Here's a shock: Countrywide Financial Corp. (NYSE: CFC) is deep in the red. The beleaguered mortgage company lost a whopping $1.2 billion, or $2.85 per share, in the quarter compared with earnings of $647.6 million, or $1.03 per share. It was its first quarterly loss in 25 years.

But wait, the news isn't all bad, according to the company.

"We view the third quarter of 2007 as an earnings trough, and anticipate that the Company will be profitable in the fourth quarter and in 2008," President and Chief Operating Officer David Sambol said in the earnings release. "Over the longer term, we believe that prospects for the U.S. housing and mortgage markets, as well as for Countrywide, remain very attractive."

Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo goes even further, saying, "...during the period we also laid the foundation for a return to profitability in the fourth quarter..... We believe the steps which we have taken position the Company with the necessary capital and liquidity for our operating and growth needs, and will allow us to benefit from opportunities that result from industry consolidation."

Gosh, what about the $11.5 billion in emergency credit that the company tapped in August? Just a blip in the road? The SEC investigation? Just a hiccup? Well, Wall Street seems to think so, bidding up shares of the Calabassas, Calif.-based mortgage lender in pre-market action. But even the most ardent bulls on the stock know the company has a tough road ahead.

``Countrywide's problems won't work themselves out in a period of months or a quarter or two,'' fund manager Ron Muhlenkamp, which owns Countrywide shares, told Bloomberg News. ``The industry will be around three or four years from now, and Countrywide will be more valuable, either on the public markets or as part of a larger financial firm.''

The company's earnings conference call scheduled for later today should be a lively one.

Wow, that isn't just high hopes. That's high apple pie in the sky hopes. (Yeah, it's a dated musical reference but an accurate one.

Vonage Holdings Corp. (NYSE: VG) continues to pay big bucks to settle patent infringement cases.

The Internet phone company today settled its long-running dispute with Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ). In March, a jury awarded Verzion $58 million and issued an injunction that basically would have forced Vonage out of business. That decision was upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Vonage will pay Verizon up to $117.5 million, depending on the outcome of pending appeals, the Holmdel, NJ-based company said in a statement. It will also give $2.5 million to charity. This settlement isn't surprising. Patent litigation is really expensive and takes forever to wind its way through the courts which is why companies are eager to settle these cases before trial.

Earlier this month, Vonage settled a patent dispute with Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) for $80 million. It faces a separate legal action from AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T). With all of these huge companies wanting a piece of it, it's a wonder that Vonage is still standing.

Absent the patent issues, Vonage's future remains bleak. It competes to offer what is basically a commodity service against much larger rivals. Once these patent cases are settled, my suspicion is that one of them will try to snap up Vonage while the stock continues to trade well-under its $17 IPO price. It closed today at $1.53.

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) today reported outstanding third quarter results that handily beat Wall Street expectations.

Net income was $4.29 billion, or 45 cents a share, compared with $3.48 billion, or 35 cents, a year earlier, Sales surged 27 percent to $13.8 billion. Analysts had expected profit of 39 cents and sales of $12.57 billion, according to Thomson Financial. Shares soared over 9% in after-market trading.

Of course, the world's largest software maker, which until now was in Wall Street's dog house, couldn't have been more pleased. "This fiscal year is off to an outstanding start with the fastest revenue growth of any first quarter since 1999," said CFO Chris Liddell, in the earnings release. "Operating income growth of over 30% also reflects our ability to translate revenue into profits while making strategic investments for the future."

So does this mean that Wall Street is now going to get off Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's back about the billions the company is spending to catch up to Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG)? Not very likely. One quarter does not make a trend even with its recent deal with Facebook.

But there is plenty for investors to like in the quarter. Vista sales seemed strong and the company hasn't been aggressively cutting xBox prices which has helped profitability, RCM Capital Management's Walter Price told Bloomberg News.

