With the explosion in gaming, media PCs and Apple (AAPL) computers, There is no better place to be than the high end graphics market. In their May 10th quarterly earnings report the CEO stated that the company's "strategy is clear and focused -- to be the world leader in GPUs and capitalize on this exciting opportunity." It must be exciting when you virtually OWN your market.

When it comes to high end graphics there are only two names in the business, ATI and Nvidia (NVDA). ATI (Nvidia's only competitor in the high performance GPU market) was recently bought by AMD in an attempt to compete against Intel in the server market. All AMD wanted was ATI's patent portfolio for virtualized graphics. Since servers don't have graphics cards, this was basically AMD's big move into the server market.

Stocks discussed on the lightning round session of Jim Cramer's Mad Money TV Program, Thursday December 17.

Bullish Calls:

TriQuint Semiconductor (TQNT), Skyworks (SWKS), Apple (AAPL): "I like TriQuint. Is it my favorite? No. Is my favorite in the complex..the mobile internet tsunami... I like Skyworks Solutions a little bit more when it comes to those components. And I also, by the way, I still like Apple despite the fact that it acts simply awful."

Tuesday, Fitch put the steel makers on earnings watch. Fitch is predicting that the demand for steel will increase “modestly” over the next 18 months. This should allow steel makers to raise steel prices “modestly”. However, the prices of the input materials will also increase over that time. Plus, the Chinese production growth will outstrip their internal demand growth. This means that the Western steel makers will have their steel prices pressured to the down side by China. Russia and the Ukraine are also good sized growers with the same growth profile as China.

The steel makers have implemented a lot of cost containment measures throughout 2009. Partially for this reason, the steel makers should be more profitable in 2010 than in 2009. "Financial leverage should decline over the year," Bonar said in a statement. "Ratings remain under pressure given the severity of the downturn and limited visibility on the recovery." Fitch thinks it may take the first 6 months of 2010 to get a good read on what the actual earnings will be.

Lately Steel Makers have been on a tear. Last week the laggards were far outperforming the more fundamentally sound, more highly performing steel makers of this year. That is usually the sign that a rally is getting long in the tooth.

Cramer interviewed Nucor's (NUE) CEO DiMicco Friday. Cramer tried to get him to say the steel industry was about to explode upward. He shot Cramer down. Clearly Cramer was looking for his reaction. My take from all this was that steel prices have risen. Partially they have risen due to the low inventories as USA steel makers had drastically cut their inventories in 2009. Partially they have risen on increased demand due to the Cash for Clunkers program earlier this year. The remaining dealerships have to replenish their inventories. This replenishment production is slated to finish up at approximately the end of December. Whether demand continues to exist beyond this point remains up in the air.

