You have to love OPEC. It's not uncommon for the barons of the giant cartel to voice their interest in seeing oil at such-and-such a price.

Recently, OPEC reiterated its desire to see oil prices at $80 per barrel. This, they claim, is the price needed to spur additional investment in crude projects. Apparently, anything less will result in oil sitting idle in the ground.

Economists are scrambling to make sense of the drastic rise in unemployment and what it means for our long term economy. Former Federal Reserve Chairman, Paul Volker is saying that the "natural rate" of unemployment may rise above previous levels. The "natural rate" of unemployment is the rate at which it neither creates acceleration or deceleration in inflation. The previous high for "natural employment" was 5.5%. Now, in current conditions it may rise to 6.5% of even 7%.

This creates several added problems. First, it will cause a general decline in federal revenues which, in turn, will drive up the federal deficit to over $1 trillion. Next, the government will need to decide if they leave the rate of "natural employment" alone of try and stimulate more job growth, thus increasing the chance for higher inflation.

• Earnings beat expectations. RVBD reported EPS of 13 cents vs. consensus of 10 cents. The revenue number was also higher.
  
  
• Several brokers have enthusiastically raised their targets for RVBD. Lazard Capital raised the price target from $14 to $17, and Wedbush and William Blair upgraded the stock.
  
  
• The percentage of float shorted was 21% at the beginning of April. This stands out as the most interesting piece of data for a trader like me. Given the ignition provided by the good earnings announcement, wouldn't the shorts rush to cover?

Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) has agreed to buy Wyeth (NYSE: WYE) for $68 billion. According to The New York Times, "The deal would not only create a pharmaceutical behemoth but would be a rarity in the current financial tumult: a big acquisition that is not a desperate merger of two banks orchestrated by the government."

A good point and one which may indicate that there is an unexpected wave of M&A coming.

Recent reports from analysts and the media say that the recession will cause huge drops in revenue in industries beyond retailing., Hotels are facing unprecedented leaves of vacancies. Many car parts suppliers are up against cash problems. Airlines are again being challenged by falling revenue as traffic dries up.

The Pfizer deal with Wyeth is more about cost cutting than it is about increasing revenue. Each company has it its own line of drugs. Putting the two companies together do not appear to do anything to improve sales, at least in the early stages. But, the firms believe that they can fire tens of thousand of people as they face having some of their drugs lose patent protection which actually could drive revenue down at the new company.

Many other industries are facing similar troubles and are facing them now. If firms in these sectors cannot sharply reduce costs, they won't be around in a year.

M&A is back, but it is back for reasons that show how ugly the economy is getting.

Douglas A> McIntyre is an editor at 24/7 Wall St.

As the calendar year winds down, the news no doubt will be full of stories (like the one below from AP) analyzing incoming holiday sales figures and speculating on what they mean for the big picture.

About the only confirmed company reporting quarterly earnings results next week is Cal-Maine Foods Inc. (NYSE: CALM), the largest producer/distributor of eggs in the U.S. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are, on average, looking for the Jackson, Miss.-based company to report earning $1.26 per share in its fiscal second quarter. That's 25.4% lower than in the same period of the previous year. In its first-quarter report back in September, Cal-Maine also reported a drop in net income as rising feed costs offset increased demand. While the share price has fallen 22.2% in the past three months, it is up 14.0% from a year ago. Cal-Maine recently completed its acquisition of a Tampa Bay egg producer.

Economic data scheduled to be released this week include:

Time Warner (NYSE: TWX)
Q3 2008 Earnings Conference Call
November 5, 2008 10:30 AM ET

Management Summary

Welcome to the Time Warner third quarter 2008 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Now I will turn the call over to Mr. Doug Shapiro, Vice President of Investor Relations. Sir, you may begin.

Douglas Shapiro – Vice President, Investor Relations

Thank you, Shirley. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Time Warner's 2008 third quarter earnings conference call. This morning we issued two press releases: one detailing our results for the third quarter and the other updating our 2008 business outlook.

Before we begin, there are two things I need to cover. First, we refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. Schedules setting out reconciliations of these historical non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are included in our earning release or trending schedules. These reconciliations are available on our website at timewarner.com/investors. A reconciliation of our expected future financial performance is also included in the business outlook release that is available on our website.

