Neither company is saying a thing yet, but word is Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) and EMC (NYSE: EMC) are joining up to sell a new collection of products designed to deliver cloud computing capabilities, Reuters reports. Called vBlock, the cloud solution is intended to help the companies compete more effectively with IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ).

The partnership, which no one is admitting to, involves a joint venture between Cisco and EMC that will sell vBlock. The former will supply the networking equipment and servers, with the latter kicking in the storage gear and virtualization technology through its VMWare (NYSE: VMW) subsidiary. The joint venture will put the systems together, integrate the components for clients, and make the whole pile of cables and silicon work. A formal announcement is expected next week.

In an era in which employers increasingly are having to shift more health-care costs onto employees, IBM (NYSE: IBM) is taking the unprecedented tack of opting to pick up all expenses related to primary care for U.S.-based employees, beginning next year. In doing so, IBM is is among the first U.S. companies to cover primary care at 100%, the Armonk, N.Y.-based computing giant said Thursday.

The move means employees will not be subject to co-pays or deductibles for in-network primary care with their internist, general or family practitioner, pediatrician or primary osteopath. IBM said it was able to boost coverage due to the company's success in implementing wellness programs, an effort begun five years ago.

Your e-mail account is a goldmine. Technology companies push hard to keep your data secure, but there are plenty of scumbags out there who always seem to find a new way to gain an edge over the guys in white hats. Phishers, in particular, are eager to find new ways to profit from your identity and information, and they're getting some new tricks.

Phishing scam activity was quiet at the beginning of this year, according to a report in USA Today, but these attacks surged 200% from May through September, says the X-Force team at IBM (NYSE: IBM). Webmail, social media and gaming accounts are their primary targets. E-mail access, in particular, is highly sought after, since they can be use to push out spam ... while bypassing filters.

These "virgin" e-mail accounts command top dollar: a digital criminal can pick up as much as $2 for a clean account from Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Windows Live, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) Gmail, Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) YahooMail or AOL (NYSE: TWX). This is more than twice the amount typically paid for a stolen credit card account, according to Fred Rica, principal in the security practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Many webmail users actually do half the criminals' job for them, with 33% using just one password online and 48% using only a handful.

In uncertain times, it goes without saying that investors should stick with 'the known, and the true,' which is why I'm reiterating my Buy rating for Big Blue -- International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM), first recommended on February 18, 2009 at a price of $91.51. If you bought IBM in February, you're up about 35%.

Just about everything is running in IBM's favor right now: look for a mid-single-digit revenue gain for IBM in FY2009 on stronger services division and software division revenue.

Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) will be reporting Q3 data after the bell today. Is the market excited over the Internet portal's prospects? Well, judging by the price action I'm seeing on my screen right now, I'd have to say the answer is a definite no. The stock is down 1.7% as I write this in early afternoon trading.

According to Earnings.com, Yahoo!, whose colleagues include Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), is expected to say it made 7 cents per share in the third quarter. That won't be so great, since it will represent an earnings decline compared to last year's income stat. Of course, we should remember that it won't be just about the earnings per share. We'll have to hear what management has to say about future prospects.

Since the stock market bottomed in March of this year, it has been firing on all cylinders -- except for those in the auto industry who manufacture the most cylinders of course. This year has not been kind to them.

For months, many have been surprised at the rapid rise, given the level of unemployment. During this same period, Wall Streeters have been dancing up and down, looking forward to more bonuses.

As the number of unemployed has climbed and the period of same has lengthened, many have wondered how business could be improving during a time when the consumer (those still left) has transformed from spender to saver.

Here are some highlights from last week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) higher Q3 earnings topped expectations but revenue was in line.
• Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) posted better-than-expected Q3 results, but shares sold off.
• Allegheny Technologies Inc. (NYSE: ATI) was downgraded on concerns about its Q4 guidance.
• Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) shares fell after it posted a deeper-than-expected quarterly loss.
• Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) fell victim to profit taking despite reporting better-than-expected earnings.
• CSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX) better-than-expected Q3 earnings sent shares higher, despite a decline in revenue.