There is one perplexing side to the strong tech results this earnings side. If consumers are so worried about the future, how come they are willing to buy things like the xBox, Vista and Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ: APPL) iPhone. Aren't they worried about housing, energy costs and life in general? Maybe they are so focused on their tech toys that they don't care about the rest of the world. Who knows.

Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) today reported better-than-expected third quarter earnings and bullish guidance to Wall Street. Shares of the cell-phone maker soared in pre-market action.

Net income was $60 million, or 3 cents a share, on revenue of $8.81 billion. Profit was 6 cents excluding one-time costs, beating the 4-cent average estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial. The cell phone maker expects to earn 12 cents to 14 cents this year, surpassing the 11 cents analysts had expected.

The question is whether these results are good enough to convince billionaire Carl Ichan to back off from his campaign against Chief Executive Ed Zander who has been trying to boost profit by reducing costs including the elimination of 5,000 jobs. Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Lawrence Harris told Bloomberg News that he believes the "turnaround is here" and that Zander's turnaround plan is "working."

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Are people on Wall Street and Main Street living in the same economy? Sometimes it's tough to tell.

A whopping 65% of Americans now believe that a recession is coming in the next year and 51% believe the economy is doing poorly, according to a Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times survey. Wall Street executives predicted a 37% chance of a recession, according to a Financial Services Forum survey released last week by the Financial Services Forum.

The differences aren't shocking. When average folks look at the chart of the Dow Jones industrial average, they probably think it looks like an EKG of someone who is having a heart attack. The market moves up and down in triple-digit increments with an alarming regularity. The housing market is horrible. Many people aren't sure if their job will be the next to be shifted overseas to a low-cost country.

Veteran investor Jim Rogers recently told London's Telegraph that the U.S. economy is "undoubtedly in recession. Many parts of industry are actually in a state worse than recession. If it were not for (Federal Reserve Chairman Ben) Bernanke putting huge amounts of money into the market, the stock market would probably be down much more."

Of course, Rogers is correct. The lowered interest rates gave the stock market a needed confidence booster, which may explain the optimism of the Financial Services Forum survey. Retail sales in September rose at a higher-than-expected rate. Consumers, at least some of them anyway, continue to spend. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: APPL) reported outstanding results, showing that people are confident enough to shell out big bucks for iPhones and iPods.

So, the question for the Federal Reserve and Chairman Ben Bernanke at next week's meeting is whether the glass is half-full or half-empty.

When I wrote last week that cocaine prices rose at a faster rate than the Dow Jones industrial average, I overlooked something: methamphetamine may be an even better "investment" than cocaine, when compared with the index. Marijuana isn't doing too shabby either.

According to data on the DEA's website, the average price per pure gram of all domestic methamphetamine soared 37% between January and June 2007, beating the 24% gain in cocaine, and eclipsing the broad market index, which rose about 7% during that same time.

I wasn't able to find comparable data for marijuana but did come across an interesting story from Bloomberg News saying that prices for marijuana in Holland have soared 20% because of an increase in police raids. So any college students planning a trip to Europe should take note. U.S. pot prices have climbed over the last few years, according to the folks at High Times. I'll update this post if I get more information.

Does this mean that people should dump their Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) shares and set up a crystal meth lab or start growing weed? Of course not.

As Mr. Mackey from South Park says, "Drugs are bad." They're bad for your health and bad for society. People should just say no to drugs, but they don't and that's the problem. Prohibition didn't stop people from drinking in the '20s, and isn't stopping people from getting high today. My argument is that if we decriminalize drugs, the government can tax them and use that money to treat addicts.

Legalization is no utopia, but given the failure of the War on Drugs, it seems like it's worth a try.

Remember four, five years ago when everything that could go wrong did go wrong for Boeing (NYSE: BA)? The company not only lost market share to Airbus SAS but ousted its CEO, Phil Condit, and his successor, Harry Stonecipher, for among other things having affairs with subordinates. Former CFO Michael Sears was sent to prison for his role in one of many Pentagon scandals involving the company.

