Oil firm ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) reported second-quarter earnings of 87 cents per share this morning, barely edging the consensus estimate calling for 85 cents per share. Despite topping the consensus estimate, the results fell well short of last year's same-quarter earnings of $3.50 per share.

Quarterly revenue totaled $35.4 billion, which was less than half of the $71.4 billion earned a year ago. CEO and chairman Jim Mulva noted in the company's press release, "we delivered solid operational results during the quarter," despite lower commodity prices and margins in the second quarter.

Investment bank JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) announced that second-quarter earnings checked in at 28 cents per share -- or $2.72 billion. A year ago, the financial giant reported earnings of $2 billion, or 53 cents per share. This year's quarterly earnings included a charge of 27 cents per share after JPM repaid the $25 billion invested by the government in the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). There was also a 10-cent-per-share penalty thanks to a special assessment from the FDIC. Expectations called for earnings of four cents per share.

JPM also reported record first-half revenue, stemming from "solid" performances in its commercial banking, asset management, treasury and security services, and its retail banking. That said, JPM expects credit costs to remain elevated in the "foreseeable future." No doubt that these results will lend some bullish momentum to Wall Street today, as JPM's earnings reinforce the quarterly results from Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS).

As we noted earlier this morning, Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE: ADM) reported strong fiscal fourth quarter numbers this morning. The company showed ourth quarter income more than doubled from last year, and traders have been pushing the stock higher in early morning trading. As of 8:45 the stock is now trading up 4.0% in premarket trading.

We are going to be covering this morning's call in its entirety, so be sure to refresh your screen frequently as we will be updating this page regularly.

8:50 am - Getting ready for this mornings call to get under way.

8:55 am - About 5 more minutes and then we should be getting under way with this mornings call

9:01 am - getting under way now, just going through all the SEC regulatory comments now

9:03 am - Patricia Woertz, CEO , going over some full year numbers: 20% increase in yearly revenues, and 65% increase in yearly EPS

9:05 am - COmpany bought back 15.4 million shares of stock during the year

Yesterday, the Federal Reserve held the federal funds rate at 5.25%, which was greeted by a quick, robust rally. In anticipation, Las Vegas was even taking bets on the Fed's action or lack of action. In its announcement, the Federal Reserve stated that it is still concerned about inflationary pressures and is waiting for the "adjustment" in real estate markets to settle out. The stock market liked the hint of potential rate cuts in summer or autumn. So where do we go from here?

The December 2006 quarterly results posted by most of corporate America was good to very good. I listened in on 45 quarterly earnings conference calls (I know, I need to get a life), and I counted over 30 that gave robust, optimistic outlooks for 2007. I heard expressions like "visible orders" to "pipeline filling" to "sales force feeling very optimistic" to "we will spend more on cap-ex due to higher revenues," etc. -- all in all, very good indicators from the corporations that drive the economy and the stock market.

We are approaching the end of the first calendar quarter, March 31st. As of yet, and it is early, no major company has pre-announced a quarterly shortfall. The first three to five trading days of April are critical. If a company misses the March quarter, it normally will be pre-announced in the first days of April. The reasonable assumption is if a company does not pre-announce, then it made the quarterly expectations and will provide greater detail on the actual conference call, normally in the 3rd or 4th week of April. The stock market will carefully watch and see who does or does not pre-announce a quarterly miss. This is the first catalyst to move the market forward. Then when actual numbers start coming in and further optimism for the second quarter is reinforced, the market will likely move up again.

The US stock market is still considered slightly under-valued. The S&P 500 is currently trading at a 15-16 PE multiple, not expensive in historical perspective.

Whatever happens, it will be interesting as usual . . .

Georges Yared is the author of Stop Losing Money Today and Baby Boomer Investing.