MetLife (NYSE: MET) closed at $29.41. MET is speaking at the Wachovia Securities 19th Annual Mid-Year Equity Conference on June 23. MET July option implied volatility of 70 is below a level of 82 from mid-May and below its 26-week average of 92, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

Prudential Financial (NYSE: PRU) closed at $36.15. PRU July option implied volatility of 61 is below a level of 93 from mid-may and below its 26-week average of 111, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

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

• Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) reported better-than-expected Q1 earnings as revenues surged in the quarter.
• Burger King Holdings Inc. (NYSE: BKC) just beat Q3 expectations despite weak same-store sales growth.
• Corn Products International Inc. (NYSE: CPO) Q1 results were dragged down by higher corn costs.
• Dow Chemical Co. (NYSE: DOW) Q1 earnings sank on falling sales, job cuts and acquisition costs.
• Eastman Kodak Co. (NYSE: EK) reported a deeper-than-expected Q1 loss and suspended its dividend.
• Energizer Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ENR) posted better-than-expected Q2 earnings but revenue declined.

MetLife (NYSE: MET - option chain) stock is falling today after the company announced a first-quarter loss of $574 million, or 71 cents per share. Excluding one-time items, MET earned 20 cents per share during the quarter, missing analysts' estimates of 34 cents per share. The company was hurt during the quarter by a loss on investments of $618 million and a 24 percent declined in quarterly investment income. If you think this stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on MET.

This morning, OSK opened at $28.81. So far today the stock has hit a low of $27.08 and a high of $28.94. As of 11:55, MET is trading at $27.67, down $2.08 (-7.0%). The chart for MET looks bullish and S&P gives MET a positive 4 STARS (out of 5) buy ranking.

If you've been watching earnings this past week, or if you read last week's Week in Preview, then this coming week may leave you feeling a bit like Bill Murray in Groundhog's Day. That is, again analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect earnings declines to be more frequent and deeper than earnings gains.

Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT), Dow Chemical Co. (NYSE: DOW), Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: APC), IAC Interactivecorp (NASDAQ: IACI), Moody's Corp. (NYSE: MCO), Elizabeth Arden Inc. (NASDAQ: RDEN), Devon Energy Corp. (NYSE: DVN), Diebold Inc. (NYSE: DBD), Tyco International Ltd. (NYSE: TYC), United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS), Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. (NYSE: RL), ITT Corp. (NYSE: ITT), and Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) are scheduled to report quarterly results this week, and they're all expected to report double-digit declines in earnings.

But again this week, let's take a look who Wall Street feels may have done well in the past quarter.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says stocks are likely to decline, but don't expect them to fall hard and fast.

So, five days ago we are talking about breaking back to above Dow 10,000 with ease. Now is there anyone out there who doesn't think that we will soon be retesting the mid-7000s? SPX 750, here we come?

What the heck happened in a week? Where did all of that optimism go? We haven't had that many preannouncements yet. We haven't had all of the retail failures we expected, and we didn't even get a spike up in the bad commodities -- like gasoline -- that had any last to it.

Of course, the most likely scenario about what happened is that we figured with all of the crises solved, the major banks no longer an issue, we would then be propelled higher. We also didn't have the reckless short-selling that had so characterized this market.

General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) and Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) soared about 19% each in Frankfurt as Congress is getting closer to approve a bailout for the Big 3 automakers. The White House and Democratic congressional leaders are narrowing their differences and could agree on a deal and bring to a vote soon. Both shares are trading 21% and 18% higher respectively in premarket (8:12 am). By midday, both automakers' stocks were up about 14%.

Other gainers in Frankfurt include oil and gas producers, commodity stocks and financials: Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) jumped 10%, Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) shares rose 11% and Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) gained about 5%. In premarket, AA shares are 6.4%, 5% and 2.4% higher (8:15 am). Commodities, industrials, financial and oil & gas stocks continued to gain well throughout the session with Alcoa up 14% by midday and BAC up 11%. XOM was only up 2.5% thought.

Tribune Co. may file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as soon as this week, according to sources of The Wall Street Journal, as the newspaper industry worsens.

Hartford Financial (NYSE: HIG) shares are continuing their massive upward trend from Friday after the insurer raised its full-year operating profit forecast and said the capital outlook at its insurance units was strong. Shares are up 13.4% in premarket trading. HIG stock had simiilar gains by midday trading.

After shareholders had approved on Friday Bank of America's takeover of Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER), Merrill's CEO John Thain has suggested to directors that he get a 2008 bonus of as much as $10 million. According to WSJ sources, the company's compensation committee is resisting his request.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says the action in some of the banks and insurers is sickening.

They've gotten to the fortress banks. They have crushed everything financial because the word is out: No more bonuses and no more dividends if you take federal money under President Obama.

I don't know if it is true. But I sense from the action since the election that something big and bad is happening to the banks and the insurers. It looks like there is a quid pro quo developing and that quid pro quo is that if you want to get help from the government you are not going to get a bonus and you have to hurt your shareholders.