Q3 2009 Earnings Call

October 21, 2009; 01:00pm ET

• King: Break up the banks! Bank of England Governor Mervyn King stepped up his call to break apart Britain's largest banks, saying more stringent capital requirements won't shield taxpayers from having to bail out more too-big-to-fail banks in the future. "The massive support extended to the banking sector around the world, while necessary to avert economic disaster, has created possibly the biggest moral hazard in history," King said in a speech (.pdf) late Tuesday. His comments were at odds with those of Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling, who said yesterday focusing on capital rules may be enough to ward off future crises. Meanwhile, on this side of the Atlantic, Paul Volcker keeps pounding the desk to split up banks, but no one's listening.
• State Street slapped with fraud suit. The California AG's office charged State Street (STT) with fraud Tuesday, accusing it of bilking the state's two largest pension funds - Calpers and Calstrs - of $57M, and seeking $200M in overcharges and penalties (complaint (.pdf)). The lawsuit stems from an inquiry launched after a whistleblower claimed State Street secretly and substantially marked up the price of its currency trades. State Street beat Q3 earnings estimates Tuesday, but shares dived 8.4% on news of the lawsuit and a sobering outlook.
• Yahoo defies bears. Shares of Yahoo (YHOO) are up 4.6% premarket after the internet giant beat Q3 earnings estimates handily with the help of some serious cost cutting ($0.13/share vs. $0.06), while revenue was steady from last quarter at $1.13B. "There's a change occurring in Yahoo," CFO Tim Morse said on Yahoo's earnings call (transcript), "that will value that kind of work - that good old-fashioned, get-your-hands-dirty kind of find ways to take costs down or make sure that they don't go up as much as they otherwise would have - type work." Analysts were impressed with the quarter, but said the real test of Yahoo's massive branding initiative would come in Q4. Bernstein's Jeffrey Lindsay summed it up: "The patient is off life support and back in the recovery ward. But it is certainly not out playing soccer again."
• Shedding light on the dark pools. In an effort to bring transparency to famously opaque "dark pool" off-exchange trading cliques on which Wall Street firms execute some of their largest trades, the SEC will reportedly today propose slashing the percent of daily volume in a company's shares that can be executed on the systems before quotes must be publicized to 0.25% from 5%. The move would force dark pools to either bring their prices in line with open markets, or risk losing their order flow. Trading executives warn sweeping rule changes could ultimately hurt the investors regulators are trying to empower.
• AT&T sues LCD makers over price fixing. AT&T (T) sued Samsung Electronics, LG Display (LPL), AU Optronics (AUO) Corp. and other LCD manufacturers, claiming they colluded to fix prices of panels sold in the U.S. "The conspiracy included communications and meetings in which defendants agreed to eliminate competition and fix the prices of LCD panels that were ultimately incorporated into LCD products that they knew would be sold in California and the U.S.," according to the complaint.
• Logi offer: does it make sense? An obscure hedge fund - logi Energy - said it offered to buy $1B of CIT Group's (CIT) debt, but wouldn't identify its source of capital. Logi said the deal could give CIT "wiggle room" as it works to sidestep bankruptcy. CIT wouldn't comment on whether it was seriously considering the offer.
• Volvo sale hits snag. Sources say China carmaker Geely's $2B attempt to buy Ford's (F) Volvo unit is in danger of stalling over disagreements about intellectual property rights. The impasse centers on Ford's concerns about sharing its proprietary technology and plans for new products.
• Morgan mulls giving away Crescent. Sources say Morgan Stanley (MS) may hand over its Crescent Real Estate Equities unit to Barclays (BCS), to whom the business owes $2B which comes due Nov. 2. Morgan bought Crescent for $6.5B in August 2007, and had planned to put its assets into real estate investment funds, but was left holding the bag when markets seized up.
• IRS watchdog says homebuyer plan fraught with fraud. The IRS's internal watchdog will warn the agency again about fraud in the multibillion dollar homebuyer tax credit program. The IRS faces significant challenges in preventing individuals from scamming the tax credit program.
• JPMorgan, Goldman cornering the M&A market. According to a study by Bloomberg News, JPMorgan (JPM) edged out Goldman Sachs (GS) in M&A advisory fees ($1.26B vs. $1.22B) for the first time since 2000. By deepening relationships with corporate clients, the two have created a deep moat around M&A counselling. "It's going to be very difficult for upstart or broad-based firms to come in and usurp what many believe are the insurmountable leads that Goldman and JPMorgan have over competitors," one analyst says.
• Business spending perks up. Industrial bellwether Caterpillar (CAT) joined the ranks of those who say the worst is behind us, as corporate buyers slowly begin reinvesting in their businesses. While Caterpillar's sales were 44% lower than a year ago, CFO David Burritt said he sees "encouraging signs that indicate a recovery may be under way," and predicted sales could rise 10-25% next year (read Caterpillar's Q3 earnings call transcript). Business spending accounts for about 9.5% of U.S. GDP - a fraction of the 68.2% accounted for by consumer spending - but still a potential catalyst for recovery.
• Get ready for pay as you play internet. Internet service providers including AT&T (T) and Time Warner Cable (TWC) are considering returning to usage-based pricing for internet, amid a surge in traffic as more people watch videos online, and after a push by the FCC to force ISPs to treat all web traffic equally. "Some type of usage-based model, for those customers who have abnormally high usage patterns, seems inevitable," an AT&T spokesman said, declining to provide details on the company's exact plans.

