This is pretty cool. There’s an old-fashioned bidding war going on in, of all things...the coffee sector!

First, Peet’s Coffee & Tea (PEET) offered to buy little Diedrich Coffee (DDRX) for $26 a share. That was a 28% premium for Diedrich.

The stock market is down for the third day in a row. I won't say I told you, but I did in fact tell you so.

If the current humpy thing doesn't pass the last humpy thing, then that probably won't be good. Unless, of course, there's a new and higher humpy thing.

I’m being a bit premature, but I’m going to go ahead and call Ford Motor (F) my 2009 Stock of the Year.

Think of what this stock has been through. Shares of F closed out 2008 at just $2.29 a share. As of Wednesday, the stock broke above $9 to reach a high of $9.14. The shares haven’t been this high in over two years.

Performance Through November 15, 2009

GMCR..............Green Mountain Coffee Roasters..............7,895.4%
HANS...............Hansen Natural.............................................6,504.1%
BYI....................Bally Technologies.......................................6,394.2%
SWN................Southwestern Energy...................................5,108.4%
CLH..................Clean Harbors..............................................4,456.0%
DECK...............Deckers Outdoor..........................................3,669.5%
AMED...............Amedisys.......................................................3,669.2%
TNH.................Terra Nitrogen...............................................3,611.5%
BOOM..............Dynamic Materials.......................................3,519.4%
QSII..................Quality Systems............................................3,497.2%
JOSB...............Jos. A. Bank Clothiers.................................3,419.5%
CETV...............Central European Media Enterprises........3,263.4%
XTO..................XTO Energy....................................................3,191.2%
SIRO...............Sirona Dental Systems...............................3,142.0%
AFAM................Almost Family...............................................3,071.6%
MCF.................Contango Oil & Gas.....................................3,034.0%
JST..................Jinpan International......................................2,974.2%
TRA..................Terra Industries............................................2,339.7%
MDVN...............Medivation.....................................................2,321.6%
RRC.................Range Resources.......................................2,231.9%
ISRL.................Isramco..........................................................2,093.5%
CGA.................China Green Agriculture..............................2,064.3%
CEDC..............Central European Distribution...................2,049.2%
FCN..................FTI Consulting..............................................2,044.3%
GROW..............U.S. Global Investors..................................1,887.3%

The S&P 500 closed at its highest level in 13 months on Wednesday. During the day, we got as high as 1105.37, but we haven’t been able to hold 1,100 going into a close yet. The S&P 500 was down slightly Tuesday, but the Dow was up. In fact, the Dow has been up every day this month.

I still cling to my Humpy Pattern Thesis. This chart below of the S&P 500 clearly shows a rising pattern of surges—humps if you will. I have no idea what it means for the future but I’m passing it on to you.

Ugh! Friday’s jobs report was ugly. Hideous.

The nation’s unemployment rate is now up to 10.2%, which is the highest in 26 years. Even though the economy may be growing, we’re not creating jobs. Here are some stats to consider. Over the past two years, the number of unemployed has jumped by 8.4 million to 15.7 million. The number of employed has dropped by 7.6 million and only 0.8 million have joined the workforce. Add the two together and you get the 8.4 million increase in unemployment.

Becton Dickinson (BDX), which I like a lot, saw its earnings rise to $1.25 a share for its fiscal fourth quarter, which matched estimates. The company made $1.11 for last year’s fourth quarter. Wall Street expects earnings next year of $5.09, which works out to a growth rate of 3%. This means the stock is currently going for about 13 times earnings.

As I’ve mentioned before, I haven’t been very pleased with Moog (MOG.A) this year. The stock is down about 30% and it’s the worst performer on my Buy List. For this past quarter, the company earned 35 cents a share, which was less than half what it made during last year’s third quarter. The company missed Wall Street’s call by a penny a share. For the second quarter, it missed the Street by 10 cents a share.

I like this stock. I really do:

Aflac Inc. (AFL), the world’s largest seller of supplemental health insurance, said third-quarter profit more than tripled as investment losses narrowed and a stronger yen magnified revenue from Japan.

Simply put, Fiserv (FISV) is a great company.

Every quarter, this company delivers. Fiserv just reported Q3 EPS of 92 cents which was in line with the Street’s forecast. For last year’s Q3, it made 81 cents, so that’s pretty good growth.

It was 22 years ago -- October 19, 1987 -- that the market busted and the Dow plunged 508 points, also on a Monday.

As it turned out, the crash was an excellent buying opportunity as the market surged for the next 12-1/2 years.

While Wall Street is celebrating the Dow being over 10,000, there's another milestone coming up: The Canadian dollar is about to reach parity with the U.S. dollar.