Under Chief Executive James McNerney, who joined the plane maker from 3M Co. (NYSE: MMM) in 2005, Boeing has managed to put its problems behind it. The company reported net income of $1.11 billion, or $1.44 a share on revenue of $16.5 billion, beating Wall Street expectations. Boeing also raised earnings, revenue and cash flow guidance for the year. It trimmed back its forecasts for 2008, but that's to be expected given the delays in the 787 Dreamliner and the slowdown in the defense business.

Shares of the Chicago-based company are up about 6% this year, underperforming peers Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), General Dynamics (NYSE: GD) and Raytheon (NYSE: RTN) mainly because of worries about the Dreamliner. This reaction is overblown. First of all, the fact that new, sophisticated aircraft has been delayed is hardly surprising. If the delays continue however, that's more serious. For now, Boeing's customers haven't lost faith, placing 710 firm orders.

If the Dreamliner stays on track and the company gets its fair share of defense spending, the shares may head higher.

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Last week, it was tough to single out the villain responsible for the stock market's sell-off. Now, it's tough to credit a hero for its rebound.

Should investors throw bouquets at AT&T (NYSE: T), which reported an in-line quarter thanks to sales of Apple (NASDAQ: APPL)'s iPhone, which led to the addition of 2 million subscribers? Does this mean that consumer spending isn't buckling in the face of economic uncertainty? The jury is still out.

Though American Express (NYSE: AXP) reported excellent results yesterday, as did Apple, the outlook for the upcoming holiday season remains uncertain. Plus, the housing market remains horrid, which is prompting consumers keep their discretionary spending under control.

For example, Coach (NYSE: COH) Chief Executive Lew Frankfort said the luxury handbag maker is "concerned with recent traffic trends in our North American retail stores reflecting the retail environment and the unusually difficult comparisons with last year." The company's shares plunged on the downbeat commentary and guidance the company gave that was below Wall Street estimates.

Meanwhile, United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS) said that fourth-quarter growth would be its slowest in four years because of lackluster U.S. retail sales. Chief Executive Mike Eskew, though, lauded the delivery company's "solid performance in the face of a slower U.S. economy," which beat Wall Street expectations. Shares of Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) are trading higher ahead of the earnings report due at the close of trading today, indicating investors are expecting a good holiday season for the internet retailer.

The stock market had its biggest drop today in a month as investors absorbed a plethora of earnings disappointments, cuts in profit outlooks and pessimistic comments about the economy.

The statistics speak for themselves. The Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 340 points. Bloomberg News notes that, "Ten industry groups in the S&P 500 decreased today, with 458 of the index's members posting declines. Thirteen stocks dropped for every one that gained on the New York Stock Exchange."

Bad news was so plentiful today that it's tough to single out one reason for the market's sell-off.
Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) reported disappointing results and lowered its earnings forecast. Honeywell Inc. (NYSE: HON) spooked investors with talk of slowing growth. Shares of Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB) fell after the oil field services company said it drilling projects would be delayed. Even shares of 3M Co. (NYSE: MMM), which reported better-than-expected results, got sucked into the downward spiral as investors were concerned about a planned price cut for its optical films.

Then there's the continued worry about consumer spending that hurt companies ranging from Harley-Davidson Inc. (NYSE: HOG) to Domino's Pizza Inc. (NYSE: DPZ) to Hershey Co. (NYSE: HSY) this week. Financial shares continue to get pummeled on concerns about the subprime mortgage meltdown. Wachovia Corp. (NYSE: WB) reported ugly earnings earlier today. About the only sector that seems to be holding on is tech, thanks to yet another blowout quarter from Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG).

Wall Street isn't just worried about the future, it's nearly petrified waiting for the next shoe to drop from the flow of earnings reports coming over the next few weeks. Pundits, such as David Joy of RIverSource Investments, weren't expecting things to get better anytime soon.``When you have earnings expectations that are negative going into the third-quarter reporting season and you start to get some disappointments on top of that after five years of double-digit earnings growth, this market's going to struggle,'' Joy told Bloomberg News.