Earnings: Wed. Before Open

• Air Products and Chemicals (APD): FQ4 EPS of $1.14 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $2.13B (-21.6%) in-line. (PR)
• AirTran (AAI): Q3 EPS of $0.08 in-line. Revenue of $597M (-11.3%) vs. $600M. Shares -0.9% premarket. (PR)
• Allegheny Technologies (ATI): Q3 EPS of $0.01 misses by $0.02. Revenue of $698M (-49.9%) vs. $738M. Says the worst appears to be behind us, but many customers remain cautious due to the uncertain global economy and are keeping inventories low. Shares -8.8% premarket. (PR)
• Altria (MO): Q3 EPS of $0.48 beats by $0.01. Revenue of $4.32B (+0%) vs. $4.66B. Shares -1.4% premarket. (PR)
• Boeing (BA): Q3 EPS of -$2.23 misses by $0.11. Revenue of $16.69B (+9.1%) vs. $17.16B. Sees full-year EPS of $1.35-1.55 vs. $1.54 consensus. "The 787 cost reclassification and the 747 charge for increased costs and difficult market conditions clearly overshadowed what continues to be otherwise solid performance across our commercial production programs and defense business, We look forward to getting the 787 and 747-8 in the air soon and moving forward with flight test and certification for these two important programs." Shares -2.5% premarket. (PR)
• Deutsche Bank (DB): Q3 net income of €1.4B vs. consensus of €811M and last year's €435M. Pretax profit of €1.3B vs. consensus of €1.19B. Tier 1 capital ratio rose to 11.7% from 11% in Q2. Shares -2.3% premarket. (Bloomberg)
• Continental (CAL): Q3 EPS of $0.02 beats by $0.08. Revenue of $3.32B (-20.2%) in-line. (PR)
• Elan (ELN): Q3 EPS of -$0.06 beats by $0.07. Revenue of $399M (-19.5%) vs. $382M. (PR)
• Eli Lilly (LLY): Q3 EPS of $1.20 beats by $0.18. Revenue of $5.56B (+6.8%) vs. $5.41B. Gross margin as a percent of total revenue increased by 3.7% to 81.1%. Shares +0.4% premarket. (PR)
• FLIR Systems (FLIR): Q3 EPS of $0.38 beats by $0.03. Revenue of $286M (+3.2%) vs. $281M. Shares +2.9% premarket. (PR)
• Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold(FCX): Q3 EPS of $2.07 beats by $0.73. Revenue of $4.14B (-10.2%) vs. $4.24B. Reinstates dividend due to strong performance. Shares -0.1% premarket. (PR)
• KeyCorp (KEY): Q3 EPS of -$0.50 misses by $0.09. Takes a $733M provision for loan losses, which KEY says drove the miss. Average deposits were +6% (+$3.6B). Shares -4.7% premarket. (PR)
• Knight Capital Group (NITE): Q3 EPS of $0.32 misses by $0.07. Revenue of $300M (+24.5%) vs. $282M. Shares -6.4% premarket. (PR)
• Manpower (MAN): Q3 EPS of $0.26 beats by $0.09. Revenue of $4.19B (-26%) vs. $3.95B. Sees Q4 EPS of $0.17-0.27 vs. $0.28. "We continued to experience sluggish demand for our services as the labor markets throughout the world were hampered by lack of demand for companies' products and services... the uptick in revenue is muted at this time compared to previous recoveries." Shares -5.3% premarket. (PR)
• Morgan Stanley (MS): Q3 EPS of $0.38 beats by $0.11. Revenue of $8.7B vs. $6.99B. Assets under management $386B vs. $483B last year. Declares $0.05 quarterly dividend. Shares +0.9% premarket. (PR)
• Northern Trust (NTRS): Q3 EPS of $0.72 misses by $0.12. Revenue of $928M (-1.2%) vs. $985M. Shares -5% premarket. (PR)
• Northrop Grumman (NOC): Q3 EPS of $1.29 beats by $0.11. Revenue of $8.73B (+4.1%) vs. $8.58B. (PR)
• Omnicom Group (OMC): Q3 EPS of $0.53 in-line. Revenue of $2.83B (-14.4%) in-line. (PR)
• Penn National Gaming (PENN): Q3 EPS of $0.33 misses by $0.02. Revenue of $620M (+0.4%) vs. $642M. Shares -8.2% premarket. (PR)
• St. Jude Medical (STJ): Q3 EPS of $0.59 beats by $0.01. Revenue of $1.16B (+7%) in-line. Sees Q$ EPS of $0.61-0.63 vs. $0.66. "We are lowering our expectations for our fourth quarter results to accommodate the issues we are experiencing from a limited portion of our customer base in the U.S., but we are confident that our long term growth program is on track." Shares -0.9% premarket. (PR)
• U.S. Bancorp (USB): Q3 EPS of $0.30 beats by $0.03. Revenue of $4.25B (+2.2%) vs. $4.12B. Says credit deterioration moderated somewhat. Shares +0.8% premarket. (PR)
• Wells Fargo (WFC): Q3 EPS of $0.56 beats by $0.19. Revenue of $22.47B (+116.5%) vs. $21.63B. Q3 chargeoffs of $5.1B, up from $4.4B in Q2. Sees credit losses peaking in 2010, "with consumer losses potentially peaking in first half of the year and gradually declining, absent further economic deterioration." Shares -1% premarket. (PR)

