Markets advanced Monday morning, with oil reaching a 6-week high above $73 a barrel, a rally in European stocks after Royal Philips Electronics announced its glowing earnings report, and a general sense of economic recovery. Going into a foreseeably light Columbus Day of trading, a weaker dollar has pushed all major energy and commodities sectors notably higher, extending last week’s gains, in anticipation of an onslaught by a spate of Q3 earnings data over the next few weeks.

Intel is poised to offer solid earnings data Tuesday afternoon and many investors are expecting a bullish Q4 outlook from the company, setting a positive tone for chip manufacturers. Fairchild Semiconductor (FCS) and Cypress Semiconductor (CY) data will be out before Thursday’s markets open with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) posting its report after the close. Nokia, IBM and Google will also report Thursday with JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc.,

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL - July 6, 2009 - Zacks.com releases the list of companies likely to issue earnings surprises. This week's list includes Alcoa (AA), Family Dollar (FDO), Pepsi Bottling Group (PBG) and 3Com (COMS). To see more earnings analysis, visit http://at.zacks.com/?id=3207.

Every day, Zacks.com makes 4 stock picks available, free of charge. To see them, go to http://at.zacks.com/?id=5612.

This Week's Events

Second-quarter earnings season "officially" starts on Wednesday afternoon with Alcoa's (AA) report. The aluminum producer is expected to have lost 34 cents per share.

Joining AA will be 19 other companies, including Family Dollar (FDO) and Pepsi Bottling Group (PBG).

Analysts are forecasting a 21% drop in median S&P 500 earnings. The actual decline could be far smaller, especially given that 18 of

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Petrobras (PBR), the Brazilian state-run oil giant, yesterday announced its plans to form a joint venture with Vale (VALE), Brazil's biggest aluminum producer, to explore natural gas and oil. According to the agreement, VALE will help Petrobras beat potash deposits in the Amazon, and VALE will receive cost-effective natural gas to produce the metal.Additionally, PBR through its subsidiary, Petrobras Energía, has recently erected a new power generation unit in Argentina in order to meet the increasing industrial demand for power in Argentina.Based on the increase in the number of projects, the company estimates an investment of US$ 174.4 billion during 2009-2013. Thus, PBR raised US$32.5 billion in credit in Brazil and abroad, out of which the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) financed US$12.5 billion, and the Chinese Development Bank (CDB) financed US$ 10 billion repayable over 10 years.US ...

U.S. stocks registered sharp declines Thursday, adding to a global downturn, as a weaker-than-expected employment data and Standard & Poor's warning that it may downgrade U.K.'s credit rating hurt sentiments.  The Street had witnessed a selloff in the final hours of trading Wednesday as Federal Reserve cut its 2009 economic outlook and raised its unemployment forecast.  On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average registered its third straight decline, closing the day 130 points, or 1.5%, lower.  The S&P 500 index declined 15 points or 1.7%; tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 1.9% to 1,695.25.  Thursday's selloff gained momentum in the absence of concrete signs of an economic recovery and Federal Reserve's prediction of a deeper recession.    

In the absence of major economic posts or corporate earnings, Friday is expected to be a quiet trading day.  Stock futures, nevertheless, are pointing to a higher open with Dow Jones industrial average futures up

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The Light is Real… and it’s not a Train

by The Investment U Research Team

This morning, Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) announced that it expects a $3 billion profit from the first quarter. One of the biggest banks in the country, Wells Fargo is the first big winner from this earnings season.

It’s in stark contrast to Alcoa (NYSE: AA), the world’s biggest aluminum producer, which reported lower earnings than expected.

Wells Fargo’s news has spurred a mini rally this morning, and traders are rushing back into financials. But it shouldn’t surprise anyone, really.

It’s a huge clue that there are large profits being made – the world hasn’t ended.

No doubt, there will be firms that are so severely affected by this downturn that they will have no choice but

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Tuesday afternoon’s closing bell on Wall Street didn’t just signal the end of the trading day. It also rang in the start of first-quarter earnings season.

Alcoa (NYSE: AA) had the ominous and unenviable task of being the first of the Dow Industrials to step up to the plate. And like a tubby first baseman who’s spent the winter off-season shoveling down junk food, Alcoa swung and missed. Badly.

Already waddling around with debts of more than $10.5 billion, America’s largest aluminum producer reported further loss of half a billion dollars for the quarter (59 cents per share), as sales plunged by 41%. As a sign of how hard the recession has bitten the company, it compared to net income of $303 million (37 cents per share) in Q1 2008. It was the company’s first consecutive quarterly losses since March 1994.

The news wasn’t a surprise. As the recession squashes aluminum

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Gloomy economic picture fuels risk aversion… Financials, energy, retailers among top drags… Dow off 4.3 pct, S&P 500 off 5 pct, Nasdaq off 5.3 pct

U.S. stocks tumbled on Monday as signs of further deterioration in the economy around the world punctured last week’s market enthusiasm, with financial services companies and retailers among Wall Street’s biggest drags.

Major industrial companies also contributed to losses on signs global demand is faltering, leading investors to pare back risk in favor of safe-haven government debt.

With the holiday shopping season under way, investors feared that retailers may turn in their bleakest sales in many years. The S&P retail index declined 4.4 percent.

Department store Macy’s Inc tumbled 9.6 percent.

Consumers made repeat trips to stores and spent more on bargains this weekend, but analysts said the rush is unlikely to translate into a much-needed boost in profit.

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BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) yesterday (Tuesday) received a formal complaint from the European Commission that detailed antitrust concerns about the mining giant’s proposed buyout of Rio Tinto PLC (RTP). Despite a sharp decline in commodities prices, BHP will likely make every effort to move on with the deal, which could mean selling some of its assets.

A year ago this week that BHP, the world’s largest mining company, went public with its bid for Rio Tinto, the world’s second-largest mining company. The offer allotted three BHP shares for each share of Rio Tinto – a deal that valued Rio at roughly $127 billion.  Rio rejected the offer, but BHP returned in February with a sweetened offer of 3.4 BHP shares for each share of Rio Tinto. That offer, worth about $147 billion, was also rejected.

Rio insisted that both BHP offers “significantly undervalued Rio Tinto and its prospects,” particularly iron

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Century Aluminum Co. (CENX), the second-largest primary aluminum producer in the United States, is benefiting from a tight aluminum supply/demand situation and rising prices. The company has expanded its production capacity last year by about 40,000 metric tons per annum to meet projected demand from places such as China, India, Russia and Brazil.

However, high customer concentration exposes CENX to the risk of attrition and a global economic slowdown to a lower realized price. We reiterate our Hold recommendation with a target price of $51 per share.

The company is a pure play aluminum producer leveraged to positive trends. Aluminum prices are rising and could increase to $1.27/lb this year. The global smelting capacity utilization rate is likely to increase to 95% in 2008. The market is likely to be tight through 2009 due to strong Chinese demand.

Consumption, as measured by kilogram per capita, is forecasted to increase from

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