For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 22, 2009 - Zacks Research Equity Strategist, Dirk Van Dijk says that S&P 500 earnings are continuing to show red ink. He tracks companies on the Zacks.com web site, naming names, while forecasting trends for the months ahead.

Key Points from Van Dijk's Latest Earnings Assessment Earnings Trends Key Points:

Earnings surprise ratio (#beat / #miss) at 5.56 Median Earnings Surprise 7.90% Year-over-year earnings growth ratio (# Positive Growth/# Negative Growth) at 0.74 Sales surprise ratio at 2.0 Sales growth ratio at just 0.35 Total net income for S&P 500 reported firms is 12.1%. This is above what those same 66 firms reported a year ago and 4.9% above what they earned in Q209 Total S&P 500 revenues reported down 4.7% ...

There is a dichotomy occurring today. Gold is at record highs. Stocks are jumping. And bonds -- well, today's Treasury auction was oversubscribed. If this does not have you scratching your head, it should. Because on the surface it does not much sense. So let’s break today's events down. Gold traded as high as $1.045 per ounce, a new record. Speculators put new money into the metal after two events weakened the U.S. dollar further. First, Australia unexpectedly raised interest rates by 25 basis points. The Reserve Bank of Australia opined, "It is now prudent to begin gradually lessening the stimulus provided by monetary policy." Second, a rumor spread about secret talks between Russia, China, Japan, France and Gulf States to replace the dollar as the chief currency for oil. These talks were flatly denied, but the rumor is still having an impact. Stocks ...

The labor markets are showing signs of stabilizing, but the economic recovery continues to not feel like a recovery to many Americans. Last month, employers shed 263,000 jobs, pushing the unemployment rate up to 9.8%. Though the drop in nonfarm payrolls was bigger than the consensus estimate had forecast, it was not unexpected. Yesterday, both the ISM manufacturing survey and the Monster Worldwide Employment Index suggested the number could be weak. Wednesday's ADP survey also foreshadowed a worse-than-forecast number. Still, there are encouraging signs. The number of involuntary part-time workers (those who can't find full-time work) remains little changed since March. Health care providers continued to hire workers, creating 19,000 jobs. Hourly wages rose slightly, continuing a trend. The August job loss estimate was revised to 201,000 from 216,000. The problem, however, is that many Americans remained either unemployed or underemployed. Employers in most sectors cut ...

Fears about the pace of the recovery have caused stocks to tumble. Technology stocks are being particularly hit hard with NVIDIA (NVDA) and Micron Technology (MU) down by more than 5% on the day. Financials and homebuilders are also faring poorly. Both Zions Bancorp (ZION) and Lennar (LEN) have large intraday losses. At the heart of the problem is the labor situation. The employment component in the ISM Survey worsened slightly to 46.2. (Readings over 50 signal expansion, or in this case, hiring.) Initial jobless claims also rose, reversing a previously weekly improvement. Dirk van Dijk pointed out on our Analyst Blog, "In recent weeks progress on claims has stalled out and become erratic." Compounding matters is the Monster Employment Index, which also worsened. The index declined to 119 last month from 121 in August. Monster Worldwide Vice President Jesse Harriott observed, "U.S. ...

Companies featured in this edition of the newsletter: ACTC, CHIP, CUR, CVM, ENZ, IMUC, IWEB, SRCO, SVUL, XSNX

Markets finally snapped their winning streak last week, as weakness in housing markets and durable goods orders led to broad-based declines in all of the major indices. All told, the Dow surrendered 155 points on the week to close at 9665, down 1.6% on the week but up 10.1% on the year. The Nasdaq lost 2.0% on the week to close at 2090, up 32.6% on the year, while the S&P 500 and Russell 2000 posted losses of 2.2% and 3.1% respectively, paring their yearly gains to 15.6% and 19.9%.