Earnings: Tue. After Close

• Amylin Pharmaceuticals (AMLN): Q3 EPS of -$0.19 beats by $0.10. Revenue of $211M (-3%) vs. $219M. Shares -1.1% AH. (PR)
• Canadian National Railway Company (CNI): Q3 EPS of C$0.94. Revenue of C$1.85B (-18%) in-line. Shares -1.6% AH. (PR)
• C.H. Robinson Worldwide (CHRW): Q3 EPS of $0.57 beats by $0.01. Revenue of $1.95B (-16%) vs. $1.96B. Shares -0.8% AH. (PR)
• Cree (CREE): FQ1 EPS of $0.30 beats by $0.08. Revenue of $169M (+20%) vs. $165M. Sees Q2 EPS of $0.28-0.30 vs. $0.23 and revenue of $180M-190M vs. $173M. Shares +3.6% AH. (PR)
• Gilead Sciences (GILD): Q3 EPS of $0.78 beats by $0.11. Revenue of $1.8B (+31%) vs. $1.75B. Shares -2.2% AH. (PR)
• Infinera (INFN): Q3 EPS of -$0.03 beats by $0.09. Revenue of $83M (+3%) vs. $80M. Shares +2.5% AH. (PR)
• Intuitive Surgical (ISRG): Q3 EPS of $1.64 beats by $0.16. Revenue of $280M (+19%) vs. $258M. Shares -5.9% AH. (PR)
• Nabors Industries (NBR): Q3 EPS of $0.18 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $804M (-44%) vs. $820M. Shares flat AH. (PR)
• Polycom (PLCM): Q3 EPS of $0.31 misses by $0.01. Revenue of $243M (-16%) vs. $236M. Shares -5.2% AH. (PR)
• SanDisk (SNDK): Q3 EPS of $0.75 beats by $0.49. Revenue of $935M (+14%) vs. $788M. Shares +0.2% AH and halted. Updated 4:30 p.m.: Shares resume trading, +10.2% AH. (PR)
• Seagate Technology (STX): FQ1 EPS of $0.58 beats by $0.11. Revenue of $2.66B (-12%) vs. $2.62B. Shares -2.9% AH. (PR)
• SLM Corp. (SLM): Q3 EPS of $0.26 beats by $0.22. Net interest income after provision for loan losses of $204M (-29%). Shares +7.8% AH. (PR)
• STMicroelectronics (STM): Q3 EPS of -$0.23 misses by $0.14. Revenue of $2.28B (-16%) vs. $2.25B. Shares +3.7% AH. (PR)
• Stryker (SYK): Q3 EPS of $0.69 in-line. Revenue of $1.65B (+1%) vs. $1.62B. Shares +3.5% AH. (PR)
• Tupperware (TUP): Q3 EPS of $0.54 beats by $0.12. Revenue of $514M (flat) vs. $486M. Raises full-year EPS guidance to $2.84-2.89 from $2.59-2.64, vs. $2.73. Shares +4.5% AH. (PR)
• Walter Industries (WLT): Q3 EPS of $0.45 beats by $0.18. Revenue of $278M (-10%) vs. $223M. Shares +1.7% AH. (PR)

