforming the market over the last several weeks. Even here though, the sector has yet to make a new high in relative strength. If the S&P 500 is going to stage a meaningful break above the 1,100 level, we will need to see these two sectors leading the way.

As shown below, the S&P Midcap 400 has outperformed its large and smallcap brethren so far in 2009. The Smallcap 600 has been the worst performer with a gain of 15.4%, but it was down the most during the declines in the first quarter, so it has had to make up the most ground. The S&P 500 is up 20.77% year to date, while the Midcap 400 is up 29.17%.

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Below we highlight the best performing Russell 3,000 stocks since the March 9th, 2009 low as well as since the October 9th, 2007 market peak. As you'll see, the majority of the stocks that have done the best since March 9th are still down significantly from their 10/9/07 prices.

The real winners are the stocks that are up the most since the October 9th, 2007 market peak. These companies have seen big gains even as the market pulled back more than 60% before rallying again this year. Kirkland's (KIRK) has done the best since 10/9/07 with a gain of 1,111%. KIRK rose 170% during the 10/9/07-3/9/09 bear, and has since rallied an additional 348%. Other stocks that did well during the bear market and the current bull market include BSTC, BPSG, GTE, MITI, EBIX, JRCC, and NFLX.

As we noted on Tuesday, breadth as measured by the cumulative advance/decline line has not yet confirmed the market's recent rally to new highs. The same holds true for another breadth indicator that tracks the percentage of stocks trading above their 50-day moving averages. At prior highs during the current bull market, the percentage of stocks trading above their 50-days moved up to the 80%-90% mark. Currently, just 72% of stocks in the S&P 500 are trading above their 50-days, so less stocks have participated in the recent run-up.

In the Financial sector, just 56% of stocks are currently above their 50-days, which is the weakest reading among all ten sectors. Consumer Staples currently has the highest reading at 83%, which is somewhat peculiar given that this sector usually only outperforms when the market is declining and not rising. Industrials and Health Care both have readings of 80% or better as well.

After last week's much larger than expected drawdown in oil inventories, this week's report showed a partial rebuild. While the consensus forecast was for a build of 1 million barrels, the actual increase was much greater at 1.762 million barrels. As a result crude oil prices are getting whacked with oil trading down more than $2. Heading into the coldest part of the year, oil inventories remain well above their historical average.

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Many will remember that in last week's second round of arrests in the ongoing insider trading crackdown, the traders that were targeted were all cited for their buying stock in 3Com (COMS) back in 2007 just weeks before Bain Capital and Huawei Technologies announced plans to acquire the company. While the deal later fell through on national security concerns, the traders cited made over $10 million in illicit profits on their trades.

Fast forward to yesterday, and COMS now finds itself in the crosshairs of another potential insider trading scandal. Following last night's announcement that Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) would buy COMS for $7.90 per share in cash, many bloggers have been quick to point out the surge in yesterday's option volume. Zero Hedge notes that yesterday's volume in COMS call options was three times the existing open interest, and that $1.5 million was made in profits as a result.

For the third time this year, the superstitious among us are cautiously awaiting the coming (and going) of Friday the 13th.

While this is traditionally a day of bad luck, the stock market has generally been unfazed by Friday the 13th. In the first table below, we highlight the DJIA's average performance on the 185 Fridays the 13th since 1900. The average return on these days is a gain of 0.04%, with positive returns 58.4% of the time. As shown, while the average return is better than all days, it is below the average gain we typically see on all Fridays. However, the 58.4% frequency of positive returns is better than the average for all days and all Fridays.

With all the hoopla surrounding gold recently, it should come as no surprise that the commodity is currently riding an eight-day winning streak.

The current run represents the seventh time since 1980 that gold has had a streak of eight or more consecutive days with a gain. As shown below, the only time one of these streaks went for more than eight days was back in 1982, when the ninth day was also positive (on the tenth day it fell 5.7%, or $63 in today's prices).

Gold has been the talk of the town recently, with everyone wondering if the current rally is a bubble waiting to pop or just the beginning of a run to much higher prices. While gold is getting the attention, its sister metals -- silver and platinum -- have actually been outperforming. Below we provide historical charts of the ratio between gold and silver and gold and platinum. When the line is rising, gold is outperforming, while gold is underperforming when the line is declining.

