WRAP-UP: As far as economics goes, we got just the basics, with no specific plans or rallying cries. Even so, you can be sure that more regulation and a more activist government is on the way. Interesting to see the market's reaction -- more regulation is always painful in the short run, but good for everyone in the long run. We'll see if traders see the wisdom of that idea...

FAVORITE QUOTE: "In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted - for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things - some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom."

12:18 - A stirring invocation of America the Builder - a nation of workers and creators who have their fate in their own hands. [This could be read as a rebuke to the more recent model of America the Consumer or America the Banker -- a nation that makes little more than paper and bubbles as it sits on the couch watching a wide screen TV made in China.]

12:16 - the market is powerful but if left alone can spin out of control... [Read: more regulation on the way.]

12:15 - Does our government work? is a more important question than Is our government too large or too small? ... [Read: a pretty clear rejection of right wing criticism of larger, more activist government.]

12:11 - The state of our economy calls for action - and we will act - create jobs and build infrastructure - improve healthcare, education, energy production...

12:08 - "gathering storms... we are in the midst of crisis ... our economy is badly weakened..."

12:07 - Obama speaking . . .

12:05 - Chief Justice Roberts is swearing in Obama. Interesting to note that a Harvard (Law) man is swearing in another Harvard (Law) man, to take over from yet another Harvard (Business) man.
It sounded like Roberts bungled the oath. Did he? Or was it Obama?

12:01: Apparently Obama is in now too - even without the swearing in, he's presdient as of 12:00 pm.

11:58 - Biden's in! So long Cheney. (The oil industry weeps . . . and Exxon-Mobil is down 13 cents.)

11:56 - CNN factoid: Obama is 5th youngest president.

11:44 - Obama steps out onto the podium, tremendous cheering.

11:30 - Obama is now walking to the podium. Will he announce a new plan? Does he have a new name for his proposed programs, similar to FDR's New Deal?

11:00 am - Bush and Obama are riding together to the inauguration. What are they talking about? Chit chat?

Here is a quick review of Blockbuster Inc's (NYSE: BBI) press release from this morning, while I wait for the conference call to begin.

Blockbuster reported a loss of 26 cents a share, much worse then a consensus estimate loss of 15 cents a share. Revenue, however, outperformed the consensus, $1.47B to $1.36B. The company also announced this morning that it sold its U.K. specialty games retailer Games Station Limited to The Game Group for about $150 million in cash, with the majority of the proceeds going to pay down outstanding debt.

Remember to "Refresh" your web browser to ensure you're seeing real time updates. All times below are EST.

9:50am: Logging into the conference call now, although these never start on time, let alone early. Here comes fifteen minutes of listening to elevator music...

10:00: As a point of interest, I just looked at Blockbuster's stock, and it is trading down 40 cents to $5.81. Still waiting for the call to begin.

10:05: An operator just chimed in to let us know that the call would begin shortly, and then put us back on hold. Tease.

10:08: And here we go. The director of investor relations, Ms. Torres, is reading the standard legal mumbo-jumbo.

10:09: Larry Zine, CFO, gets handed off the call. He said increasing the subscriber growth is the key to the company's economic model. He is now going over the results -- $1.47B in revenue, rental revenues of $1.05B. Blockbuster Total Access offset slowing in-store rentals. The company met its aggressive online growth objective -- adding 800,000 online subs.

10:13: Zine continued, saying the rental industry remained under pressure, putting pressure on rental gross margin. Operating loss was 26 cents per share. The company announced the sale of Game Station, with a large amount of proceeds (about $150 million) going to pay off debt and strengthen the balance sheet. Reduced debt by $500 million since November 2005.

10:16: Zine summarized, saying they are taking the right steps to strengthen the company.

10:17: CEO John Antiocco got the mic. He said the company had 60% of the subscriber growth in the online space. Grew subscriber base by 35%. Nearly doubled online base in five months to 3 million. The company seems real focused on Total Access and the online market.

