Today was a tough day to call ahead of time despite the notion that the stocks were getting oversold. Washington D.C was closed and New York City is getting close to closing many services Wednesday because of yet another huge snow dump. The larger second wave of the rally today was based entirely on the leaks, rumors, and hopes of a Greece bailout either by Germany or by the E.U. in some form or fashion.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 10,058.64 +150.25 (1.52%)
S&P 500 1,070.52 +13.78 (1.30%)
Nasdaq 2,150.87 +24.82 (1.17%)

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Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage on BloggingStocks:

• Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) better-than-expected Q4 numbers due to strong holiday sales of media products.
• BlackRock Inc. (BLK) reported strong Q4 results and doubled assets under management due to an acquisition.
• Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) shares fell despite better-than-expected Q4 earnings as guidance fell short of the Street view.
• DeVry Inc. (DV) reported better-than-expected Q2 numbers due to increasing enrollments, which lifted shares.
• EMC Corp. (EMC) reported strong Q4 results that beat the Street view and offered full-year guidance.
• General Dynamics Corp. (GD) Q4 results fell short of expectations and its guidance was less than estimates.

Procter & Gamble (PG - option chain) shares rose Thursday after the company said it earned $4.66 billion, or $1.49 per share during its second quarter, with revenue coming in at $21 billion. Analysts had forecast a profit of $1.40 per share on revenue of $21.07 billion. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on PG.

PG opened at $61.67. In morning trading, the stock hit a low of $61.58 and a high of $63.31. As of 11:20, PG was trading at $62.27 up 1.46 (2.4%). The chart for PG looks bullish and S&P gives PG a positive 4 STARS (out of 5) buy ranking.

U.S. stock futures were higher on Thursday following the Federal Reserve's outlook for the economy and President Barack Obama's State of the Union address and his pledge to create more jobs. Meanwhile, a stream of earnings is coming in this morning, with Ford posting its first annual profit since 2005. Also on the agenda today are some economic indicators, including data on jobs. All the while, investors will watch as Fed chairman Bernanke's faith is decided.

President Barack Obama late Wednesday put job creation at the top of the agenda in his first State of the Union speech. He promised not to abandon health-care reform and promised tough, new rules on Wall Street.

Retailers don't like competition. As it is, they get enough of it from each other in the pursuit of razor-thin margins. It's standard practice to squeeze manufacturers for lower prices and more concessions as part of this battle.

For years, it's also been the norm for retailers to push back on manufacturers' direct-to-consumer models, as it gives consumers one less reason to enter the store, results in smaller basket sizes and greater pressure on wallet share. When a consumer product giant decides to bypass the retailers, eyebrows rise across the consumer business industry, with manufacturers thinking about new revenue possibilities while retailers worry that other product companies will follow.

WD-40 (WDFC), whose related stocks include Church & Dwight (CHD) and Clorox (CLX), did a good job of courting earnings growth through efficiency. According to yesterday's post-market release, the consumer products concern saw its bottom line jump 22% to 56 cents per diluted share. According to Earnings.com, that was five pennies better than the expectations of Wall Street's smart guys.

Unfortunately, sales growth was not in the cards. The top line experienced a decrease of 7%. Furthermore, according to Reuters, revenues came in softer than projections. It would have been really nice to see at least a little increase in sales, or perhaps an in-line performance, to go along with the improved bottom line. Wasn't meant to be.

Procter & Gamble (PG), whose related companies include Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and Kimberly-Clark (KMB), is yet another stock close to a 52-week high. Is it too high to buy, or is it likely to be a prudent defensive holding for 2010?

P&G's price action is pretty interesting. Even though it's near a 52-week high, it's actually flat on the year-to-date frame in terms of performance. That doesn't include dividend payments, of course, but nevertheless, there have been so many other stocks that have bounced off the March lows and delivered serious price appreciation superior to what P&G has been able to accomplish. This is one argument for the stock, since you might not have to worry about it being overbought relative to other equities.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says Pepsi, McDonald's and Intel are set to bounce back with a bang.