Today's Markets

Overseas markets sustained losses Wednesday. U.S. futures moved lower overnight.

As earnings season begins in earnest we expect to see a wide variety of hits and misses. Alcoa (AA), one of the biggies, got the show rolling with a “beat” on their Q3 numbers.

However, CEO Klaus Kleinfeld made it clear that cost-cutting and other actions contributed heavily to cash positions and profits. In addition, the company cited improved aluminum demand by the auto makers.

Titanium Metals (TIE) is poised to rebound after experiencing a near meltdown caused by the recession and significant delays by Boeing (BA) in development of their 787 Dreamliner. Deliveries of other aircraft will increase the demand for titanium for the next five years.

In July 2009, The Airline Monitor, a leading aerospace publication, issued its semi-annual forecast for commercial aircraft deliveries. Aggregate annual deliveries for both Boeing and Airbus are expected to reach record numbers of aircraft during each year from 2009 through 2013 (totaling at least 960 aircraft deliveries each year during the period). Forecasted deliveries for twin-aisle aircraft through 2013 have declined 4% from 1,450 to 1,390 since The Airline Monitor’s January 2009 forecast primarily due to production delays on the Boeing 787. Changes to production schedules for certain other commercial aircraft resulted in a 22% increase in forecasted deliveries of Boeing and Airbus single-aisle aircraft through 2013.

By Tom Vulcan

For all financially hard-pressed, would-be bridegrooms, 1976 was a signal year.

With the September options expiration approaching us in just 4 days, I thought I would outline some trade ideas on stocks I wouldn't mind going long (with the exception of AIG), that would return good percentages in just 4 days. When using the buy/write option strategy, it is important that you are willing to hold the security in case it is below the strike price at options expiration. I have put together a list of stocks/ETFs which will return a nice percentage gain if they are above the strike price as of September options expiration, but will also protect (lower cost basis) to the downside in case the stock/ETF sells off slightly and expires below the strike price. The list below is a very tall one, and for your convenience I have ranked the securities in order from the largest percent return to the least. To learn more about the buy/write option strategy, risks, pricing, calculations, other strategies, and options in general, click here.

Note that higher beta securities return higher percentages due to their levels of implied volatility, and because they are riskier.

One of the perks of being a certified Seeking Alpha contributor is access to various research tools like Zacks.com. Zacks is an investment research service primarily oriented toward momentum and growth investing so their recommended stocks tend to be closer to 52-week highs than to the lows. Nevertheless, I find their in-depth company research reports to be more informative than those offered by Morningstar or S&P.

While Zacks prefers stocks with strong earnings and stock price momentum, I took the inverse approach, screening for stocks with bad Zacks rankings (1 equates to strong buy and 5 a strong sell) but strong business models to overcome any short-term hindrances. We're looking for princes disguised as toads so I added strong ROA and price-to-cash-flow requirements. Here is the specific criteria used:

Only 39 stocks in the S&P 500 are trading below their 50-day moving averages. That means nearly 93% of stocks in the index are trading above their 50-days, which is the highest reading in at least three years. Below we highlight the stocks in the index that are the most overbought and oversold versus their 50-days.