Grab a big mug of your favorite hot beverage and a stack of napkins - it's time for Krispy Kreme Doughnuts (NYSE: KKD) to report its earnings for the fourth quarter. I'll try to keep this short and snappy, lest your eyes glaze over (groan...). Be sure to "refresh" your browser frequently so you don't miss any updates.

According to the company's official press release, revenue during the reporting period dropped 8.2% to $112.2 million, compared to $122.2 million in the year-ago period. Company-store sales dropped 11.2% to $79.2 million, while franchise operations saw revenue grow 34.0% to $5.8 million.

The company posted a net loss of $24.4 million for the fourth quarter, totaling 39 cents per share, narrower than the year-ago net loss of $37.7 million, or 61 cents per share. The latest figures include a $16.0 million charge related to the settlement of various litigation. The latest results also include impairment charges and lease termination costs totaling $5.96 million, down from various year-ago charges that added up to $25.3 million.

Analysts were expecting per-share earnings (excluding items) of a penny per share.

Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) investors have something to cheer about today: the company announced first quarter, fiscal 2007 results that were exactly what analysts hoped they'd be. 26 cents a share, or $205 million, up 18% from the year-earlier quarter, on revenues of $2.4 billion, up 22% from the year prior.

In about 10 minutes, the analyst earnings call will begin. I'll be live blogging the call.

2:02 p.m. (All times Pacific.) The call has begun. Disclaimers... and the call is turned over to Jim Donald, CEO. As I mentioned, comparable store sales increased 6%; he breaks it down to 4% from number of transactions, 2% from value of transaction (connected to the increase in prices perhaps?).

2:02 p.m. The company opened 728 stores (awed voice) over two stores a day. The company is focused on balanced growth, and targeted investments. "Our food program this quarter was a significant contributor to our revenues... we have remained focused on expanding our lunch program..." 69% of company-operated U.S. retail stores now have lunches. Adds approximately $300,000 in average annual revenues to one store (big!). 1200 stores now offer warm breakfast items; aggressive plans to roll out warming platform over next couple of years. The warm sandwiches add (I think I heard this right) $135,000 in average annual revenue to one store. Both warm breakfast sandwiches and lunch programs are planned to be in all company-owned U.S. stores in a few years.

2:06 p.m. Raves over the Starbucks Card -- helps promote customer loyalty, it's huge, a great gift. I must admit I just bought my sister-in-law a Starbucks Card for her birthday...

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) first quarter earnings were strong, with revenue of $10.8 billion and net income of $3.48 billion. Everyone is looking forward, and investors don't know quite what to think: at first blush of the earnings release, the stock was down a few cents, and now has recovered in after hours trading to $28.52, up 17 cents from the market close.

Colleen Healy and Chris Liddell have just gotten on the conference call for the usual disclaimers.

2:38 p.m. [all times Pacific]: all results have come in at or above the high end of guidance, says Chris proudly. If you've never heard his voice, it's worth it: he sounds like a proud and very financially-savvy butler. He points out that the company is averaging one acquisition a month -- I don't know if I've even noticed. I'll have to pay more attention.

2:42 p.m. Colleen is giving details on first quarter performance, briefly, "in order to allow more time for your questions." It's all about the questions... She says the company made significant development on "all the products in the pipeline" and points out how the company's 11% revenue growth was driven by well-received new product launches, especially in the previously mentioned Entertainment and Devices division a.k.a. the Xbox 360.

2:45 p.m. Strong performance in the small and medium business divisions. Non-annuity growth was relatively week due to the anticipation (apprehension) of new Vista and SQL server software.

Today is eBay's Analyst Day, and we're watching the webcast to glean any important bits of info for you. Stay tuned for more throughout the afternoon.

Why did eBay take a stake in craigslist, the everyman's online classifieds? It made sense to me immediately, although I don't think I could put it in dollars and cents: for me and my friends, craigslist is IT (and, it turns out, we didn't find this particular IT on eBay). I got my job, my friends, my gossip, my double stroller, and someone to pick up my beat-up dryer on craigslist. It's how we all connected locally - and it's not nearly so efficient to buy or sell a large but relatively low-value item (hello appliances & baby goods) on eBay.