You can always tell a benign market by the comeback the doghouse names manage to give you.

Consider the errant cases of Pepsi (PEP) (Cramer's Take), McDonald's (MCD) (Cramer's Take) and Intel (INTC) (Cramer's Take). All three allegedly "disappointed," with Pepsi failing to please on the alleged guide-down after its bottling purchase, McDonald's stuttering on a bad month and Intel on a so-called failed quarter.

So, it isn't bad enough that Tiger Woods ruined his marriage and soiled his squeaky-clean reputation. Apparently he cost his corporate sponsors $12 billion in stock value as well. According to a study conducted by UC Davis economics professors Victor Stango and Christopher Knittel, Tiger lost his sponsors a "collective $5 to $12 billion." This loss outpaces "several decades' worth of Tiger Woods' personal endorsement income."

The study examined the stock market returns during the 13 trading days after Tiger's car crash, a period concluding a week after Tiger's announcement of an indefinite leave of absent. The two economics professors then compared the returns for Tiger's sponsors during this 13-day period to those of the total stock market and each of the companies' closest competitor. Returns for the four years prior to the car accident were also taken into account in order to establish the stocks' historic performance.

After reading an unbelievable sell recommendation by one of my BloggingStocks colleagues, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. In Thirteen Dow stocks that are doomed, we are informed that 13 of the 30 are going down and we should all bail out before it is too late.

I find this silly on many levels. For one, 13 stocks amount to a large-cap index fund and since large-cap stocks have lagged the market the probability that they will outperform going forward is real and has many investors promoting them.

Procter & Gamble (PG) is a company that overreached and now has a cumbersome fleet of brands. To its credit, the company is currently shopping around some product divisions including Braun small appliances, Iams pet foods, Duracell batteries and Pringles snacks.

But the bottom line is that it will take some time to streamline this patchwork company -- so investors shouldn't hold their breath.

Next: Dog of the Dow #12: Verizon (VZ)

Broader economic indicators like GDP and housing numbers seem to be pointing up lately. But despite this, the Dow 30 are stuck in a death spiral. This arbitrary index of outdated stocks is a poor sample of Wall Street right now and just can't seem to get its act together.

Investors who place so much emphasis on the Dow Jones Industrial Average do so at their own peril. Not only are the Dow 30 very disconnected from Wall Street and the broader U.S. economy, this lineup also contains some of the worst stocks out there right now.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says this isn't a cyclical story -- the company's many drivers can pick up any slack in one division.

Disney's (DIS) (Cramer's Take) an odd animal. Until these last few months, it always seemed to be measured by what its worst division at the time was doing. If ESPN was going great but theme park attendance was going down, people would sell it. If theme parks were holding up but broadcast advertising had weakened, investors would jump ship. If the owned and operated stations did well and the company delivered a bunch of hit shows, but the movie lineup bombed, people would dump the stock down to 12 or 13 multiple status, instead of the premium multiple is used to trade to.

This is the third screening to find value among Fortune's 25 corporate world leaders that have demonstrated an ability to regenerate themselves from within. The list has been cut to 18 and will be cut further here.

The methodology of using basic stock data points to identify potential value investments only sets the stage for success -- it assures nothing. While it is true that paying less is better than paying more and getting a higher yield is better than less, this gives you a scant picture of what is in people's hearts and minds, and that is harder to judge. Like the weather, no matter the predictions, you may not find out it is raining until you are standing in it. Regardless, it should be advantageous to start with good stock (pun intended) before you take to whittlin', and that we have.

Yesterday I started a review of 25 companies that Fortune deemed most successful according to their peers in developing quality leadership. Today I review the remaining 20, searching to find the ones that might be worth investing in.

Price-to-book (from 11/27/09) was used as the first value screen. The theory being from a value investor's perspective that buying for a price at or near the break-up value of the company provides downside protection. Of course that is easier said than done.