As shown, AIG is the furthest above its 50-day at 61.06%, followed by GCI, EK, HIG, LEN, and C. These are names that have been in perpetual trouble over the last few years, so clearly investors are going out and buying up beaten down, risky names. Other notable stocks on the most overbought list include COF, WYNN, WFMI, and BAC.

The Applied Finance Group’s (AFG) Market Forecast Project is a monthly poll of professional investors designed to provide insights on how investors currently view the market and economy. This poll started out as an AFG client only poll at AFG’s annual research summit, but due to its popularity and successful predictions it has been expanded to all professional investors who register and participate and will be done monthly. The benefit of participation is being the first to receive the results before they are released on our blog or to anyone else.

Earlier this month as a result of one of the poll’s questions that the Tech sector was the most attractive sector to invest in over the next 12 months, we released a list of Tech stocks that we like and a few that looked overvalued as well. In last month’s survey the Basic Material sector was the second most attractive place to invest due to the fact that many investors see an economic recovery ahead that may directly benefit many of the companies within the Materials sector when home building and new construction begin to correct and recover.

Stocks discussed on the lightning round session of Jim Cramer's Mad Money TV Program, Tuesday August 11.

Bullish Calls:

Johnson&Johnson (JNJ), Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY): "BMY has got a 6 percent yield, I shouldn't have sold JNJ...I wanted to make a swap for BMY. JNJ is fine, it is really well run....I just like BMY more."

I picked up shares of Lockheed Martin (LMT) at $76 per share Wednesday. Lockheed has dropped from the mid 80’s after reporting a decline in profitability and amidst news that the U.S. government cut funding for the F-22 fighter jet program. I think the nation’s largest defense contractor is very attractive at this level. It’s trading at just 10 times earnings and has a solid balance sheet.

I also bought Allegheny Technologies (ATI) at $28.40. Allegheny was down 18% after reporting negative earnings for Q2 and forecasting no earnings growth for Q3. This stock could drop to $26 in the short term but I like the upside potential when metal prices rebound and the aerospace industry recovers.