Time Warner Inc.

Management Summary

Operator

Welcome to the Time Warner second quarter 2008 earnings call. (Operator Instructions) Now I will turn the call over to Doug Shapiro, Vice President of Investor Relations. Thank you, sir, you may begin.

Doug Shapiro, Vice President of Investor Relations

Thanks and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Time Warner's 2008 second quarter earnings conference call. This morning we issued two press releases: one detailing our results for the second quarter; and the other reaffirming our 2008 business outlook.

Before we begin, there are a few items I need to cover. First, we refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. Schedules setting out reconciliations of these historical non-GAAP financial measures to the most comparable GAAP financial measures are included in our earnings release or trending schedules. These reconciliations are available on our web site at timewarner.com/investors. A reconciliation of our expected future financial performance is also included in the business outlook release that is available on our web site.

So the sky isn't falling.

Corporate earnings aren't that bad and are surprising analysts. Oil prices are falling just as quickly as they rose. If you are a contrarian investor, you must have a big grin on your face.

Common wisdom had it that markets were going to keep dropping, that the price of crude would hit $200 a barrel, and that bank after bank would go bankrupt. But what's happened? The opposite. Bank earnings aren't as bad a feared, crude has fallen to under $130 and suddenly investors are a bit more optimistic.

Even when we get bad news, like earnings from Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) and others, the market is able to hold up. Industries that just a week ago were being left for dead suddenly came roaring back to life. For investors who like to dabble in out of favor stocks, this market is a dream come true. Battered sectors such as financials, airlines, and even autos have surged over the last week. Who would have dreamed that airline stocks would actually stage a rally? What's interesting is that even with their recent move these sectors are all still trading significantly off their highs, meaning that potentially we have much more room to run.

This post is part of a series on celebrity spokespeople who ended up doing serious harm to the brands they were hired to promote, or vice versa. See how we rank the 20 top spokesperson fiascos.

Basketball star Kobe Bryant may be this generation's Michael Jordon, a combination of lightning-quick moves, shooting touch and court savvy unmatched by any backcourt player in the world. As leader of the Los Angeles Lakers, he has become a fixture on the scoring leader stats sheet and the All-star roster.

Raised in Italy while his American father Joe "Jellybean" Bryant played basketball there, Bryant was a polished and appealing personality when he entered the NBA straight out of high school. His popularity quickly translated into lucrative endorsement contracts with Nike (NYSE:NKE), Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) and McDonald's (NYSE:MCD).

Therefore, the sports world was stunned when a Colorado hotel maid accused the married Bryant of sexually assaulting her. The resulting tawdry court case made Bryant the laughingstock of the league's fandom. Although the case was eventually settled out of court with Bryant's public apology, the damage had been done. McDonald's declined to renew its agreement with Bryant, having had one unhappy meal too many.

Since then, Bryant has mended his marriage, grown in his career (MVP in 2008), and regained endorsement contracts. I doubt, though, that you'll ever seen Kobe and Ronald McDonald share the court again.

Read the entire series

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM)
Q2 2008 Earnings Conference Call
June 17, 2008 8:00 AM ET

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the JPMorgan Chase Q2 2008 earnings call. This call is being recorded.

Today's presentation may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and speak only as of the date hereof.

In addition, such statements are, by their nature, subject to significant risks and uncertainties and the firm's actual returns may differ materially from those described in such forward-looking statements. Please refer to JPMorgan Chase's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Form 10-K and Form 10-Q for a description of the risk and factors that could cause the firm's results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements.

eBay, Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY)
Q2 2008 Earnings Conference Call
July 16, 2008 5:00 PM ET

Management Summary

Operator

Good day and welcome, everyone to eBay's Q2 2008 earnings results conference call. Today's call is being recorded.

With us today from the company is the Chief Executive Officer John Donahoe and the Chief Financial Officer Bob Swan. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mark Rowen, VP of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

Mark Rowen, Vice President of Investor Relations

Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for joining us and welcome to eBay's earnings release conference call for the second quarter of 2008. Joining me today on the call are John Donahoe, our President and Chief Executive Officer; and Bob Swan, our Chief Financial Officer.