The first two weeks of 2009's earnings season have the perma-bears calling for earnings disasters in the Q1 results. A "sucker rally" is in progress they proclaim. But so far the profit jitters are unfounded and the only "suckers" to be found are packaged as candy on a stick. The season kicked off last week with Alcoa(AA) missing forecasts, but painting a quite rosy picture for 2009. AA stock has never looked back. Then came the Wells Fargo boom-shell and a string of other positive news on Thursday. And now just days after the Wells Fargo (WFC) surprise we have Goldman Sachs (GS) also crushing the street's expectations. GS also joins a significantly growing list of banks that are now planning to quickly pay back their treasury bailout monies. GS will issue $5 billion in ...

Earlier this week, Wal-Mart's (WMT) outgoing CEO Lee Scott spoke at the National Retail Federation's Annual Convention. His speech can be seen here. This was the last time Scott will speak in public as the leader of the company.

After his prepared remarks, Scott sat down for a Question & Answer session with NRF President and CEO Tracy Mullin. Mr. Scott was asked about various topics ranging from government spending, retail trends, and the economy. What Scott had to say about the economy and consumer spending is worth reading.

On the economy:

     Hopes that by next Christmas it isn't any worse     If things get better, they will only be modestly better     Doesn't see anything that points to things turning around quickly   ...