Afternoon Delight - 10/17/11, SPX

Earnings season not off to such a hot start. Who coulda thunk it? IBM Misses Top Line, Boosts EPS Forecast, Stock Slides After Hours and Fidelity Loses $50 Million In Seconds On Its Brand Spanking New Investment, As Crocs Plunges On Guidance Cut: 2007 Redux? (Crocs? Seriously? The $5 shoe?) and from this morning Citi Earnings Bloodbath: $3.8 Billion ($1.23/Share) In Reported "Earnings" Really $0.5 Billion Or $0.16/Share. Kinda make a bear want to get up in the morning looking for Is Goldman About To Report Only The Second Loss Since Its 1999 IPO? (all links from ZeroHedge).

The earnings schedule this week is jam packed (not to mention it is opex which may or may not matter). Tomorrow we get AAPL, BAC, INTC, JNJ, KO and more.



"But Europe remains steadfast. "The results of the October 23 summit will be decisive," insisted French Finance Minister Francois Baroin after chairing weekend talks with G20 counterparts in Paris." Drowning in debt, EU hits moment of truth. They better be based on  Deutsche Bank Warns France May Be Put On Downgrade Review Before Year End | ZeroHedge. Wait a minute! Whoa! How did France get into this discussion? AH UPDATE - Moody's Announces That France's Debt Metrics Have Deteriorated And Are Now The Weakest Of All Aaa-Rated Peers | ZeroHedge. OK, now we're forced to summize - does France even belong in this discussion? And ask, how was this country at the meat of the bailout discussions? Who's zoomin who here?

In this must read post, you will find the unbelievable, most desperate, rude, probably illegal (well, before all the rules changed in early 2009), distasteful, sorry, low down, despicable - whatever just read on and then go move your funds out of the TBTF banks while you still can. "The big banks are trying to preempt the efforts of their customers to move their money to smaller banks." Big Banks Refuse to Let People Close Accounts

In other news -

"A record-high 50% of Americans now say the use of marijuana should be made legal, up from 46% last year. Forty-six percent say marijuana use should remain illegal." Record-High 50% of Americans Favor Legalizing Marijuana Use  

Only in AmeriKa! McAllen Texas Students Forced to Recite Mexican Pledge and National Anthem | Video | TheBlaze.com. Note there is more stuff happening on the US/Mexico border than the MSM and current administration wants you to know. Possibly worse than all the fast and furious fiasco is the fact that Mexican troops are operating on US soil.

For those of you that are the ultimate doomsdayists (no - not talking about the crazy nut that thinks the world will end on October 21st) Pope wheeled up St Peter's instead of walking | Reuters. Why is it a concern that the 84 year old can get around on his own anymore? Well for those of you that are not aware of the papal prophecies, you need to read this fascinating wiki post and research the subject some more - Prophecy of the Popes - Wikipedia

Chart of the Day -

SPX Daily in Detail - What is so interesting about this chart? Simple, one candle,  today's bearish engulfing daily candle. Now all the bears need is confirmation tomorrow. If BAC and GS do as expected you may not have to wait for the open to get this confirmation.

GL and GB.