After sliding for two successive days, stocks managed to find some footing and ended Thursday with impressive gains as companies from McDonald’s to PNC Financial reported solid quarterly earnings.  A mixed bag of economic reports notwithstanding, the Dow average once again scaled the 10,000 mark as components Travelers Cos, 3M Co., and AT&T Inc. posted stronger-than-expected results.

Investors, looking for bargains, picked up financial shares as many banks noted lower loan losses.  Travelers (NYSE:TRV) surged almost 8% after reporting a three-fold jump in quarterly profit.  Travelers, together with McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD), led the Dow average higher.  AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T), also a Dow component, rose 0.6% after reporting better-than-expected profit.

The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 132 points, or 1.3%, to close at 10,081.31 and the S&P 500 index rose 11 points, or 1%.  The tech-heavy NASDAQ, limited by late-session, downward guidance from eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY), gained 14 points, or 0.7%.

The

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• Potash (NYSE:POT) reported third-quarter earnings of 82 cents a share, versus Zacks estimates of 82 cents, as revenues fell 64% to $1.1 billion. Citing continued caution among fertilizer customers, the firm projected fourth quarter earnings of 65 to 85 cents a share

• Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS) reported net profits of $2.33 billion on a surge in investment banking operations and strength in its private banking arm. Its tier one capital ratio rose to 16.4%, the highest of any of the world's major banks

• UPS (NYSE:UPS) reported third quarter results of 55 cents, three cents above Zacks estimates, on revenues of $11.15 billion, versus Zacks estimates of $11.17 billion. The company said it sees fourth quarter earnings of 58 cents to 65 cents a share

• Merck's (NYSE:MRK) third quarter results of 90 cents beat Zacks estimates by 8 cents on inline revenues of $6 billion. The firm set full year guidance

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Weak global economic conditions and a downgrade of Well Fargo by prominent banking analyst Richard Bove spooked investors even as Morgan Stanley and Yahoo reported better-than-expected earnings.  The Dow Jones industrial average slipped below the 10,000 level yesterday as markets pulled back in the final hour of trading.

Bove of Rochdale Securities said earnings at Well Fargo (NYSE:WFC) were helped by mortgage-servicing fees rather than improving business trends, and trimmed his rating on the bank to “sell" from “hold."  However, Well Fargo and Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), which reported its first quarterly profit in a year, were behind the market’s strength earlier in the session.  Bove also cited accelerating loan losses at the firm for the downgrade.  After Bove’s cut, FBR slashed its rating on the firm to "underperform," questioning Well Fargo's earnings quality.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell below the psychologically important 10,000 level, declining 92.12 points, or

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 21, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Nucor (NUE), Dow Chemical (DOW), Freeport McMoran (FCX), Mobile TeleSystems (MBT) and VimpelCom (VIP).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5513

Here are highlights from Tuesday’s AnalystBlog:

Inflation? What Inflation?

On a year-over-year basis, Crude goods are down 31.5%. However, the year-over-year numbers at the Intermediate -- and especially the Crude -- levels are going to show much slower declines in the next few months.

In October of last year, Intermediate goods prices fell 4.2% while prices fo Crude

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In September, the Producer Price Index (PPI) fell 0.6% on a headline basis, while excluding food and energy it was down 0.1% for the month. This is in fairly distinct contrast to August, where the PPI rose 1.7% on a headline basis and 0.2% for the core. Year over year, producer prices for Finished goods are down 4.8%. In August, they were down 4.3% year over year. These numbers, along with the low readings from the CPI last week (up 0.2% on both headline and core for the month, headline down 1.3% year over year with core up 1.5%) make it clear that the inflation dragon is sleeping. The big swing factor was energy, which fell 2.4% on the month after an 8.0% surge in August. That is not likely to last into October given the recent strength in both oil and natural gas prices. Looking farther ...

A bit of selling pressure sent major averages lower at the end of an otherwise upbeat week on Wall Street as Bank of America and General Electric’s numbers disappointed investors.  The Dow Jones industrial average, after closing above the 10,000 mark for two successive sessions, finished just below that level.  Despite the drop, stocks managed to post impressive gains on the week even as investors grew jittery about credit losses in the financial sector. 

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) said it lost $2.2 billion during the quarter after it wrote down almost $10 billion in bad loans and General Electric’s (NYSE:GE) revenue numbers were below Street projections.  Higher loan losses aggravated investors’ concerns as Citigroup (NYSE:C) and JP Morgan (NYSE:JPM) had also reported higher loan losses during the quarter.  General Electric’s (NYSE:GE) results were impacted by lower earnings at its GE Capital unit.    

The 30-share Dow Jones industrial average fell

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Dr Stock Pick HOT News & Alerts!

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Tuesday September 29, 2009

DrStockPick.com Stock Report!

PFE, PWRM, TXN, CSRH, AA, CVAT, DOW

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PFE, Pfizer Inc.

PFE is the world’s premier biopharmaceutical company taking new approaches to better health. We discover, develop, manufacture and deliver quality, safe and effective prescription medicines to treat and help prevent disease for both people and animals.

China’s Ministry of Commerce has approved PFE’s pending acquisition of Wyeth. The Ministry’s decision includes PFE’s commitment to divest certain animal health assets in China.

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PWRM, Power 3 Medical Products Inc, PWRM.OB

Power3 Medical Products, Inc. is a leading bio-medical company engaged in the commercialization of neurodegenerative disease and cancer biomarkers, pathways,

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Tuesday September 29, 2009

DrStockPick.com Stock Report!

CVAT, Cavitation Technologies Inc, CVAT.OB

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CTI Technology Gives Biodiesel Industry New Life — CTI and DOW Chemical Are Jointly Conducting Trials for ALS to Implement New Third Generation Biodiesel Technology.

Cavitation Technologies, Inc. (CTI) (OTCBB: CVAT), a “Green-Tech” company, was established in 2006 to become a world leader in the development of new cutting edge technologies for the vegetable oil refining, renewable fuel, petroleum, water treatment, wastewater sanitation, food and beverage and chemical industries. For additional information please visit: www.cavitationtechnologies.com

Cavitation Technologies, Inc. (CTI) (OTC Bulletin Board: CVAT & Berlin: WTC) announced

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Monday September 28, 2009

DrStockPick.com Stock Report!

XRX, PWRM, ABT, CSRH, CMCSA, CVAT, FMCN

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XRX, Xerox Corp.

XRX engages in the development, manufacture, marketing, servicing, and financing of document equipment, software, solutions, and services worldwide.

XRX said Monday it will buy Affiliated Computer Services Inc. for $6.4 billion in cash and stock to create a $22 billion business that combines XRX’s copiers, printers and document management services with the “business process outsourcing” of Dallas-based ACS., joining the expensive race among technology companies to broaden their offerings.

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PWRM, Power 3 Medical Products Inc, PWRM.OB

Power3 Medical Products, Inc. is a leading bio-medical company engaged in

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DrStockPick.com Watch List!

My Picks for Monday September 28, 2009, are:

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PWRM, Power 3 Medical Products Inc, PWRM.OB

PWRM is a leading bio-medical company engaged in the commercialization of neurodegenerative disease and cancer biomarkers, pathways, and mechanisms of diseases through the development of diagnostic tests and drug targets.

PWRM’s NuroPro PD test was developed to help clinicians distinguish patients with Parkinson’s disease from “normal” individuals and patients with other neurological disorders. The NuroPro PD test, developed by Power3, utilizes a panel of blood serum protein biomarkers evaluated by biostatistical analysis to predict the probability that a

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