Meg answers an analyst question about craigslist by saying this: "We say - increasing returns on a city-by-city basis with craigslist. It's the theory that the buyers go where the sellers are, and the sellers go where the buyers are; we see it as, where classifieds get to a critical mass." Translated to say: newspaper classifieds are so over but it wasn't eBay which demolished them: it was craigslist. My question is, how do you monetize that? I suppose time will tell. I'd hate to see craigslist start charging for listing garage sale announcements and, yep, those beat-up old washers and dryers. Meg says that eBay will allow craigslist to remain autonomous (and, one would hope, still free but for job listings). We shall see.

[Disclaimer: I own a few shares of eBay, and next time I have cash to invest, I think I'm buying some more.]

Today is eBay's Analyst Day, and we're watching the webcast to glean any important bits of info for you. Stay tuned for more throughout the afternoon.

Skypecasts and Skype Me! are the names of the game: the answer to "how will eBay integrate Skype with PayPal and auctions?"

Everyone wants to hear more from our favorite CEO, Meg Whitman, and she has taken back the stage after lunch. She discusses the integration between Skype and eBay, raves about Skypecasts, and tells the gathered analysts: eBay transactions that allow potential buyers to "Skype Me" sell for twice the sales price of the transactions, that don't. Her keynote address is that "eBay provides your online reputation, PayPal provides your wallet, and Skype provides your online presence." She makes the argument that you will soon be able to take all of these aspects of your "self" with you wherever you go; "the internet will no longer be just a destination, but the fully integrated and ever present part of your lives."

[Tim Beyers from Motley Fool agrees with Meg: in his opinion, Skypecasts are a fantastic justification for Skype's $2.6 billion purchase price.]

Today is eBay's Analyst Day, and we're watching the webcast to glean any important bits of info for you. Stay tuned for more throughout the afternoon.

According to Skype President Rajiv Dutta, over 7% of worldwide long distance minutes are over Skype. That's truly incredible. Skype is such a young company, too, and far more penetrated in Northern Europe than anywhere else (it was founded in Great Britain). The possibility for growth seems fairly huge. Will it justify the $2.6 billion acquisition cost? More on that, later, as we talk integration. What it will do is give some hope to the people who wonder at the eye-popping richness of a 50x P/E ratio.

I want to just focus on the numbers but Skype is about "conversations," as the execs are telling us, so I'll describe the entirely adorable presentation introduction, in which a middle-aged man somewhere in England talks to his mom over Skype. She's still in her bathrobe. Oh. My. God. I fall over from the cuteness and spend several minutes under my desk.

[Disclaimer: I own a few shares of eBay, and I am responsible for some tiny fraction of those long distance minutes talked on Skype.]

Today is eBay's Analyst Day, and we're watching the webcast to glean any important bits of info for you. Stay tuned for more throughout the afternoon.

"I'll pay you back next time." How many times have you heard that? PayPal wants to change all that by allowing person-to-person payments via your mobile phone. If you are a PayPal executive and you're buying a case of wine in Napa Valley, no need to tote a bunch of cash -- just let your friend pick up the case on his credit card and you can PayPal him back a couple of bills in the parking lot (before putting the half-case in the trunk of your Mercedes sedan, of course). I'm psyched, because next time I go to the Goodwill outlet, and my friend Larissa and I go diving for funky thrift items to re-sell on eBay, we can combine our loot (it's less per pound the more you buy) and I can pay her back instantaneously. Or how 'bout this: garage sales! It's brilliant. If I could use my PayPal account at garage sales, I'd buy so much more.