What else can the takeaway be for the way Citigroup (NYSE: C) (Cramer's Take) and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) (Cramer's Take) are acting? What else is there driving Prudential (NYSE: PRU) (Cramer's Take) and MetLife (NYSE: MET) (Cramer's Take)? These are big firms! Great firms!

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says tons of stocks look like good buys, and they go down all the time.

All weekend I heard it. Stocks have gotten too cheap. Put 'em away cheap. Don't worry about 'em cheap. To which I say, stocks are only cheap if the companies make it. Stocks are only cheap if the bondholders don't claim them.

Every day I see cheap stocks. Ford (NYSE: F) (Cramer's Take) reported this morning. Ridiculously cheap. How cheap is Sprint (NYSE: S) (Cramer's Take), for heaven's sake? Did you see the Sunrise Senior Living (NYSE: SRZ) (Cramer's Take) numbers? That stock should show up when you enter "cheap stock" in Google. Except Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS) (Cramer's Take) comes up.

When Warren Buffett says stocks are cheap, or Jeremy Grantham or Steve Leuthold or Jeremy Siegel, it's very heartening. You just want to go out there and buy cheap stocks like CBS (NYSE: CBS) (Cramer's Take) and Williams-Sonoma (NYSE: WSM) (Cramer's Take) and Ann Taylor (NYSE: ANN) (Cramer's Take) and Talbots (NYSE: TLB) (Cramer's Take).

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says this trade has worked all week, but it's a shaky play on the fundamentals.

It's a stubborn market. We sit here and marvel that Barclays (NYSE: BCS) (Cramer's Take) or Mitsubishi (NYSE: MTU) (Cramer's Take) need to raise money when three weeks ago we thought they were going to inherit the earth because they didn't lose money. We liked them because we stubbornly believed they were better.

We thought that Prudential (NYSE: PRU) (Cramer's Take) was The Rock; now it is The Rock like the guy who makes a lot of movies -- not all of them good. Lincoln National (NYSE: LNC) (Cramer's Take) was perceived to be much higher quality than MetLife (NYSE: MET) (Cramer's Take), but that's wrong. The idea that the Hartford (NYSE: HIG) (Cramer's Take) would be in trouble, as it has always been not in trouble, is amazing to us.

We stubbornly cling to the ones that we thought were good until we hear that they need a bailout. Then we turn on them like they were never good or like they are going to go bankrupt.

U.S. stock futures declined Wednesday morning but then turned positive seesawed Wednesday morning, a day after one of the biggest day of gains on Wall Street that saw the Dow industrials end up 889 points and close above 9,000 again, as investors awaited the Federal Reserve decision on interest rates to be announced at 2:15 pm. Most are expecting the Fed to cut rates by at least half a point to 1%. Meanwhile, oil rebounded from a 17-month low to above $64 per barrel ahead of the weekly inventory report due out later today. Also, September durable goods orders will be released ahead of the opening bell.

Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT) reported adjusted earnings of 44 cents per share, inline with estimates. Kraft also raised expectations for 2008 earnings.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) reported a 9% rise in both earnings and revenue, beating analyst estimates on both counts. P&G kept the same outlook.

Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE) reported that quarterly profit plunged 72% due to a surging yen that wiped out profits from flat-panel TV and PlayStation 3 sales and revenue from the movie Hancock. This shouldn't have come as a surprise as last year the company slashed full year outlook.

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

• Advance Auto Parts Inc. (NYSE: AAP) lowered its Q3 earnings forecast below analysts' estimates.
• Advanced Medical Optics Inc. (NYSE: EYE) lowered guidance led to an analyst's downgrade.
• Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) fell well short of Q3 estimates on lower demand and falling prices.
• Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) Q3 profits fell more than estimated, and it cut its dividend.
• Brunswick Corp. (NYSE: BC) forecast a full-year loss and accelerated layoffs.
• Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST) Q4 earnings just missed estimates thought revenues were up.
• Dollar Tree Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR) earnings results and growth prospects impressed one analyst.
• eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) earnings may be diluted by its acquisition of Bill Me Later.
• Ecolab Inc. (NYSE: ECL) earnings prospects led to an analyst's downgrade.
• General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) results were in line with low expectations, and dividends will be sustained.
• General Mills Inc. (NYSE: GIS) earnings prospects for 2009 impress Jim Cramer.
• Host Hotels & Resorts Inc. (NYSE: HST) Q3 earnings tumbled while revenue slipped.
• IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM) surprised Wall Street by offering strong Q3 preliminary results.

No doubt, this week has made it more and more difficult to say anyone should buy stocks at the moment. Even in good, solid, dividend-paying companies. Many analysts and pundits have recommended investors to sell and stay away from the stock market for a while as they don't see a bottom yet, only more declines.

Others believe the bottom is near and investors shouldn't try to time it to buy good value stocks. But it seems they are fewer. It has also become a little more difficult to find stocks our bloggers call a Buy. Still there are a few:

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) -- while AMD stock did not hold up very well recently, a positive development may encourage buyers as this week spun off its manufacturing business.

Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) -- Apple fans have seen the stock getting pounded the past week, but today it was one of the big winners, jumping 9%. Sheldon Liber notes that "it has not traded at a P/E below it's projected growth rate in years..." Apple is also expected to announce new laptops next week, including a low-priced model to better position itself among competitors.

