Despite the stimulus package, despite $75 billion mortgage relief, and despite the markets holding in around the old key support levels from November, today was one of those days where you could have flipped a coin to give a verdict on how the day felt. The FOMC minutes were effectively a further economic warning and industrial production and capacity utilization were again a further disappointment. Ditto on weak housing.

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 7,555.63 +3.03 (0.04%)
S&P 500 788.41 -0.76 (-0.10%)
Nasdaq 1,467.97 -2.69 (-0.18%)

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) is scheduled to discuss fourth-quarter and full-year 2008 results tomorrow morning, January 23, in a conference call at 8:30 AM Eastern, hosted by Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt, Vice Chairman and CFO Keith Sherin, and Trevor Schauenberg, VP Investor Communications. Dial 1-800-299-7098 (in U.S only) to listen in to the call live; the passcode is 45397227. To dial in from elsewhere or to listen to the live webcast, see GE 4th Quarter & Total Year 2008 Earnings Call.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect GE to report that it earned $0.37 per share, 45.6% lower than in the same period a year ago. Revenue for the quarter is expected to come to $50.5 billion, which is 3.9% higher than a year ago. GE earnings have largely been in line with expectations in recent quarters.

For the full year, analysts expect a $1.79 per share profit (-18.6%) and revenue of $186.9 billion (+8.2%).

Analysts on average anticipate long-term EPS growth of 9.5% from GE. The share price fell to a multiyear low of $11.88 this week, and shares are about 62% lower than a year ago.

See BloggingStocks' GE coverage for more information about the Connecticut-based conglomerate.

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage.

Sony (NYSE:SNE) put in new management three years ago to reverse the decline of its businesses, especially its flagging video game operation. It brought in the first non-Japanese CEO, Howard Stringer.

With the PS3 launch there was some hope that Sony had found its way back to being the premier consumer electronics company in the world. The product sold poorly, some believe because it was priced too high. Sony's TV business also started to fall apart as the prices for video screens began a sharp drop.

Now, Sony will post the largest loss in its history and lay off a number of employees.According to Reuters, "Japan's Sony, maker of Bravia flat TVs, Cyber-shot digital cameras and PlayStation game machines, said it would post a bigger-than-expected $2.9 billion operating loss this business year due to sliding demand, a stronger yen and as it restructures its ailing electronics operations."

It may not be as simple as that. Sony has made the same decision that GE (NYSE:GE) has, which is to stay in a number of unrelated businesses. Sony runs a movie studio along with a camera business and a financial arm along with a TV operation. Its game consoles have little in common with any of these operations.

Investors are doing GE stock to multi-year lows. Its CEO, Jeff Immelt, may suffer from the same problem that Stringer does. He has wanted to hang on to too many businesses for too long. Getting senior management's time to focus on any one of them for an extending period is impossible.

Investor pressure could not get Sony and GE to sell units. The bite of the recession will.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) will miss its earnings forecast by 6%. GE now estimates that its third quarter profits will range between "43 cents to 48 cents a share, less than its previous forecast of 50 cents to 54 cents." GE cited "difficult conditions in the financial services markets" for its decision to stop its stock buyback program.

The good news -- if it can be compared -- is that this latest downward guidance would be less in percentage terms than its first quarter earnings miss of 14%. That was when GE reported 44 cents a share, compared with the 51 cents that analysts had expected. That unpleasant surprise spurred former CEO Jack Welch into a homicidal rage. With its stock trading 58% below its all time high of $58.50 back in September 2000 and down 41% from the $41 it traded at when Jeffrey Immelt took over as CEO, I am beginning to wonder how close GE is to going the way of Lehman Brothers.

The thing about GE is that it gets 40% of its pretax profit from financial services. But it also sells stuff like jet engines, power plants, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines and TV advertising. Unfortunately, many of these big-ticket items depend on healthy growth in infrastructure spending by countries like China, India and Middle Eastern oil producers.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) the "do-all" global company that makes everything from glue to aircraft engines to refrigerators, will be re-entering the consumer television market in 2009 through a joint venture with Taiwan's Tatung. GE will own 49% of the venture while Tatung will own 51%. The joint venture stated a goal of capturing 5% to 10% of the global $200 billion television sales market.

It appears GE doesn't just want to enter an already-crowded television marketplace where margins can be exceptionally thin and competition fierce, but foresees a huge opportunity that's not being fulfilled at the moment. And that is, televisions with an internet connection. Yes, there are some devices and some televisions that already have this capability, but they are by no means mainstream. Plop into any retailer and ask for a flat-panel LCD television with an internet connection and you'll witness some store associates getting rather perplexed very fast.

