The housing bubble and subsequent "Great Recession" have tarnished the stars of a good many of the world's financial wizards, such as the former heads at Lehman Bros. and Merrill Lynch. But one respected image remains -- perhaps unsurprisingly -- on top: Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO at Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.A).

That's according to a recent quarterly poll of investors, traders, and analysts who subscribe to Bloomberg terminals, those somewhat cryptic news and data computers that are ubiquitous on Wall Street. Buffett, who received favorable nods from 25% of those participating in the poll, walked away with a plurality of the vote, Bloomberg News reported.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP), the Houston-based oil and gas giant, is scheduled to discuss its third quarter 2009 financial results in a conference call Wednesday at 11:00 AM ET. You can catch the live webcast of the call on the company's website.

During the three months that ended in September, ConocoPhillips, entered a joint venture in Abu Dhabi, upgraded its inventory software, and declared a quarterly dividend. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect this integrated energy company to report that earnings plunged 71.7% from a year ago to $0.94 per share. Revenue for the quarter is expected to be 49.5% lower to $35.4 billion, due to weak demand and low prices.

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

• Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET) said its profit fell due to higher expenses and warned the trend may continue.
• Avon Products Inc. (NYSE: AVP) topped Q2 earnings expectations, which sent shares higher.
• ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) lower Q2 earnings topped expectations, but revenue was also down.
• DreamWorks Animation Inc. (NYSE: DWA) posted flat Q2 earnings as it waits for the next big DVD release.
• First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) posted a better-than-expected profit but guidance sent shares lower.
• Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (NYSE: JEC) Q3 revenue missed estimates and it lowered its outlook.

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.

The market may be entering a more volatile period or it may just go sideways for a while. The last few weeks the market has been down. Maybe it is because the rapid rise mid-March through mid-June is forcing people to stop and take a breath, or perhaps it is because investors are having second thoughts about whether the "green shoots" Ben Bernanke spoke of in regards to a healing economy were really just weeds.

All in all, I still believe that there is opportunity in this market and I have been trying to point out how investors can get in with as little risk as possible, while being rewarded for their patience now, and when a recovery ensues ---- whenever that is. To this end, two weeks ago I posted Serious Money: Five high-yield, safe, diversified stocks and decided to follow up with another five I think will produce similar results.

Who said big oil was a dying business? Fortune has released its Global 500, their "annual ranking of the world's largest corporations," and topping the charts is Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS.A), which, much like a Mariah Carey song, bumped up into the coveted number-one slot after some time at number three. The Netherlands-based oil company trumped its U.S. rival, Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) by $15 billion in sales and saw its revenue spike nearly 29% from 2007.

Speaking of Exxon, the company once again had a tiger in its tank, ranking number two in the world as oil futures bounced around in a nearly $100-dollar range, hitting $146 per barrel at its heights.

Suncor Energy (NYSE: SU) is a vertically-integrated oil company located in Canada. Unlike its vertically-integrated brethren in the United States, this Canadian stock is up more than 40% this year. By comparison, Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) is down 13%, and ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) is down more than 20%.

The reason for the big difference in performance is the weakness in the dollar. That makes Canadian-based Suncor more valuable to investors.

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

• Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) Q1 profit edged past expectations despite lower sales of Humira.
• AMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR) posted a smaller-than-expected Q1 loss, sending shares sharply higher.
• Baxter International Inc. (NYSE: BAX) reported better-than-expected Q1 earnings, sending share higher.
• BP (NYSE: BP) and other oil companies were downgraded due to higher environmental costs.
• Charles Schwab Corp. (NASDAQ: SCHW) Q1 earnings declined but still topped analysts' expectations.
• Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) said Q1 earnings would be lower due to a weaker dollar and lower oil prices.

Analyst upgrades:

• JP Morgan upgraded J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) to Neutral from Underweight based on lower input costs, stabilization in home, lower markdown dollars, and valuation.
• Oppenheimer upgraded Novellus (NASDAQ: NVLS) to Perform from Underperform as it believes Novellus' market share has stabilized and that the company is a potential acquisition target. The firm raised its price target to $20 from $9.
• Bernstein upgraded ConAgra (NYSE: CAG) to Market Perform from Underperform citing strength in grains and moderating input costs.
• ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
• China Housing (NASDAQ: CHLN) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Roth Capital.

With the price of oil trading in the high $40's, most oil companies are cutting back on exploration expenses. But oil giant ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) is actually looking to boost its spending.

The company announced last week that it expects to see its capital spending rising over the next few years as it continues to search for new sources for oil.

After testifying before a Senate committee about AIG (NYSE: AIG) last week, the Fed's Ben Bernanke participates in a Council of Foreign Relations event Monday evening.

Economic data due to be released this week include wholesale trade and job vacancies for January on Tuesday morning, the U.S. Treasury budget for February on Wednesday, retail sales for February and business inventories for January on Thursday morning, and the U.S. trade balance for January on Friday morning.