This is working now, and a new feature that was just released: text-to-pay. There's a demonstration of how it works; the presenter buys a Walk The Line DVD from his phone with his PayPal account (a UPS deliveryman brings it immediately -- yeah, you're cute, eBay). It's great, but you could already buy that DVD with your cell phone (yeah, you had to call the 800 number and tell them your credit card number, etc. - but still. Not changing the world). You can't use your credit card at a garage sale. Your buddy doesn't have a credit card acceptor when you split the check. That's where PayPal makes a difference, in my opinion.

[Disclaimer: I own a few shares of eBay, and I've been known to sell things on eBay, purchased at the Goodwill outlet, for a profit.]

Today is eBay's Analyst Day, and we're watching the webcast to glean any important bits of info for you. Stay tuned for more throughout the afternoon.

eBay is really three brands now: eBay, Skype and PayPal. The PayPal team is on now, and after an introduction by a hugely pregnant woman whose presentation was excellent (but I was in such admiration of her belly that I had a hard time focusing), we got some numbers. This one was interesting to me: $3 billion has been withdrawn using PayPal debit cards.

I have a PayPal debit card, and I can't tell you how nice it was to be able to use funds from eBay sales instantaneously (to buy coffee at Starbucks, naturally). This figure really illustrates how widely the PayPal service has penetrated the interperson payment marketplace.

[Disclaimer: I own a few shares of eBay, and have been known to buy groceries, lattes and glasses of yummy red wine with my PayPal debit card.]

0:00 I'm listening to the call just after the market open, so I'll report it to you in time elapsed on the call. Everyone's buzzing about Time Warner's much-higher-than-expected earnings, which have still disappointed investors (the stock was down 31 cents to $17.11 at last check). Revenues were just a touch up from the year-ago quarter, to $10.5 billion, and operating income was up 11% to $1.9 billion. The company is churning cash, too, with $1.6 billion in free cash flow.

The big story, of course, is that AOL revenue and income are both down from a year ago. Publishing is down in both areas, too, but no one seems to be mentioning that. If you're looking for good news, there's a lot of it: cable income is up significantly and both "Filmed Entertainment" and "Network" categories show some strong growth in income.

0:25 James Barge, SVP of Investor Relations, takes the mic. He explains the company's odd and non-GAAP measures, including (quite a mouthful) adjusted OIBDA (operating income before depreciation and amortization). It excludes some items, like "non-cash asset impairments" and amounts from sales of business lines. It seems like a sensible financial measure but it's hilarious to hear someone say it. [This from a girl whose friends, it must be admitted, tell accounting jokes to one another. Did you hear the one about EBCOSITDA? Oh, never mind.]

5:27 p.m. While I'm waiting on hold for the Microsoft earnings call to begin, I keep checking the stock price in after-hours tradiing. It's at $25.64 right now, down over 5% from the close and edging ever closer to a 52-week low. I'm just starting to review their third-quarter 10-Q and I'll include comments as I listen in.

5:32 p.m. We're still on hold (guess all the reporters didn't call in at least 10 minutes ahead of time, as requested) and I'm noticing that cost of sales was way up - 66% 49% higher - from 3rd quarter 2005 to 3rd quarter 2006. G&A is down about half this much. What happened with that $665 million?

5:35 p.m. After a very scripted introduction (sounded like it was recorded by a computer and not a person), we hear that Microsoft "choose the right places to focus" with their SQL server sales, for instance, and is "ramping up the supply of Xbox 360 consoles."

5:38 p.m. Expect an increasing set of opportunities and challenges with regards to product launches like Xbox 360 consoles, and home entertainment sales are up 85%.

5:46 p.m. Continue to see a shift in "premium edition" OEM sales of MS software. They can't say enough about SQL servers. She puts extra emphasis on every adjective when she talks SQL.

5:47 p.m. Pleased with the great response that Office Live has received.

5:49 p.m. MSN revenue down - but advertising revenue up slightly, especially in instant messaging properties. "Made good progress" in transitioning search advertising from the Yahoo! platform to proprietary ad platform - and lower-than-expected performance from partner-driven ad search volume. Doesn't look like it's working as planned although they say that they're sure it was the right decision. Hmm.