It was a day of mixed economic and earnings reports Monday but markets held on to gains and edged up slightly as shares seesawed through the session.  Although sentiments got a boost after data showed a surprise rise in new home sales, trading remained subdued as some weaker earnings reports and lowered guidance kept investors on the sidelines. 

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 15.27 points, or 0.2%, to 9,108.51 and the broader Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index edged up 2.92 points, or 0.3%, at 982.18.  The Nasdaq rose 0.1% or 1.93 points, at 1,967.89.  Treasuries declined as the government began a record auction of $115 billion in notes. Yield on the benchmark 10-year jumped to 3.72%.  On the NYSE, 1.04 billion shares exchanged hands and advancing issues outpaced decliners by a two-to-one margin.     

Lowered guidance from Aetna (NYSE:AET) and Honeywell (NYSE:HON) were digested by investors as offsetting those

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eDOORWAYS Corp (EDWY.OB) has created a new portal that takes the best of existing websites, such as MySpace, Craigslist, and eBay, to the next level. The company envisions that the portal will become an interactive global community of experts, consumers, and service provides that will streamline the way people find new products and services.

Founder Gary Kimmons has over 30 years of creating market-driven concepts. He first earned a Bachelor degree in Behavioral Science from William Marsh Rice University and a Masters degree in Management Science from Stevens Institute of Technology at Rutgers. Kimmons spent the early portion of his career in human resources. He was the Director of Training and Development at Smith International from 1978 to 1981, then moved on to serve as a Human Resources Manager at Reading & Bates Corporation from 1981 to 1987. Between 1988 and 1992, Kimmons

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The current market turmoil has been particularly brutal in the oil space, with all sub-sectors getting down to levels not seen in years. While expectations of softening oil demand over the coming quarters and broad credit-market concerns have been the primary reasons for the sector's woes, the sell-off has by all measures been overdone.

This indiscriminate sell-off has made the risk-reward trade off of a number of sub-sectors very compelling, in our view. Our best ideas are in the integrated, oilfield service and offshore drilling sub-sectors.

* While downside risks still remain, particularly if the global economic weakness turns out to be more protracted than currently anticipated, oil prices are expected to consolidate around current levels. * We are strong believers in the secular underpinnings of the oil cycle -- the current downturn is just a pause in a long secular cycle that still has plenty of

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The current market turmoil has been particularly brutal in the oil space, with all sub-sectors getting down to levels not seen in years. While expectations of softening oil demand over the coming quarters and broad credit-market concerns have been the primary reasons for the sector's woes, the sell-off has by all measures been overdone.

This indiscriminate sell-off has made the risk-reward trade off of a number of sub-sectors very compelling, in our view. Our best ideas are in the integrated, oilfield service and offshore drilling sub-sectors.

While downside risks still remain, particularly if the global economic weakness turns out to be more protracted than currently anticipated, oil prices are expected to consolidate around current levels. We are strong believers in the secular underpinnings of the oil cycle -- the current downturn is just a pause in a long secular cycle that still has plenty of room to go. The large-cap ...

Another day, another hair-pullingly tumultuous stock market. Zacks Senior Market Analyst Charles Rotblut, CFA was thankfully on-hand to talk us through this most precarious time with practical knowledge of what we should be doing next.

The markets recouped some of their losses late yesterday. Is this a sign that a bottom has been set?

A lot of people have been trying to predict when stocks will stop falling, and nearly all of these people have been wrong. It's very difficult to predict a market bottom, or top. And for the overwhelming majority of investors, it does not matter.

Rather, investors should be focusing on looking for fundamentally sound companies with rising earnings estimates that are trading at attractive valuations. This is a strategy that has worked over the long-term and will continue to work in the future.

So, when will investors feel safe investing?

Over the short-term, there is a real risk that

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As I write this on Friday morning, I cannot tell you what is going to happen with the financial bailout.

The proposal currently on the table is a definite improvement over the original version. It establishes oversight, calls for detailed reports, requires taxpayers get equity in participating firms and includes provisions for mortgage modifications. It asks that profits earned from the selling of distressed assets be used to pay down the national debt. The Wall Street Journal has an outline of the modified proposal.

A large group of House Republicans oppose the government intervention and want a market solution instead. Their proposal, which lacked details last night, calls for the government to insure the bad debt. While I welcome alternative plans, I don't see how this version helps the crisis.

I don't like the modified Paulson plan either, but right now, it is the best proposal we have. The

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eDOORWAYS Corp. (EDWY.PK) is on a mission to connect consumers with goods and services through its unique Internet portal. The company was founded by Gary Kimmons, an innovative leader with over 30 years experience in creating market-driven concepts for companies.

Kimmons earned a bachelor degree in Behavioral Science from William Marsh Rice University and a Masters degree in Management Science from Stevens Institute of Technology at Rutgers. Early in his career, Kimmons worked at First City Bank and Bell Telephone Laboratories. He then became a corporate management development specialist with Geosource.

Starting in 1978, Kimmons served as Director of Training and Development at the Smith International. In 1981, he moved on to be the Human Resource Development Manager at Reading & Bates Corporation. Between 1988 and 1992, Kimmons served as President, CEO and founder of Gary Anthony, INC., a company marketing specialized business products

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This week has been more volatile than I could have imagined, especially given that we have had three days with intraday Dow moves of 500 points or more.

Traders are reacting quickly to the ever evolving events, which has included the bankruptcy of Lehman (LEH), the government takeover of AIG (AIG), the closing of a Putnam money market fund, an infusion of liquidity by several central banks and a proposal for a massive bailout of financial firms. Not to mention that short-selling has been banned on nearly 800 financial stocks here in the U.S.

In describing the week's events to David Gaffen, who writes the excellent MarketBeat blog for the Wall Street Journal, I opined, "Throughout the year there's been so many people saying this is bottom, and we hear about (the major financial firms) throwing in everything including the kitchen sink, but now we're finding they're throwing in the

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Quadruple witching has led the fourth day of triple-digit intraday moves for the Dow. The ban on short-selling forced many traders to close out their positions rather than roll them over.

The big gains on Friday were really just an extension of what we saw on Thursday. Anyone who did not own stocks at lunchtime on Thursday missed out on the rally. The rally happened too fast for most investors to take advantage.

The speed and intensity of the rally demonstrated the importance of maintaining an allocation to stocks. The biggest rallies often happen without much forewarning.

Therefore, it is important to continue to focus on the long-term. Over time, stocks have consistently created more wealth than any other investment vehicle. A diversified portfolio will weather bear markets and will thrive in bull markets.

Our Strategy for the Focus List

In managing the Focus List, we treat each stock pick

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