TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says that as numerous stories are mulled over anew, the reasons for selling seem silly.

The lack of important data today forces market participants to revisit stories that got tossed out over the last few weeks simply because of earnings ennui. People are now doubling back to see what they have forgotten, or more important, why they sold certain stocks they most likely shouldn't have.

For example, why did JPMorgan (JPM) (Cramer's Take) go from $47 to $44? Bad loans? Credit quality? No, not really. Nothing like that. Why did Goldman Sachs (GS) (Cramer's Take) go from $192 to the $170s? Some of it was Meredith Whitney, but there is also a sense of entitlement that makes the firm hated, as if somehow it is too much of a pariah to invest in.

Talk about advances. Institutional investor (II) sentiment on Whirlpool Corp. (NYSE: WHR) has strengthened in-sync with the strengthening global economy, and that's why I'm reiterating my Buy rating for the appliance manufacturer, first recommended on April 13, 2009 at a price of $34.47. If you bought WHR in April, you're up a remarkable 111%.

Whirlpool's pleasant growth story remains the same: emerging market sales, particularly in Latin America (20% of revenue), are sending growth signals; Europe and the U.S. may lag for 1-2 more quarters; the U.S. market looks like the major hurdle -- with household formation likely to remain sluggish into mid-2010. Overall, look for FY2010 revenue to increase 4-6%; in FY2011, WHR is likely to return to double-digit revenue growth.

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

• AirTran Holdings Inc. (NYSE: AAI) reported its third consecutive quarterly profit and will increase capacity.
• Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) shares soared after it reported very strong Q3 numbers.
• Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) reported stellar Q4 results, driven by the popularity of Macs and iPhones.
• BlackRock Inc. (NYSE: BLK) Q3 earnings soared, due in part to a tax benefit, and assets managed grew.
• Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM) revenue surged sequentially but note the would be flat going forward.
• Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) beat Q3 earnings expectations and shares rose though revenue slumped.

Analyst upgrades:

• Barclays upgraded Dollar Tree (NASDAQ: DLTR) to Overweight from Equal Weight and raised its target to $64 from $48 following the better-than-expected Q2 report.
• Cowen upgraded Whirlpool (NYSE: WHR) to Outperform from Neutral. The firm cites stabilizing demand trends and recovering margins for the upgrade.
• Susquehanna upgraded Isle of Capri (NASDAQ: ISLE) citing weakness following the weak quarter. The firm, which has a $13 target on shares, expects regional operators to benefit from improving macro trends quicker than destination markets.
• Senior Housing (NYSE: SNH) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
• Barclays (NYSE: BCS) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Keefe Bruyette.
• CGI Group (NYSE: GIB) was upgraded to Buy from Speculative Buy at Canaccord.

I'm Reiterating my Buy rating for Whirlpool (NYSE: WHR), first recommended on April 13, 2009 at a price of $34.47.

If you managed to Buy WHR in April you're up a gargantuan 69%. Whirlpool's shares are a tad overvalued right now, but that does not change the growth story. Emerging market sales, particularly in Latin America, are sending signals of increased demand for appliances; Europe and the U.S. sales may lag for 2-3 more quarters.

The critical and discerning financial institutions know that on Wall Street the mantra is not, 'better late, than never,' but 'if you're late, then never.'

In other words, if you're late to a stock buying opportunity with a company on the rise, you've lost out regarding that opportunity. And with the above in mind, Whirlpool Corporation (NYSE: WHR) is worth a review.

Nissan Motor Co. (NASDAQ: NSANY) reported a $904 million quarterly loss and said it expects this year to be its first annual loss in nine years. Nissan is cutting 20,000 jobs, or 8.5% of its workforce. NSANY shares declined over 6.5% in premarket trade.

Barclays PLC (NYSE: BCS) reported Monday that its net profit for 2008 fell just 1% after several major one-off gains helped compensate for over 8 billion pounds ($11.8 billion) of write-downs. The bank's balance sheet, meanwhile, ballooned 67% to 2.05 trillion pounds. Pretax profit for the year dropped 14% to 6.08 billion pounds, well ahead of analyst estimates. Barclays said it will resume dividend payments in the second half of the year. Shares in Barclays soared over 12% in premarket trade.