Unexpectedly poor data from the housing sector was the big economic story on the week as both new and existing August home sales failed to live up to expectations. New home sales increased modestly to 429,000, falling short of estimates calling

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Today's Fed decision was no surprise, but questions abound about the timing of Bernanke's next move. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) voted unanimously to keep the fed funds target rate between 0% and 1/4%. The wording of the statement reflected a slightly more upbeat assessment of the economy, with the observation that "economic activity has picked up." In August, the Fed opined that "economic activity is leveling out." Expectations for long-term inflation were described as "stable," which is new language and something I don't necessarily agree with. A change to the planned purchase of agency mortgage-backed securities was also made, with the program now scheduled to end in the first quarter, instead of next month. Today's meeting was a no-brainer for Bernanke. All he had to do was say the economy is getting better and he wasn't tightening policy. Give the Fed chairman credit for ...

• General Mills (NYSE:GIS) reported fiscal first quarter earnings of $1.28 a share, ex-items, beating Zacks estimates of earnings of $1.03 a share, as sales rose 0.6% to $3.52 billion, above Zacks estimates of $3.52 billion. The company also raised its 2010 earnings guidance to $4.40 to $4.45 a share from its prior view of $4.20 to $4.25 a share

• AMR (NYSE:AMR) announced a private offering of $450 million senior secured notes due 2012

• AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) reported fiscal fourth quarter earnings of $4.43 a share versus $3.88 a year ago, a shade below Zacks estimates of $4.45 a share. Sales of $2.23 billion were above prior year's $2.21 billion and above Zacks projections of $2.23 billion

• Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) lifted its price target on Walgreen (NYSE:WAG) to $36 while maintaining a "neutral" rating. Analysts lowered the fourth quarter earnings estimate 2 cents to 38 cents a share, with fiscal year

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Companies featured in this edition of the newsletter: ACTC, CVM, CUR, DKAM, ENZ, IMUC, IWEB, PHC, SVUL, SRCO, SVUL, XSNX

Markets extended their winning streak yet again this week, as all ten sectors of the S&P 500 finished in positive territory and markets hit fresh highs for the year once again, despite the lack of any significant developments on either the corporate or economic fronts. All told, the Dow ended up 2.2% on the week, gaining 214 points to close at 9820 on the week, up 11.9% on the year. The Nasdaq performed slightly better, gaining 2.5% on the week, closing at 2132, up 35.2% on the year, while the S&P 500 and Russell 2000 gained 2.5% and 4.1% respectively, up 18.3% and 23.7% on the year.

While it was a relatively quiet week as far as headlines were concerned, there were some positive economic developments in the form

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – September 21, 2009 – Zacks.com releases the list of companies likely to issue earnings surprises. This week’s list includes AutoZone (AZO), Bed, Bath & Beyond (BBBY), General Mills (GIS), KB Home (KBH), Lennar (LEN), Paychex (PAYX), CarMax (KMX), Research in Motion (RIMM) and Texas Industries (TXI). 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

We will get another look at initial third-quarter results with 11 S&P 500 companies reporting. Included in this group are AutoZone (AZO), Bed, Bath & Beyond (BBBY), General Mills (GIS), KB Home (KBH), Lennar (LEN) and Paychex (PAYX). A total of 33 companies are on the calendar.

The Fed will hold a 2-day

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – September 3, 2009 – Zacks Equity Research highlights ITT Corporation (ITT) as the Bull of the Day and Cost Plus, Inc. (CPWM) the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Ford (F), Paccar (PCAR) and General Mills (GIS).

Full analysis of all these stocks is available at http://at.zacks.com/?id=2676

Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:

Bull of the Day:

We are initiating coverage on ITT Corporation (ITT) with an Outperform rating and $57 target price. The company exceeded its second quarter earnings guidance due to strong results overall.

Total defense organic orders improved 29% year over year on strong product activities. OEM pressures in the aerospace market including the Boeing-787 delay have resulted in downward forecast for motion and flow control business.

Finally, ITT was able to place $1

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