JCPenney (JCP) fell to a new 52-week low of $20.20 Friday morning after its second-quarter results included weaker-than-expected full-year earnings estimates.

JCPenney said growth of store and Internet sales, as well as tightly controlling expenses, resulted in record-level gross margins for the period. Earnings totaled $14 million, or 6 cents per share, in the quarter, compared to a loss of $1 million, or break-even per share, in the same quarter of last year. Analysts' estimates were topped by a penny per share.

Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) meets again on Tuesday. Though the August meeting of the FOMC is generally uneventful, this time there is speculation about whether the FOMC will resort again to some quantitative easing -- a way of pumping additional money into the financial system.

Fed chairman Ben Bernanke has already hinted at such a move, given that economic growth has clearly slowed. Last week's disappointing employment numbers are the latest confirmation of that. The question is whether the Fed's decision to take action will happen at this week's meeting, perhaps aggravating deflation fears, or it may wait until the September meeting, at which point it risks impacting the upcoming mid-term elections.

"While stocks have moved up and down sharply in recent months, minibonds have just kept bobbling along, still paying their big dividends and accruing cash to keep paying those dividends," says income advisor Neil George.

The editor of The Pay Me Strategy explains, "You might be surprised to learn how large the universe of minibonds is; there are always new opportunities to add to your minibond collection. Take a peek at what I've found and perhaps take a nibble or two.

For example, media companies CBS (RBV) and Viacom (VNV) have both had to deal with cost containment challenges while trying to bolster revenues from their audiences and advertisers.

Analyst Upgrades

• Needham upgraded Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS) to buy from hold following the company's Q1 results as it believes the sell-off in shares provides an attractive entry point into the name. The firm has a $31 price target for the stock. Piper Jaffrey upgraded Dick's Sporting to overweight from neutral following the company's Q1 results and raised its target for shares to $34 from $31.
• Piper Jaffray also upgraded MGIC Investment (MTG) to overweight from neutral. The firm upgraded shares on valuation and raised its target to $11 from $10.
• Macy's (M) was upgraded to buy from neutral and VeriSign (VRSN) was upgraded to sell from conviction sell at Goldman.
• Fidelity National (FIS) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at Raymond James.
• Watson Pharma (WPI) was upgraded to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.

Nordstrom, Inc. (JWN) is down in afternoon trading. A quote of $39.58 just went by my screen, which represents a decline of $1.71, or over 4%. Volume is high. The market as a whole is pretty bad, so some of the stock's bleeding has to be related to the negative sentiment hitting the major indexes, but the retailer, whose colleagues include The Gap, Inc. (GPS) and J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (JCP), did issue a first-quarter earnings report yesterday after the bell, so we'll have to check that out to see if anything fundamental might be up.

I'll tell you, I thought the press release contained some impressive numbers. Earnings per share increased 40% to 52 cents. Same-store sales rocked with a double-digit jump of 12%. How can the traders be down on that data?

Last week's retail sales numbers were encouraging. And some shopping mall favorites take their turns in the earnings spotlight this week: JCPenney (JCP), Nordstrom (JWN), Urban Outfitters (URBN), Kohl's Corp. (KSS) and Macy's (M). Overall, analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect to see earnings growth from these retailers for the first quarter.

Texas-based department store operator JCPenney declared a quarterly dividend and tendered a debt offering in its first quarter. Earnings for that period are expected to have more than doubled from a year ago to $0.24 per share. Revenue for the three months that ended in April, however, is expected to have inched up 1.4% in the past year to $3.9 billion. And analysts expect to see year-over-year earnings and revenue growth in the second quarter. JCPenney's per-share earnings have come in within pennies of consensus estimates in the past five quarters, beating by two cents in the fourth quarter.

Analyst Upgrades

• Oppenheimer upgraded Williams-Sonoma (WSM) to outperform from perform. Opco believes the company's business model is being underappreciated by investors and upped its target price for shares to $40 from $26.
• BMO Capital upgraded Tractor Supply (TSCO) to market perform from underperform and set a $75 target. The firm upgraded the stock after the company's positive preannouncement.
• JCPenney (JCP) was upgraded to conviction buy from neutral at Goldman.
• DISH Network (DISH) was upgraded to buy from neutral at UBS.
• BJ's Wholesale (BJ) was upgraded to neutral from underperform at Credit Suisse.
• Taseko Mines (TGB) was upgraded to buy from hold at TD Newcrest.

J. Crew Group (JCG), an apparel chain whose related stocks include Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF), Gap (GPS), and JCPenney (JCP), reported strong sales and earnings yesterday after the bell. I'm impressed; I have to say, like I did the last time, bravo to an excellent quarter.

Overall sales rose 19% in Q4, according to the corporate press release. Same-store revenues increased 17%. Earnings per share were 61 cents on a diluted basis. A loss of 22 cents was recorded twelve months ago. As far as the analysts go, they should be pleased. Then again, they probably should be disappointed, since their projections were completely taken out (I guess it all depends on one's perspective). Either way, the call was for net income to come in around 46 cents per share.

If you own shares of Nordstrom, Inc. (JWN), I assume you were pretty pleased with the Q4 report. The retailer, whose mall cohorts include The Gap Inc. (GPS) and JCPenney Company, Inc. (JCP), grew the top line by over 10%. Per-share profit increased over 150% to 77 cents. Gross margin expanded, as there was a reduction in the need for markdowns. And, perhaps most awesome of all, same-store sales roared higher by 6.9%.

All of that is great, but here's the thing that is probably inhibiting a big buying response for the stock. According to our earnings preview, Wall Street was expecting a little more on the bottom line. Two pennies more, in fact. Even with all those great stats, management missed projections.