3M Co. (NYSE: MMM) and Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE: HON) today reported better-than-expected third quarter results and raised their earnings guidance. But Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) disappointed Wall Street and offered a gloomy outlook for the U.S. economy. That bad news pulled down 3M and Honeywell's shares, as well as pulling down the Dow Jones Industrial Average by triple digits.

"The third-quarter earnings that are coming out are the worst but we don't see a sharp bounce-back,'' Christina Bank & Trust's Scott Arminger told Bloomberg News. "Financial earnings will be pretty mediocre for a couple of quarters going forward.''

The maker of Post-It notes and countless other products reported net income of $960 million, or $1.32 per share, compared with $894 million, or $1.18 per share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 5.5% to $6.2 billion. Excluding one-time earnings, profit was $1.29 compared with $1.17 a year earlier. Analysts expected profit of $1.28 and revenue of $6.29 billion, according to Thomson Financial. 3M raised its earnings forecast to $5.54 to $5.62 for this year, compared with previous guidance of $5.40 to $5.60. It expects full year sales growth excluding the divestiture of the branded pharmaceutical business of 7% to 8%.

Honeywell's profit rose 14% to $618 million, or 81 cents per share and revenue rose 10 percent to $8.74 billion, helped by strength in its commercial aviation, defense and space markets. The results beat Wall Street consensus expectations of 82 cents on revenue of $8.59 billion.

Overstock.com Inc. (NASDAQ: OSTK) Chief Executive Patrick Byrne's long, rambling apologies to shareholders for his company's terrible performance usually provide a needed humor break from the pressures of earnings season. This quarter, though, Byrne offered a shorter statement about the company's improving financial performance.

To be sure, the quarter was merely awful instead of disastrous. The company lost $4.7 million, or 20 cents per share, compared with $24.5 million, or $1.19, a year earlier. Revenue rose 3% to $161.9 million. Analysts expected a loss of 39 cents and revenue of $155.1 million, according to Thomson Financial.

In his letter, Byrne sounded ecstatic. The good news isn't shocking given the better-than-expected quarter reported by eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) and bodes well for next week's report from Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN). Byrne's missive is reprinted below for all to enjoy.

Dear Investor:

In Q3, we generated positive EBITDA for the first time in a non-Q4 quarter. I believe this validates our view that a profitable business model is emerging, particularly in light of our de minimus capital expenditures ($316K during Q3).

We also returned to positive (albeit modest) top-line growth despite halving our marketing expenses. A year ago, I said that we had a laundry list of projects we were working on to improve our marketing efforts. Since then, our marketing dollars have become twice as efficient. We are about one-third of the way through the list; I do not know what the remaining two-thirds will bring.

Expenses are drum tight, product selection is strong, operations are humming, and customer satisfaction is extraordinary. We are superbly positioned for the holiday season.

I look forward to our call, and as always, remain,

Your humble servant,

Patrick M. Byrne

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People who are opposed to the legalization of drugs should consider the following: cocaine is having a better year than the stock market.

This fun fact courtesy of WallStreetFighter paints a very grim picture of the War on Drugs. Addicts are paying more for less-pure Bolivian marching powder. From January through June, the average price per gram of domestic cocaine purchases rose 24% from $95.89 to $118.70, while purity fell. Retail (involving 10 grams or more) prices rose 15% while "mid-level" wholesale prices surged 33% and wholesale (1 kilogram or more) prices jumped 11%.

Cocaine is a helluva drug -- just ask any celebrity. Heck, read any story on TMZ.com about Britney Spears and you'll understand. Supplies are down and demand is steady. That's the type of stable cash-flow business that usually attracts private equity, no?

Now consider that the Dow Jones industrial average rose 10.8% this year. The S&P 500 Index is up 7.98% while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index has surged more than 14% Cocaine has had a better year than many blue-chip stocks including General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) (up 10%), News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) (up 5.5%) and Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) (up 9.7%). Google Inc.'s (NASDAQ: GOOG) 35% does beat cocaine but not by much.