The new venture will be called General Displays and Technologies, LLC (GDT), and will focus on delivering internet content directly to the TV screen. Imagine your TV finding your wireless or wired home network and receiving your content using that instead of cable, satellite or even an antenna. We're not there yet, but this may be the biggest attempt yet to make it happen. The new televisions -- all of which will have a way to connect to the internet -- will be branded GE and will not be marketed to compete as loss leaders and entry-level pricing sellers. GE has bigger plans indeed. We'll be watching with anticipation in 2009.

The New York Times reports that General Electric Company's (NYSE: GE) NBC Universal invested $894 million to secure the broadcast rights for the Beijing Olympics and it expects to earn a $100 million profit. The Times also quotes CEO Jeff Immelt as saying that the benefits to GE are even greater -- including "$700 million worth of services it is providing for the Games and its long-term relationship with China, where it does more than $4 billion worth of business."

How did GE make a profit on its Olympics investment? The Times reports that it was lucky that no big protests or press censorship marred the games. And it negotiated with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to schedule popular competitions -- such as swimming and gymnastics -- to coincide with prime time slots and to including much more Internet and on mobile device events streaming.

The Games have attracted enormous audiences. According to the Times, "the Games have drawn an average audience of about 30 million a night on NBC itself, millions more on NBC's cable channels, 30 million unique visitors to NBC's Olympics Web site, 6.3 million shared videos from the coverage streamed on the site."

Business Week reports that John Rice, who will head General Electric Co.'s (NYSE: GE) new Technology Infrastructure unit and is a corporate Vice Chairman, is sounding very CEO-like in his description of GE's recent reorganization -- which I discussed here.

Rice offered a more cogent explanation of the reorganization than what I have read so far. The key points:

• Transparency - BusinessWeek quotes Rice as saying, "It's an easier way for investors to view us and understand what we do." I don't agree with him because it will make it more difficult for investors to compare current performance with previous years' results for at least a year. That's because it will be difficult to compare four units to the previous six.
• Common sales force - Rice also suggested that the reorganization will streamline the sales of some products. For example, the new GE Energy Infrastructure, which includes energy, oil and gas, makes products that are frequently sold together. This makes sense to me -- as long as GE trains and motivates its sales force to sell them together.

Bloomberg News reports that General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) has cut the number of its business units from six to four. This change in organization structure should trim its overhead. But it could make it more difficult for investors to compare GE's performance before the reorganization to how it's doing after the change in structure.

The key unresolved question is whether the new structure will boost GE's revenue and profit growth. Bloomberg reports that the four new units will be GE Technology Infrastructure, GE Energy Infrastructure, GE Capital and NBC Universal. GE formerly had six units -- Reuters reports that GE Health Care, which was one of the six former divisions, now falls under the new Technology Infrastructure unit. GE's $13 billion consumer and industrial businesses, which include washing machines and lighting, is not part of the new structure -- in 2009 GE wants to spin those businesses off to shareholders.

Bloomberg reports that in May, GE CEO Jeff Immelt said that he intends to change GE's product mix to about 60% non-financial by 2010 -- far more than it is today. In 2007, GE's finance-related businesses accounted for 44% of net income and 53% of profit from continuing operations. It is not clear whether the new organization structure will help revive GE's revenue and profit growth.

It is hard to imagine GE (NYSE: GE) ever replacing or cutting the power of its CEO, Jeff Immelt, but the press is mentioning these alternatives ahead of the company's Q2 earnings report. According to The New York Post, "Jeff Immelt, the embattled GE chief executive, has got six months to save his skin."

GE's Q1 earnings were below Wall Street estimates and the only segment of the company which did really well was its huge infrastructure division. Investors question whether the most recently quarter will be any better, especially with a slowing economy.

GE's stock is already down from a 52-week high of $42.15 to its current price of $26.91. Over the last year, the stock is down 30% compared to the Dow, which is off 17%.

GE still faces the problem that many of its shareholder think it is too big to manage and is in too many businesses. Added to that may be trouble growing overseas which the company is counting on to drive revenue. With the some economic problems spreading to the developing world that is hardly a lock.

If GE can't deliver when it announces its next set of numbers, the shares are likely to move closer to $20.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

As so often happens, someone who played an instrumental role in a company for a long time can't seem to let go. The latest example is former General Electric (NYSE: GE) chief Jack Welch. The AP reported: "On Wednesday, Welch, who retired in 2001, said he would be "shocked beyond belief" if Chief Executive Jeff Immelt again missed an earnings target. He said he would "get out a gun and shoot" Immelt if GE missed an earnings target.

Welch, 72, also said Immelt had "credibility issues," but vigorously defended "GE's business model."

Even though he paid lip service to not wanting to bud in, he did. By shooting off his mouth he undermined the current CEO. Could it be possible that Welch should share the blame in GE's struggles? After all, he is the one who built up this huge conglomerate, only to leave before things starting getting tough. We saw the same thing over at Citigroup (NYSE: C), where Sandy Weill created a one-stop shop financial services company that has been crumbling before our very eyes.

