In a conversation with an attorney friend of mine, who happens to be a woman, she asked for some general financial guidance. During the course of the conversation it occurred to me that women need to save more than men. There are many reasons for this, here are a few:

The first and most obvious reason women need to save more than men is that they live longer -- often without the support of a significant other. Living longer and living alone cost more money.

Second of all, women still do not have complete earnings parity with men. Some of this has to do with job type and some with history. But nevertheless, we are not there yet. If there is a 15% disparity, then a woman is starting at a disadvantage whether saving for her retirement in the future or for buying a gallon of gas today. This can only be made up by saving more and investing more. This is a worthy goal except that with less resources the difficulty is exacerbated.

I have not decided who I am voting for yet. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say I have decided on multiple occasions only to become undecided again. While some will see me as fickle, or worse, others may be in the same boat.

I am also continuing to think about what difference any of the candidates can make on the economy, and based on these musings, where to invest. My current belief is that none of them will have a profound impact on our economy.

There are no financial wizards among them. Here is the shocker though: I like all three candidates, or at least can find some good in each of them. Each of them is a fighter, and I believe each one of them brings certain skill sets to the job. There are also things about each candidate that are inescapably negative. Clinton has so much baggage, Zsa Zsa Gabor would be jealous. Obama does not have the experience and he has a degree of arrogance (right sweetie); McCain is an old stick-in-the-mud who, as a long-time senator, has spent more hours with lobbyists than almost anybody, though he is pretending otherwise.

Where does this leave me from an investment perspective? My first choice, for stability with moderate growth and dividends, remains the defense sector. I wrote Defense sector rolls over S&P 500 for 8th straight year a while back and I still think that it is the most secure. Here's why:

A) None of the candidates will want to appear soft on defense when we are at war, and all three have made threatening remarks in some country's direction to make sure the electorate knows that.

B) The War in Afghanistan and Iraq rages on, and even the most optimist view is that a draw-down will take years.

C) Even if all war ceased immediately, the upgrading and replenishment of the hardware will cost billions of dollars and most of the defense contractors have that in their backlogs now. Chasing Value: General Dynamics & Raytheon -- The defense does not rest

All this recession talk has not convinced me that we are destined to have one, and I see plenty of signs that 2008 might surprise to the upside. There are plenty of problems within the US economy, and I could make a case that there is a possibility that the economy might catch cold but remedies also exist. I see the cup as half full for the stock market. This is not to say that individuals will not have to deal with hard times, they will - but the market might shine. This can happen because the market is global.

Many widely followed investment icons have a different perspective, including renowned international investor Jim Rogers in the December issue of Fortune who said, "In my view, the U.S. economy is in recession. I know the government says we're not. But as I look around, we know that automobiles are in worse than recession. The same thing is true for home-builders. Much of the financial sector is in worse than recession. So many parts of America are in worse than recession, and yet the government says we're not in a recession. I don't know what's so strong that it's offsetting these major weaknesses in the American economy. I just assume that the government is lying."

I can agree that the government is lying, but I can't agree that the economy is void of positives. There is plenty that is going strong in the economy. The defense sector is going strong as I reported on recently Defense sector rolls over S&P 500 for 8th straight year and there is every indication this will continue.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. (NYSE: ADM) is set to report their Q1 2008 earnings on Tuesday before the market opens. Analysts are expecting $0.51 EPS. For the past 2 years, ADM has beaten estimates 5 times, met once, and missed twice, but one of those misses was this period, Q1, in 2006. If you think that the company 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 ADM due to inflated options prices ahead of earnings.

After hitting a one-year high of $39.65 in April, the stock has fallen a bit but gained ground over the past month. ADM opened this morning at $35.00. So far today the stock has hit a low of $34.20 and a high of $35.14. As of 11:25, ADM is trading at $34.33, down $0.34 (-1.9%). The chart for ADM looks bullish and steady, while S&P gives the stock a 4 STARS (out of 5) buy rating.

This morning Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE: ADM) released its fiscal fourth quarter earnings, and the company came through with a solid quarter. Including gains on asset sales, the company announced that its fourth quarter income more than doubled from last year.

Following this morning's announcement, early morning traders have pushed the stock up 1.4% in premarket trading. Including asset sales, the company saw a profit of $1.47 per share for the quarter.

One thing I took a look at last week in my earnings preview was the potential impact that high corn prices would have on the company. Corn prices have eased somewhat over the past month, but on the whole, the company was once again hurt by higher-than-usual corn prices. During the quarter, the company witnessed a 16% decline in corn processing operating results to $241 million.

It is still too early to tell just how good the numbers are. I will have to wait and see just how big a role the asset sales played in the final numbers. We will get a better idea on the quarter during the company's conference call that ADM will be hosting at 9:00 a.m EDT. I am going to be liveblogging the entire call this morning, so be sure to check back for complete up-to-the-minute coverage on the call.

Michael Fowlkes has worked as a stock trader for seven years and spent the last two years working as an analyst for the online investment advisory service Investor's Observer.

This morning, Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE: ADM), the largest U.S. food processor and ethanol maker, announced mixed results for its fiscal third quarter earnings. While the company was able to post better-than-expected revenue for the quarter, the stock is getting punished in pre-market trading for missing on its earnings.

Sales for the quarter rose to $11.38 billion from $9.12 billion during the same period last year. Analysts had been looking for sales of $9.65 billion. Sounds great so far... but, on an earnings per share basis, the company came up a little short. While analysts had been expecting to see the company post 62 cents per share, Archer Daniels only earned 53 cents during the quarter.