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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A surprise rise in demand for durable goods and Oracle's better-than-expected earnings pushed equity markets higher yesterday, but stocks pared gains as policy makers at Federal Reserve decided to keep the benchmark interest rate between zero and 0.25%.  The S&P 500 index edged up 0.7% to 900.94 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 23 points or 0.3% to end the day at 8299.86.  Tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 1.6%.  Boeing (NYSE:BA) continued to trade lower after announcing that it had again delayed initial test flight of its 787 Dreamliner program.  Volume on the NYSE was light at 1.10 billion with advancing issues outpacing declining stocks by a seven-to-three margin.  Crude price eased 0.2% to $68.53 as weekly US stockpile reports were ahead of estimates.  The absence of Fed plans to extend or increase its $300 billion debt buyback program sent Treasury prices lower, with the 10-year, which influences interest rates

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Highlights include Whole Foods Market, Inc. (WFMI), The Kroger Co. (KR), Safeway Inc. (SWY), SuperValu Inc. (SVU) and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (WMT).This morning, Whole Foods Market, Inc. (WFMI) announced that it has reached a settlement agreement resolving the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) antitrust challenge to the company's August 2007 acquisition of Wild Oats Markets, Inc. The FTC will issue a final ruling after a 30-day comment period.A 3rd-party divestiture trustee has been appointed to market the following for sale: leases and related assets for 19 non-operating former Wild Oats stores; leases and related fixed assets for 12 operating acquired Wild Oats stores and one operating Whole Foods Market store; and Wild Oats trademarks and other intellectual property associated with the Wild Oats stores.The company expects to record a non-cash charge of approximately $19 million or less relating ...