The following is a list of the S&P 500 firms where the analysts have been cutting their expectations for the current fiscal year the most over the last month. Most likely these firms reported disappointing earnings or gave negative guidance on their conference calls.

Historically, you have not wanted to be invested in companies where the analysts who follow them most closely see the earnings prospects diminishing. Also, estimates in motion tend to remain in motion. The first bit of bad news is rarely the last (the cockroach theory). This means that the current expectations, even though down from last month, are probably still to high for these firms.

To weed out anomalies, only those firms that are currently expected to earn more than $0.50 in 2009 are included and only those firms where there are a minimum of three estimates in the system.

If you have these stocks in your portfolio,

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In early Friday morning trading in the Far East, both gold and silver were taken down sharply. Volume was thin in both metals, so it wasn’t hard for someone to influence the price. Gold gained most of it back, but once the Sydney close was in…the price pressure showed up again until shortly after London opened…then rose again until the London p.m. fix was in…and it was straight down hill from there.

The low price of the day was set at the Comex close. All in all, the gold price was dropped $60 in a thirty four hour period…from a high of $776 at 4:00 a.m. New York time on October 30th…to the low at the Comex close at 1:30 p.m. New York time yesterday. I’m sure that the boyz were proud of their month-end tape-painting…which is exactly what it was.

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In early Friday morning trading in the Far East, both gold and silver were taken down sharply. Volume was thin in both metals, so it wasn’t hard for someone to influence the price. Gold gained most of it back, but once the Sydney close was in…the price pressure showed up again until shortly after London opened…then rose again until the London p.m. fix was in…and it was straight down hill from there.

The low price of the day was set at the Comex close. All in all, the gold price was dropped $60 in a thirty four hour period…from a high of $776 at 4:00 a.m. New York time on October 30th…to the low at the Comex close at 1:30 p.m. New York time yesterday. I’m sure that the boyz were proud of their month-end tape-painting…which is exactly what it was.

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As I write this on Friday morning, there is scuttlebutt that several central banks could announce rate cuts on Monday morning. Though the rumors are unconfirmed, fed fund futures are pricing in a significantly higher probability of a half-point cut occurring at the late-October meeting.

Alcoa (AA) will "officially" kick off earnings season when it reports on Tuesday afternoon. The aluminum maker is expected to announce profits of 60 cents per share.

Joining AA throughout the week will be fellow S&P 500 members: Costco (COST), Chevron (CVX), General Electric (GE), Host Hotel & Resorts (HST), Monsanto (MON), Progressive (PGR), Safeway (SWY) and Yum! Brands (YUM).

The minutes from the September Fed meeting will be released on Tuesday afternoon. If a rate cut is announced on Monday morning, the significance of these minutes would be reduced. Nonetheless, the notes will be

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