Instead of being critical, Welch should keep quiet and continue to promote his book. Leave being the CEO to Immelt.

Aaron Katsman is the lead Portfolio Manager and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. and Senior Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com. DISCLOSURE: Writer's fund has no position in any stock mentioned, as of 4/17/08.

Forbes reports that General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) ex-CEO Jack Welch is really angry with his successor Jeff Immelt. I don't know whether Welch still holds shares in GE but if he does, he can't be happy that they've fallen 20% since his hand-picked successor took over. But beyond the financial pain, Welch is suffering from a badly bruised ego -- that's because he prides himself on picking people. And he clearly blew it when he selected Immelt.

I saw Welch this morning sitting in the same spot I was in on GE's CNBC set last February during a stint on Squawk Box. And Welch had some choice words for Immelt. Forbes reports that Welch said "I'd be shocked beyond belief and I'd get a gun out and shoot him if he doesn't make what he promised now. Just deliver the earnings. Tell them you're going to grow 12 percent and deliver 12 percent."

I think the biggest problem for Welch is that it's become so obvious what a huge mistake he made in picking Immelt. As Welch said: "Here's the screw up: You made a promise that you'd deliver this and you missed three weeks later. Jeff has a credibility issue. He's getting his ass kicked. He apologized."

I've written about Immelt's mediocre performance since 2006. Maybe now that Jack Welch is chiming in, things will start to happen to boost GE's share price.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He owns GE shares.

General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) recently down $4.49 to $31.96:

GE reported Q1 earnings per share (EPS) of 44 cents versus consensus estimates of 51 cents. GE lowered 2008 EPS guidance to $2.20-$2.30. GE's Jeffery Immelt completed "Transformational" deals in 2003; paying $10 billion for Amersham and considerations valued at $5.5 billion for Vivendi.

GE call option volume of 410,894 contracts compared to put volume of 371,896 contracts. GE May option implied volatility of 33 was above a level of 27 from April 10 and its 26-week average of 25 according to Track Data, suggesting larger movement.

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

General Electric (NYSE: GE) was a darling of Wall Street for a couple of decades under the tutelage of legendary CEO Jack Welch. Mr. Welch retired in September 2001 turning the reins over to hand-picked successor Jeffrey Immelt. Give Immelt a break for the first 18 months as he had to guide the company through the 9-11 tragedy and of course the normal honeymoon period. Since that grace period expired in early 2003, GE has severely under performed the market and time has come for Mr. Immelt to hand the reigns over to someone else.

It is very difficult following a "legend" as Jack Welch. Many business schools model a course or two on management based on Welch's methods of letting an executive run a division creatively and freely--just return the expected numbers and all is well. Jack Welch "raised" Jeffrey Immelt in this style and picked him as the CEO to replace himself. The styles however were not transferable. Times and the global landscape have changed since Welch's departure.

There's a bold flag flying above the solar energy camp, and I like the dialog coming from at least one of the men raising that flag. T. J. Rodgers, CEO of Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (NYSE: CY), laid it on the line recently when he stated his opinion regarding CEOs like General Electric's (NYSE: GE) Jeff Immelt, Wal-Mart's (NYSE: WMT) Lee Scott, and Peter Darbee of PG&E. Rodgers was quoted by CNN Money as saying, "Every one of the names you just mentioned would flunk his ass in the most rudimentary test about global warming."

It's not necessarily that I agree with what Rodgers said, but any man who has stuck with a viable manufacturing concept for as long as Rodgers has stuck with the truth of solar electrical generation, and then has the gumption to call into question the motives of his peers in pursuing a similar path, gets a nod of respect from me. It's not about what he said, it's about why he said it.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) will be reporting earnings tomorrow morning at 8:30 a.m. EDT, and the company is set to have a handsome profit after the $11.6 billion sales of its plastics division. CEO Jeff Immelt has focused on selling slower-growth divisions in recent years to focus on faster growth areas like water processing technology, health care and eco-products ( products that help communities save energy).

The company's Q3 results are expected to include a $1.7 billion to $1.9 billion in collective charges, with a good 20% of that figure related to its exit from the mortgage business it operates under the WMC Mortgage Securities brand. Like every mortgage company with a subprime arm, GE's mortgage portfolio has lost money in recent times as consumers went belly-up with mortgage loan resets and foreclosures. The carnage rages on today and won't stop in 2008 according to many market watchers. There are many other financial transactions that will affect quarterly numbers as well. GE is a busy company these days, but that's to be expected with the enormous diversification it has globally.

Average analyst expectations call for an EPS of $0.50 on $42.42 billion in quarterly revenue. Specifically referenced as a major contributor to GE's expected results was the performance of its global infrastructure unit (everything from aircraft engines to steam turbines). Stay tuned to BloggingStocks in the morning, as I'll be covering GE's results in a liveblog right here.