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

• Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO) Q4 profit rose on higher prices, and its forecast matched expectations.
• Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) Q4 earnings grew on cost cutting but revenue remained flat.
• Black & Decker Corp. (NYSE: BDK) shares tanked after the dismal Q4 report, and it announced job cuts.
• Carpenter Technology Corp. (NYSE: CRS) Q2 numbers resulted in a downgrade from one analyst.
• ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) reported a Q4 loss due to writedowns from recent acquisitions.
• DuPont (NYSE: DD) swung to a bigger-than-expected Q4 loss and its revenue fell as well.
• Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE: LLY) swung to a Q4 loss on acquisition costs but reaffirmed its guidance.

Yesterday no fewer than 20 companies around the world announced 40,000 layoffs. As I posted, that's the flip side of the great inflation report that came out this week. And those 40,000 are among the first of 2.1 million U.S. jobs that are forecast to disappear in 2009 -- particularly if the $825 billion stimulus plan does not pass.

Here are some of yesterday's cuts from the U.S. companies:

• Circuit City Stores is liquidating and taking 30,000 jobs along for the ride
• Hertz Global Holdings Inc. (NYSE: HTZ) is eliminating 4,000 jobs worldwide due to a drop in travel demand.
• WellPoint (NYSE: WLP) the second-largest U.S. health insurer, will end 1,500 jobs, which include 600 workers and 900 open positions.
• Clear Channel (NYSE: CCO) -- the largest U.S. radio broadcaster -- will lay off 1,500 employees on January 20.

Wall Street's optimism in last week's preview about the earnings of tech stocks wasn't misplaced, as there were many more positive surprises than negative ones among the stocks we looked at. This week will bring plenty more data for investors in and watchers of the sector to mull over. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT), for example, are expected by analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial to post modest earnings gains from a year ago, to $1.11 per share (on $8.1 billion in sales), $0.72 per share (on $31.3 billion in sales), and $0.47 per share (on $14.8 billion in sales) respectively. All three of these companies ended the week closer to their 52-week lows than highs, and analysts on average consider them each a buy.

Here's a look at some of the week's biggest expected earnings gainers and decliners in the sector:

• Baidu.com Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU): $1.25 per share (+44.0%) on revenues of $134.7 million (+103.2%)
• Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM): $0.44 per share (+38.6%) on revenues of $1.3 billion (+33.8%)
• QLogic Corp. (NASDAQ: QLGC): $0.31 per share (+29.0%) on revenues of $170.0 million (+21.2%)
• FLIR Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: FLIR): $0.32 per share (+28.1%) on revenues of $275.2 million (+44.0%)
• Juniper Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: JNPR): $0.30 per share (+26.7%) on revenues of $927.4 million (+26.2%)
• Waters Corp. (NYSE: WAT): $0.75 per share (+17.3%) on revenues of $391.6 million (+11.1%)
• Flextronics International Ltd. (NASDAQ: FLEX): $0.29 per share (+17.2%) on revenues of $8.7 billion (+57.3%)
• EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC): $0.19 per share (+10.5%) on revenues of $3.7 billion (+12.9%)

This post is part of a series in which TheStockAdvisors.com asked financial experts to name their top stock pick if McCain or if Obama wins the election.

"If John McCain wins, there's a greater likelihood the reduced-dividend and capital gains tax rate will be extended; in that case, I would favor a tax-advantaged fund such as the Eaton Vance Tax-Advantaged Dividend Income Fund(NYSE: EVT)," says Carla Pasternak in High Yield Investing.

"Eaton Vance Tax-Advantaged Dividend Income Fund has a solid tax-advantaged yield of more than 11%, of which the entire 2007 amount qualified for the reduced dividend tax rate of up to 15%.

"EVT focuses on strong dividend-growers and undervalued stocks with room to move. About 80% of the fund's holdings are in common stocks, with the rest of the portfolio in high-yielding preferred shares.

"Top holdings include oil giants Chevron and ConocoPhillips, as well as utilities like Edison International and dividend stalwart Philip Morris.

"The fund does have large exposure to the financial sector, as it accounts for about 20% of the portfolio. Due to the turmoil in the sector, EVT has seen its share price sink amid the credit crisis.

"While we can't be sure of when the crisis in the financial industry will subside, we can be assured this fund will benefit once things turn around. Meanwhile, investors are able to lock in a juicy double-digit yield.

"Investors seeking international exposure will also do well with this fund. Less than half (45%) of the fund is invested in the U.S. The remainder is spread evenly across Europe's major economies, including Germany, the U.K. and Finland.

"With a solid record for dividend growth, and selling at a steep discount of about -20% to the value of its underlying portfolio assets (meaning investors can pick up a dollar's worth of assets for only 80 cents), EVT might be attractive no matter who assumes the presidency.

"However, due to its tax-advantaged nature, having a Republican in the White House who favors keeping the current reduced-dividend tax would be a direct benefit to EVT investors."

Steven Halpern's TheStockAdvisors.com offers a daily look at the latest market commentary and favorite stock picks and investment ideas from the nation's leading financial newsletter advisors.