Q2 2009 Earnings Call

July 22, 2009 1:00 pm ET

• Bernanke defends Fed independence. Bernanke gave his semi-annual monetary policy testimony in the House of Representatives yesterday, and continues today with testimony to the Senate. Bernanke stressed the importance of central bank independence, warning against the dangers of too much political scrutiny of the Federal Reserve, and told lawmakers they should focus on cutting 'unsustainable' budget deficits. In terms of the economy, Bernanke pointed to 'notable improvements' in recent months, although financial markets 'remain stressed,' and downplayed the risk of inflation. Supportive policies will continue to be necessary to prevent rising unemployment from hurting a recovery. (Read Bernanke's testimony)
• Apple shines on profit beat. Apple (AAPL) reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings (see details below) as price cuts helped attract more first-time buyers for Macintosh computers. Mac sales rose 4% in the quarter, compared to an industrywide decline of 3.1%. iPhone sales beat estimates as well, increasing sevenfold to 5.2M units. iPod sales slipped, as executives noted "we expect our traditional MP3 players to decline over time as we cannibalize ourselves with the iPod Touch and the iPhone."
• China plans buying spree. China plans to use its foreign exchange reserves, the largest in the world, to speed overseas expansion and acquisitions by Chinese companies. Premier Wen Jiabao said the reserves should be used to "hasten the implementation of our ‘going out’ strategy," the first time an official has publicly articulated a policy of getting Chinese companies, particularly large state-owned industrial groups, to buy offshore assets.
• Reining in the credit raters. The Treasury released its plan to reform credit rating agencies, sending a draft bill to Congress where financial overhaul efforts are being slowed by growing doubts among lawmakers. The plan tries to limit conflicts of interest by preventing consultation between rating agencies and the companies they rate, and by requiring companies to disclose 'pre-ratings' to investors to limit companies' ratings shopping. The Treasury also wants to empower the SEC to set up a special office for overseeing rating agencies. (Read the Treasury's fact sheet)
• Now you C-it, now you don't. CIT Group (CIT) unveiled more of its restructuring plan that will significantly shrink the company's size, including the possible sale of its Utah bank, its rail-car and aircraft-leasing arm and its credit/cash-advance business. However, the company warned in an SEC filing that failure to complete any of the outlined steps could still land the lender in bankruptcy court. CIT received an expensive $3B emergency loan from bondholders but faces another $7B in debt coming due in the next year. In a further setback, some companies have already begun to cut ties with CIT, including Microsoft (MSFT), which terminated a vendor-financing agreement with CIT yesterday. (Read CIT's 8-K filing)
• P&G closes in on drug unit sale. Procter & Gamble (PG) is reportedly moving closer to the sale of its prescription-drug unit, and is in late-stage discussions with several firms, including specialty drug maker Warner Chilcott (WCRX) and Cerberus Capital Management. The unit could fetch around $3B. In a sign that acquisition financing may be easing, sources say Cerberus has already lined up preliminary financing from several Wall Street banks.
• Recession hurts Yahoo earnings. Yahoo (YHOO) reported quarterly earnings Tuesday evening (see details below), posting a 13% fall in overall revenue amid steep declines in both display ads and graphical ads. Cost-cutting allowed the company to post a year-on-year profit gain of 7.8%, which CFO Timothy Morse said was "not too bad in this type of environment," though he admitted the future looks cloudy as the recession exacerbates some long-standing Yahoo problems related to its search business and flagging brand. Separately, Yahoo is reportedly looking to sell HotJobs and Yahoo Small Business as part of its efforts to shed non-core assets.
• Exelon moves on. Exelon (EXC) dropped its $7.7B hostile bid to acquire NRG Energy (NRG) after shareholders rejected Exelon's slate of directors. The four directors nominated by NRG gained 75% approval. Exelon CEO John Rowe said "the NRG shareholders have spoken, and Exelon will move on."
• New Freddie CEO, again. Freddie Mac (FRE) confirmed Charles E. Haldeman Jr. will be the company's new chief executive, becoming Freddie's fourth CEO in less than a year.
• MBA apps rise. Mortgage applications rose 2.8% last week, MBA said. The average interest rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages rose to 5.31% from 5.05%.
• Retail sales. Chain store sales fell 1.7% in the first two weeks of July, Redbook said, worse than the -0.9% expected. According to ICSC, weekly sales were up 0.5%, with the increase spread across most segments.
• Chicago Fed index still negative. The Chicago Fed's National Activity Index was -1.8 in June, vs. -2.3 in May and -2.27 in April. All four broad categories of indicators continued to make negative contributions to the index, with employment and housing-related indicators leading the laggards.
• Consumer confidence. ABC's Consumer Confidence Poll came in at -50, up from last week's -51 but on its fifth week at -50 or below. Just 22% of Americans say it's a good time to buy things.