It's about that time again: Pepsi vs. Coke. No, not another taste test or another Battle of the Brands. It's time for the next quarterly results from these two soft drink titans.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters anticipate that PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP), global beverage and snack food giant, will report fourth-quarter earnings this week that are 9.1% higher that a year ago, or $0.88 per share. Revenue is expected to total $12.8 billion, which is 3.9% higher than last year. For the full year, the profit is expected to be $3.67 per share on revenue of $43.4 billion, up from $3.38 per share on $39.5 billion in 2007. PepsiCo's earnings met or beat estimates in four of the past five quarters, but missed by only two cents per share in the third quarter. The consensus recommendation of analysts remains to buy PEP. The share price fell to a 52-week low in January and is now 24.4% lower than it was a year ago. During the fourth quarter, PepsiCo declared a $0.42 per share quarterly dividend, agreed to acquire a Spitz International, and announced investments in China and Mexico.

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

• Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) reported a narrower Q3 net loss and reaffirmed its outlook.
• Barclays (NYSE: BCS) earnings and dividend prospects resulted in an analyst's downgrade.
• Burger King Holdings Inc. (NYSE: BKC) posted its 19th straight quarter of positive growth.
• Choice Hotels International Inc. (NYSE: CHH) better-than-expected Q3 report led to an upgrade.
• Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA) reported strong Q3 numbers and maintained its revenue outlook.
• DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. (NYSE: DWA) better-than-expected Q3 results driven by Kung Fu Panda.
• Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) reported another record profit in Q3 driven by record high fuel prices.
• Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN) reported a better-than-expected Q3 profit and offered guidance.
• Hercules Inc. (NYSE: HPC) posted lower Q3 earnings and anounced [regulatory] approval of its buyout.
• Janus Capital Group Inc. (NYSE: JNS) weaker-than-expected results led to an analyst's downgrade.
• Legg Mason Inc. (NYSE: LM) swung to a smaller-than-expected Q2 net loss and shares soared.
• Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) dismal Q3 results managed to beat low earnings expectations.
• Office Depot (NYSE: ODP) Q3 results included lower revenue and a net loss due to economic conditions.
• Qwest Communications International Inc. (NYSE: Q) unimpressive Q3 numbers fell short of estimates.
• Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: JAVA) swung to a greater-than-expected net loss due in part to competition.
• Texas Roadhouse Inc. (NASDAQ: TXRH) missed Q3 estimates and warned of flat full-year earnings.
• Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) strong Q3 results included a gain from a sale of a refinery.
• Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) beat Q4 earnings expectations after adjustment for litigation-related charges.
• Whirlpool Corp. (NYSE: WHR) fell short of revenue estimates and announced job cuts.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says maybe the secret is to do no homework. If only that were the case.

If you want to participate in the rally that went on Tuesday I have a very specific suggestion: Don't do any homework. And don't listen to any conference calls. And don't pay any attention to the Q&As about credit and where it is going to come from and how quickly stretched balance sheets became because of all of the huge buybacks that were going on for so long.

Make sure you only follow Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) (Cramer's Take), Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) (Cramer's Take) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) (Cramer's Take) as they had great quarters. Don't listen to Occidental (NYSE: OXY) (Cramer's Take), where the always honest CFO Steve Chazen lays it all out, lays out how so many oil and gas operators will be broken by this decline and the lack of financing available. Don't listen to Whirlpool (NYSE: WHR) (Cramer's Take) where you would learn that the worst recession in appliances in three decades is now morphing into the worst ever, and GE (NYSE: GE) (Cramer's Take) is still trying to sell its appliance division.

Don't listen to the cliff-like falloff in orders from an industrial outfit like Crane (NYSE: CR) (Cramer's Take). Certainly don't contemplate what Caterpillar's (NYSE: CAT) (Cramer's Take) order book looks like or Masco's (NYSE: MAS) (Cramer's Take) for that matter.

After failing yesterday when a late-day selloff hit the market, today the buyers were determined. Asia proved that its markets could finally rally and the rest of the world followed suit. The markets had enough buyers today that the worst consumer confidence on record and another poor housing number were swept as "yada yada yada, tell me something I don't know." The markets were also more hopeful that Ben Bernanke and friends at the FOMC will drop rates by 50 basis-points Wednesday.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:
DJIA: 9,065.12 +889.35 +10.88%
NASDAQ: 1,649.47 +143.57 +9.53%
S&P 500: 940.51 +91.59 +10.79%
10YR T-NOTE 3.82% (+0.091%)

Top Upgrades & Downgrades

Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) reached a tentative pact that may end the machinists union strike at the aerospace giant. Shares were up 11% at $47.16 right before the close.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS) settled on the litigation with MasterCard and Visa, and it will receive a total of $2.75 billion over anti-competitive pressures. It was a known event, but this finalizes the issue sooner rather than later. Shares were up 18% at $11.48 right before the close.

