• Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) reported third quarter earnings of $5.25 a share, versus Zacks estimates of $4.14 a share, as revenues rose to $12.37 billion from $11.02 billion

• Citigroup (NYSE:C) reported a 27 cent per share loss for the quarter, inline with Zacks estimates, on revenues of $20.4 billion

• Baxter International (NYSE:BAX) reported third quarter earnings of 98 cents a share, one cent above Zacks estimates, on revenues of $3.15 billion

• Research in Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) is due to launch its new version of a touchscreen Blackberry, the Storm2 today

• Singapore's Oversea-Chinese Banking Group agreed to pay ING Group (NYSE:ING) $1.46 billion for its private banking operations in Asia

• According to Gartner data Acer overtook Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) as the number 2 PC computer brand by market share, with 15.4% of the global market, versus Dell's 12.8% and Hewlett-Packard's (NYSE:HPQ) 20%

• Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE:BUD) passed its $7 billion divestment goal to help repay its $52 billion Anheuser-Busch takeover, agreeing

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by Edward Hugh: Barcelonabr /br /br /The Russian ruble strengthened the most in more than three months against the dollar yesterday (gaining 1.7 percent to 32.2247 per dollar at one point) as oil rebounded above $60 a barrel and OAO Sberbank reported better-than-expected earnings. Sberbank shares jumped 5.1 percent after first-quarter net income turned out to be above analyst estimates. But the rise was also helped by the fact that Russia’s central bank spent approximately $2 billion from reserves to try to stop the ruble from falling yesterday, taking central bank reserve spending over the two working days since they lowered interest rates half a percantage point on Friday to around $4 billion, a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchiveamp;sid=aTqgrOY1vdEo"according to reports in the newspaper Kommersant/a.br /br /Russia’s central bank cut its main interest rates for the fourth time in less than three months at the end of last week after the government estimated the ...

Aspire Misery Index for the Week Ended January 16, 2009 As of Friday morning, January 16, here is what we have accumulated for our Misery Index: middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; US. Auto Industry ndash; Ford expects U.S. light vehicles to reach 12.2 million units this year, Chrysler expects sales to reach 11 million and GM projects 10 to 11 million - down from 16 million in 2007 and 13.2 million last year. Wachovia expects 10.3 million unit sales. CSM worldwide expects 2009 sales in the U.S. to hit 11.5 million (but then rebound to 13.6 million in 2010). Deutsche Bank projects 2009 sales in the U.S. to decline by 13% to 11.5 million units. J.D. Power amp; Associates projects sales in the U.S. to decline to 11.4 million units in 2009, and then grow to 13.4 million in 2010, and 14.7 million units by 2011.nbsp;nbsp; middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Global Auto Industry ndash; French-Romanian manufacturer Dacia announced a ...

The German economy contracted more than most analysts expected in the third quarter, entering what now appears to be its worst recession in at least 12 years as both exports and domestic spending continue to fall. German gross domestic product dropped by a seasonally adjusted 0.5 percent from the second quarter, when it fell by a revised 0.4 percent, according to data from the Federal Statistics Office earlier today (Thursday). The Germany economy last had a two quarter contracted of this magnitude back in 1996.And all the signs are that the fourth quarter will be worse than the third one, so the situation may even surpass the 1996 recession.``The headwinds of the financial crisis and the global economic slowdown areblowing right in the face of the German economy,'' said Carsten Brzeski, aneconomist at ING Group in ...

Monday:Economic: NoneEarnings: American International Group (AIG), Carmike Cinemas (CKEC), Cinemark Holdings (CNK), Dish Network (DISH), Fuel Tech Inc (FTEK), Globalstar (GSAT), Nortel Networks (NT), Plug Power (PLUG), Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI), Starbucks (SBUX), Tyson Foods (TSN), Virgin Mobile (VM)Tuesday:Economic: None (Veteran’s Day)Earnings: Brooks Automation (BRKS), Energy Solutions (ES), Fossil (FOSL), Liz Clairborne (LIZ), Microsoft (MSFT), Petroleo Brasileiro (PBR), TJX Companies (TJX), Tyco International (TYC), Vodophone Group (VOD)Wednesday:Economic: MBA Purchase Applications, ICSC-Goldman Store Sales, RedbookEarnings: Applied Materials (AMAT), Charlotte Russe Holding (CHIC), Computer Sciences Corp (CSC), Crocs Inc (CROX), ING Group (ING), JA Solar Holdings (JASO), Macy’s Inc (M), NetApp (NTAP), NetEase.com (NTES), The Progressive Corp (PGR)Thursday:Economic: International Trade ($-57.0B), Jobless Claims (482K), Treasury Budget ($-92.0B)Earnings: Biofuel Energy (BIOF), Clean Energy Fuels Corp (CLNE), Compugen (CGEN), Dr Pepper Snapple Group (DPS), Image Entertainment (DISK), Keynote Systems ...

``The worst is still to come for manufacturers,'' said Carsten Brzeski an economist at ING Group in Brussels. ``The industrialized world is heading for a recession and the German economy is in the middle of the storm.'' Industrial production in Germany declined the most in almost 14 years in September, meaning that a Q3 contraction (and hence a recession) in Europe's largest economy is now more or less a "done deal". Output was down a seasonally adjusted 3.6 percent from August, according to data from the German Economy Ministry in Berlin earlier today (Friday). Year on year earlier, production adjusted for working days fell 2.1 percent. German companies are scaling back production as the global economy buckles under the weight of the credit crunch and the impact of higher borrowing costs, hurting export markets and causing consumers to cut back ...