As shown, late last year both silver and platinum lost big ground to gold, with platinum and gold even reaching parity at one point. During the metals rally this year, however, silver and platinum have actually done better than gold. (See SLV and DBS for silver ETFs and PTM for a platinum ETF.)

After failing to hold the level in October and then correcting by over 6%, it shouldn't have come as too much of a surprise that today's opening rally was met with selling shortly after the S&P 500 broke above 1,100. With breadth and new highs not yet confirming the current run, some sideways trading before any meaningful run through 1,100 might be in the cards.

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The estimates for the year-over-year change in Q3 earnings at the start of earnings season were -23.2% for the S&P 500. Currently, the actual number sits at -17.2% for the S&P 500 with less than 20% of the index left to report. As shown below, the Financial sector has seen its earnings grow by 358.8% in Q3 '09 versus Q3 '08! Given how bad things were last year, it's not surprising to see a reading this high, but it is a sign that things have gotten much better. Health Care, Utilities, and Consumer Staples (all non-cyclical) are the only other sectors that have seen year-over-year earnings growth this quarter. Energy has seen the biggest decline in earnings at -62.9%, followed by Materials (-43.4%), Industrials (-37.3%), and Consumer Discretionary (-29.3%).

The Financial sector is currently expected to see growth of 133.8% in Q4 '09 versus Q4 '08. This high estimate in the Financial sector helps put estimates for the entire S&P 500 at +65.2% in the fourth quarter. Ex-Financials, the S&P 500 is expected to see Q4 earnings actually decline by 7.6%. Technology is expected to see growth of 21.5% in Q4, while estimates for the Materials sector are currently at 97.5%.

Below we highlight the year-to-date percentage change (local currency) for the major equity indices of 82 countries. So far this year, 71 of the 82 countries are in positive territory, and the average change of all countries is 33.27%. With a gain of 20.76%, the S&P 500 is 13 percentage points below the average, yet it's the second best G-7 performer behind Canada so far in 2009.

The BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China) have been standouts this year. Russia is up the most out of all countries with a gain of 126.71%. Brazil, China, and India are all up more than 70%. Along with Russia, the Ukraine, Argentina, and Peru are up more than 100% year to date.

Although the S&P 500 is within 1% of its closing high, breadth in this recent rally has been lagging. As of today, the Cumulative A/D line for the S&P 500 since September 2008 is at 778, which is 571 below the highs from October. Given the fact that days where the S&P 500 has a 1% gain typically see a net A/D reading of about +300, it is likely that if we get a rally to new highs, it will not immediately be confirmed by breadth. Therefore, if the S&P 500 does manage to rally to a new closing high, investors with cash already on the sidelines may want to wait for breadth confirmation before putting any new funds to work.

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With everyone worried about the top line revenue numbers this earnings season, we've been tracking this data closely. As shown below, 59% of US companies have beaten revenue estimates this quarter, which is the highest reading over the last 5 earnings seasons. While it's not in the 70%-80% range we saw during the last bull market, the direction of the revenue "beat" rate is trending higher, which is a positive for the market.

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Below we provide our trading range charts of ten popular commodities. The green shading represents between two standard deviations above and below the commodity's 50-day moving average. As shown, oil has been trading at the top of its trading range for a few weeks now, and its uptrend remains intact. Natural gas has also made a nice move over the past couple of months, but it has struggled to make the next leg up over the past few weeks.

As investors know, gold is currently the commodity of the day, and as shown in its chart, it is currently trading right at overbought territory. Silver and platinum have rallied along with gold, but they don't quite have the relationship with the dollar that gold has, so investors haven't plowed into them as much. Corn, wheat, orange juice, and coffee have also all done well recently.

After struggling at the end of October, the S&P 500 has finished higher on every single trading day so far in November. This marks the 16th 6-day winning streak for the S&P 500 over the last ten years. As shown below, the last four 6-day winning streaks have been met with declines on day seven.