For the past 48 hours people have been asking me if I thought the market would pull back after the Dow Jones Industrial Average surpassed the milestone of 10,000. Business journalist's and guru's alike have suggested that there might be some profit taking or "selling into strength" and the recent highs would not hold.

As the market proved yesterday, up about a half percent across the board, with the Dow closing at 10,062.94, up 47.08 in last-minute buying -- that is just a lot of noise.

International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM) reported Q3 results after the bell on Thursday. Net sales decreased 7% when compared to the year-ago period. Okay, that doesn't sound like a great start. Wait, though, because things are about to get better from here.

Sales actually increased 1% on a sequential basis. Net profit on a dollar basis went up 14%. Net margin improved. And on a per-share basis, net income jumped 18% to $2.40. According to our earnings preview, this was two pennies ahead of analyst projections.

Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) has a new champion: Dell (NASDAQ: DELL). The PC manufacturer is promoting the online sales force-enablement platform as a way to gain access to the hefty sums available in the technology services business. The deal would give Salesforce.com access to Dell's clients in the small and medium-sized business categories. Dell would sell Salesforce.com products and provide consulting services to help clients integrate the solution with their other enterprise applications. The dollars and cents of this union weren't disclosed.

Dell sees the margins of the services business and wants a piece of the action, particularly since the PC sector is low margin. Also, sales have been hit pretty hard as a result of the financial crisis. With PCs accounting for 60% of Dell's top-line, a bit of diversity isn't a bad idea. Currently, services account for only around 10% of Dell's sales.

Goldman Sachs upgraded the banking sector last week, and this coming week we'll get a chance to see whether Goldman and other big banks reporting third quarter results will live up to the expectations of analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.

New York-based Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) looks set to be this week's earnings game winner. Analysts expect this dividend-paying company to report a third-quarter profit of $4.24 per share, which is 57.3% higher than in the same period of last year. Revenue for the period that ended in September is expected to be $11.0 billion. So far, the full-year forecast is for $17.74 per share on $44.6 billion.

Want to know if your stock is overpriced, maybe ready to take a breather? Then check its PEG. That's Price to Earnings to Growth, or the P/E ratio divided by the growth rate of a company's earnings. It's a quick and easy way to see if your stock may be ahead of its earnings power. It's also one measure a lot of momentum investors rely on as a screening tool.

If a stock's P/E ratio is well above its growth rate, they believe the stock is overpriced and won't touch it. But if the p/e ratio is well below the stock's growth rate, it could signal a bargain. It helps to know your stock's PEG.

IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM) is a name many businesses know very well. The former largest computer company on the planet left the hardware game a long time ago to concentrate on consulting services and business software. But, IBM's next nemesis won't be a company out of Redmond -- but a name on the tongues of millions these days -- Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG).

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) is a true Goliath in the online world, exerting its dominance in search, Web-based e-mail, maps, software, and more. Despite this fact -- or perhaps because of it -- it seems that tech companies can't wait to do battle with Google. IBM (NYSE: IBM) is the latest rival to throw down the gauntlet, with the company launching its own internet-based e-mail service for businesses.

The new service, known as LotusLive iNotes, is geared toward employees who might not be able to access their company e-mail remotely. The no-frills program features basic applications such as messaging, calendar, and contact management. LotusLive iNotes is being offered at prices as low as $3 per user per month. (Google's Google Apps service, with e-mail and Web-based applications including word processing, is priced at $50 per user annually.)

Traders had on their rally caps today, and the DJIA moved as high as 9,823 as it renewed its ascent toward 10,000. The index moved back down a bit at the end of the day as traders got lazy during a session in which most of the news came before the bell.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) and Xerox Corporation (NYSE: XRX) both announced deals today that pumped some air into the M&A business. Financial shares are mostly moving higher because increased M&A activity generally means more fees for financial services companies. Trading volume was light, mostly due to the Yom Kippur holiday today.

Today's numbers:

Dow 9,789.44 +124.25 (1.29%)
S&P 500 1,062.88 +18.50 (1.77%)
Nasdaq 2,130.74 +39.82 (1.90%)