Earnings: Wednesday Before Open

• Air Products & Chemicals (APD): FQ3 EPS of $1.05 beats by $0.07. Revenue of $2B (-28.1%) vs. $2.1B. (PR)
• AirTran (AAI): Q2 EPS of $0.34 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $604M (-12.9%) vs. $601M. (PR)
• Allegheny Technologies (ATI): Q2 EPS of $0.03 in-line. Revenue of $710M (-51.4%) vs. $817M. (PR)
• Altria Group (MO): Q2 EPS of $0.50 beats by $0.03. Revenue of $6.7B (+32.9%) vs. $5.35B. (PR)
• Bank of New York (BK): Q2 EPS of $0.46 misses by $0.07. Revenue of $3.2B (-17.7%) vs. $3.3B. (PR)
• Boeing (BA): Q2 EPS of $1.41 beats by $0.20. Revenue of $17.15B (+1.1%) in-line. Shares +2.2% premarket (7:45 ET). (PR)
• Delta Air Lines (DAL): Q2 EPS of -$0.24 beats by $0.05. Revenue of $7B (+27.3%) in-line. (PR)
• Eli Lilly & (LLY): Q2 EPS of $1.12 beats by $0.10. Revenue of $5.3B (+0.8%) in-line. Raises FY '09 EPS guidance to $4.20-4.30 vs. $4.00-4.25 previous guidance. (PR)
• Entegris (ENTG): Q2 EPS of -$0.20 in-line. Revenue of $83M (-44.2%) vs. $74M. (PR)
• Gentex (GNTX): Q2 EPS of $0.09 beats by $0.04. Revenue of $117M (-31.2%) vs. $115M. (PR)
• Host Hotels & Resorts (HST): Q2 FFO of $0.27 beats by $0.03. Revenue of $1.1B (-23.3%) in-line. (PR)
• Illinois Tool Works (ITW): Q2 EPS of $0.36 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $3.4B (-25.5%) in-line. (PR)
• KeyCorp (KEY): Q2 EPS of -$0.69 vs. consensus of $0.41 (may not be comparable). Loss largely stems from increase in loan loss provisions, which rose to $2.5B (3.53% of total loans) in Q2 vs. $1.4B (1.87% of total loans) in the year-ago period. (PR)
• Knight Capital Group (NITE): Q2 EPS of $0.52 beats by $0.12. Revenue of $314M (+65.4%) vs. $259M. (PR)
• Morgan Stanley (MS): Q2 EPS of -$1.37 misses by $0.88. Revenue of $5.4B (-11.3%) in-line. Shares -4.9% premarket (8:20 ET). (PR)
• Northern Trust (NTRS): Q2 EPS of $0.95 beats by $0.40. Revenue of $1B (-4.5%) in-line. (PR)
• PepsiCo (PEP): Q2 EPS of $1.06 beats by $0.06. Revenue of $10.6B (-3.2%) vs. $11B. (PR)
• Pfizer (PFE): Q2 EPS of $0.48 beats by $0.01. Revenue of $11B (-9.4%) in-line. (PR)
• SEI Investments (SEIC): Q2 EPS of $0.22 beats by $0.01. Revenue of $252M (-23.5%) vs. $250M. (PR)
• St. Jude Medical (STJ): Q2 EPS of $0.63 in-line. Revenue of $1.2B (+4.2%) in-line. (PR)
• Suncor Energy (SU): Q2 EPS of C$0.20 misses by C$0.13. Cash flow from operations C$342M vs. C$1.4B in Q2 2008. (PR)
• SunTrust Banks (STI): Q2 EPS of -$0.41 beats by $0.11. Revenue of $2.2B (-15.6%) in-line. (PR)
• TCF Financial (TCB): Q2 EPS of $0.08 misses by $0.02. Revenue of $297M (+8.3%) vs. $264M. (PR)
• US Bancorp (USB): Q2 EPS of $0.12 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $4.2B (+7.1%) vs. $4B. (PR)
• USG (USG): Q2 EPS of -$0.41 misses by $0.04. Revenue of $829M (-33.7%) vs. $956M. Shares -5.9% premarket (8:45 ET). (PR)
• Wells Fargo (WFC): Q2 EPS of $0.57 beats by $0.23. Revenue of $22.5B (+28%) vs. $20.5B. Shares -7.1% premarket (8:20 ET). (Wells Fargo News Release (.pdf))
• Whirlpool (WHR): Q2 EPS of $1.04 beats by $0.53. Revenue of $4.2B (-17.9%) in-line. (PR)

Earnings: Tuesday After Close

• Advanced Micro Devices (AMD): Q2 EPS of -$0.62 misses by $0.15. Revenue of $1.18B (-13.1%) vs. $1.13B. Gross margin was 37%, down from 43% in Q1. "While we increased cash, exceeded our revenue plan and reduced operating expenses in the second quarter, gross margin was disappointing." (PR)