U.S. stock futures surged, indicating Wall Street may join global stocks rally as the Federal Reserve meets today to begin the two-day policy meeting. Investors in the U.S. and around the world are hopeful the Fed will cut rates. In fact, many are certain it will. Meanwhile, ECB's Trichet also hinted on a rate cut, while other central banks around the world have been cutting rates throughout the period. Except for Iceland, which today raised rates by 6 points to 18%. Still, on Monday, U.S. stock markets declined in the last ten minutes, despite a decent day as redemptions are becoming an issue as well. Meanwhile, some data due out today includes consumer confidence for October and the S&P/Case-Shiller report on home prices for August.

Today is also the 79-year annivesary of Black Monday and Black Tuesday, the Great Crash that signaled the beginning of the Great Depression. With so many comparisons to that time, many are noting the anniversaries with similarities and differences.

Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) and its Machinists union reached a tentative four-year settlement to end the machinists strike. The strike, has already hurt Boeing and its production of airplanes, especially the Dreamliner, and in the end, Boeing agreed to many of the union's demands. BA shares are jumping 6.2% in pre-market trade.

Disney (NYSE: DIS) closed at $28.26 Monday. DIS is expected to report Q4 EPS in early November. DIS November option implied volatility of 54 is above it 26-week average of 31 according to Track Data, suggesting larger movement.

Whirlpool (NYSE: WHR) closed at $70.10 Monday. WHR is scheduled to report Q3 EPS in late October. WHR overall option implied volatility of 83 is above its 26-week average of 44 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

Petrobras (NYSE: PBR) closed at $34.20 Monday. Crude oil futures are recently up 3.89% to $91.23 according to Bloomberg. PBR October option implied volatility is at 167; November is at 127; above its 26-week average of 48 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

Analyst upgrades:

• UBS believes US airlines estimates are too low and will move higher. The firm upgraded AirTran (NYSE: AAI), AMR Corp (NYSE: AMR), Continental (NYSE: CAL), Delta (NYSE: DAL) and Northwest (NYSE: NWA) to Buy from Neutral and JetBlue (NASDAQ: JBLU) to Neutral from Sell.
  
• JMP Securities upgraded DealerTrack (NASDAQ: TRAK) to OUtperform from Market Perform as they believe 2H08 guidance represents a floor and that 2009 estimates are achievable, among other reasons.
• Potash (NYSE: POT) and Mosaic (NYSE: MOS) were raised to Buy from Hold at Soleil.
  
• Argus upgraded Seagate (NYSE: STX) to Buy from Hold on Friday.

Analyst downgrades:

• Jefferies downgraded Citrix Systems (NASDAQ: CTXS) to Underperform from Hold as they do not see a catalyst for the company to grow into 2009 consensus estimates. The firm lowered their target price to $25 from $32.
  
• Citigroup said following Lehman's (NYSE: LEH) bankruptcy, they expect a distressed-sale of American International's (NYSE: AIG) MBS portfolio, resulting in the worst quarter yet for the company. Shares were cut to Hold from Buy.
• D.R. Horton (NYSE: DHI) was downgraded to Sell from Hold and Pulte Homes (NYSE: PHM) was downgraded to Hold from Sell at Citigroup.
  
• Merrill downgraded Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) to Neutral from Buy and JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM) to Underperform from Neutral.

It seems that despite Apple's crushing earnings and sales estimates Wednesday and Ford swinging to profit this morning, investors are wary of earnings. Stock futures declined early Thursday following Amazon's earnings, Starbucks' profit warnings as well as other companies. In addition, debate over an expected pause in the Federal Reserve recent wave of rate cuts as well as some data seem to leave investors more on a cautious mood this morning.

U.S. stocks ended higher on Wednesday after better-than-forecast results from Boeing (NYSE: BA) helped sentiment on the Street, albeit in a choppy manner. The Dow industrials finished nearly 43 points higher, or 0.34%, the S&P 500 rose almost 4 points, or 0.29%, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 28 points, or 1.29%.

Today, several economic reports are due out. At 8:30 a.m., weekly initial jobless claims will be released, as well as March durable goods orders. At 10:00 a.m., new home sales will come out, where another drop is expected.