Unlike most products, cocaine really does sell itself as does pornography. Lots of people -- mostly really bad people -- are getting rich off drugs. Why shouldn't the federal government? Researcher Jon Gettman estimates that the government loses $31.1 billion in taxes because of the prohibition against marijuana, according to the Marijuana Policy Project. You can bet that the figures would be similar for cocaine.

Imagine how much money Uncle Sam could reap if he taxed cocaine or marijuana? What does the War on Drugs cost? Hundreds of millions? That money could be used to fund a real war on drugs -- treating addicts whose lives have been destroyed.

Let me see if I've got this straight: former trader Andrew Tong is suing hedge fund giant SAC Capital Advisors LLC because his supervisor Ping Jiang ordered him to swallow estrogen pills and wear women's clothing in order to make him more feminine in order to become a more successful trader, according to The New York Post.

SAC vehemently denies Tong's allegations, which the Post says are being investigated by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Tong also now claims he was sexually assaulted at work, a claim an S.A.C. flack told the newspaper was "scurrilous."

A couple of questions come to mind. First, why wouldn't Jiang just hire more women instead of making a man take female hormones? And could estrogen makes someone a savvier trader of stocks? None of it makes a lick of sense to me.

Wall Street's culture clearly isn't for the faint of heart. Sure, you can make tons of money, but the pressure to perform is enormous. People get chewed up and spit out at firms like S.A.C. fairly regularly. I have no idea whether the allegations against Tong are true, but I can tell you this isn't the first report of weird behavior among Wall Street's elite, and it won't be the last.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO), United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) and Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO) all reported better-than-expected earnings this morning underscoring the continued strength of the economy.

Net income at JPMorgan rose 2% to $3.37 billion, or 7 cents per share, compared with $3.30 billion, or 5 cents, a year earlier. Revenue rose 4% to $16.11 billion. The results included a $1.3 billion writedown and credit loss provisions of $18 billion. Analysts had expected profit of 90 cents on revenue of $16.6 billion. The results stunned Wall Street and highlighted Chief Executive Jamie Dimon's prowess as a cost-cutter.

The picture at Coke was also bright thanks to strong sales outside the U.S. Profit at the Atlanta-based company soared 13% to $1.65 billion, or 71 cents a share, from $1.46 billion, or 62 cents, a year earlier. Revenue rose 19% to $7.69 billion. Wall Street had expected profit of 68 cents.

Meanwhile, United Technologies continued to produce strong results. Net income at the parent of Pratt & Whitney aircraft engines and Otis elevators, surged 20% to $1.2 billion, or $1.21 per share, as revenue jumped 14% to $12.16 billion. The results surpassed the $1.16 average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Financial.

Altria Group reported net income of $2.63 billion, or $1.24 per share, down from $2.88 billion, or $1.36 per share, because of the spinoff of Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT), helped by higher prices and a weaker dollar, according to Reuters.

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In a pleasant surprise on an otherwise gloomy day, Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) and IBM (NYSE: IBM) today reported better-than-expected third-quarter results. Even Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) managed to beat Wall Street's already low expectations.

Is tech back? I think it's too early to tell. One quarter does not make a trend, but the earnings certainly gave hopes to bulls.

Yahoo! reported net profit of $151 million, or 11 cents per share. Gross revenue rose 12% to $1.77 billion. Excluding payments to partners, revenue was $1.2 billion. The results beat Wall Street consensus estimates of 8 cents. Shares of the internet portal rose in after-hours trading. My earlier skepticism about Yahoo remains.

More good news came from Intel . Net income rose 43% to $1.86 billion, or 31 cents per share, from $1.30 billion, or 22 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue soared 15% to $10.9 billion. These results beat consensus forecasts of 30 cents on revenue of $8.74 billion. Intel Chief Executive Paul Otelini said he expects results to improve in the fourth quarter: "We are very pleased with the results and optimistic about our business." Shares of Intel soared in after-market action.