Costco (NASDAQ: COST) -- Costco reported decent same-store sales this week, and Steven Malls thinks that "Longer-term, Costco will do well."

Analyst upgrades:

• William Blair upgraded Parexel (NASDAQ: PRXL) to Outperform from Market Perform on increased conviction in the company's earnings growth outlook following channel checks.
  
• Friedman Billings upgraded UDR Inc (NYSE: UDR) to Outperform from Market Perform and raised its target to $22 from $26 citing the company's approximate 8% implied cap rate on is vastly improved apartment portfolio.
  
• Citigroup upgraded Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) to Hold from Sell on valuation as they believe weak fundamentals are now priced into the stock.
• Goldman upgraded Portland General Electric (NYSE: POR) to Buy from Neutral and added shares to the Conviction Buy List.
  
• StellarOne (NASDAQ: STEL) and Union Bankshares (NASDAQ: UBSH) were upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Baird.
  
• Bernstein upgraded DISH Network (NASDAQ: DISH) to Market Perform from Underperform.

Analyst downgrades:

• Deutsche Bank downgraded Align Tech (NASDAQ: ALGN) to Hold from Buy as they believe macroeconomic pressures will limit the company's ability to reach longer term growth expectations. Align's target was lowered to $8 from $14.
  
• Jefferies downgraded shares of Advanced Medical (NYSE: EYE) to Underperform from Buy and lowered its target to $9 from $28 following the company's lowered guidance as they believe macroeconomic pressures affecting LASIK volumes and the unanticipated slowdown in lens care should put continued pressure on the stock.
  
• ThinkPanmure expects the macro slowdown and credit crunch to slow Intel's (NASDAQ: INTC) growth and IT capex spending. The firm downgraded shares to Sell from Buy, lowered its 2009 EPS estimate to $1.01 from $1.35, vs. consensus of $1.46, and cut Intel's target to $12 from $24.
• MGM Mirage (NYSE: MGM) was lowered to Neutral from Positive at Susquehanna.
  
• Charles River Labs (NYSE: CRL) was downgraded at William Blair to Market Perform from Outperform.
  
• Deutsche Bank cut Heinz (NYSE: HNZ) and MasterCard (NYSE: MA) to Hold from Buy.

Analyst initiations:

• Old Second Bancorp (NASDAQ: OSBC) was initiated with a Market Perform rating and $17 target at Keefe Bruyette. The firm believes the company's exposure to strong markets should generate above-average returns.
  
• Susquehanna assumed Affiliated Computer (NYSE: ACS) with a Positive rating and $55 target and is positive on the company's low levels of customer concentration and high levels of geographic diversification.
  
• Cowen resumed coverage of AnnTaylor (NYSE: ANN) with a Neutral rating, citing the company's share loss to competitors and top-line weakness..
• MetLife (NYSE: MET) was assumed with an Overweight rating at Morgan Stanley.
  
• JMP Securities initiated HFF Inc (NYSE: HF) with a Market Perform rating.
  
• Genpact (NYSE: G) was initiated at Susquehanna with a Neutral rating.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says the safety theme will come back if only because these companies' earnings will be good in six months.

Editor's note: Jim Cramer will present his 2009 stock outlook for the first time at TheStreet.com Investment Conference on Saturday, Oct. 25. Click for details.

Now they come after the Procter & Gambles (NYSE: PG) (Cramer's Take) and the General Mills (NYSE: GIS) (Cramer's Take) and the like, betting that the action will be better in the cyclicals with all of this money being printed worldwide.

Commodities are also coming back because of reflation. And we have to feel that many of the infra and ag names are finally sold out by the hedge fund redemptions.

Here I am speaking of a Freeport McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) (Cramer's Take), with its good yield and a belief that the hedge funds are at last done.

I don't buy it. I like a balanced portfolio, but I want to buy the GIS/PG all the way down because we are going into a recession, not going out of one. These companies pay dividends, raise dividends and have great commodity tailwinds.

Colgate's (NYSE: CL) (Cramer's Take) down a lot too, and I am liking that one.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says that as in '87, nothing seems to work, whether it's the rate cut or positive technical readings.

This market is so much like 1987, it freaks me out. In that market, in the week leading up to the crash and the crash week itself, you would enter an order to buy a stock when it was up 2, get the report that you bought it up 3, and then it would be down 2. That's exactly what happened with Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) (Cramer's Take) today. Exactly.

In that market you felt ripped off like you wouldn't believe. Every day. You would try to buy when the market sold off and never get the low or even lower prices, and you would feel like you could do nothing right.

It ground you up and spit you out. In that market you would get good news, and it would last long enough to draw you in, and then it would spit you out -- like Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) (Cramer's Take).

Now, I have to admit that I thought the market would finish up today. I figured it almost had to, because in the end it is still a big deal that we got a coordinated cut, even if it wasn't bigger.

Didn't matter.

I also figured that with credit markets actually beginning to thaw -- and I am talking about what Tony Crescenzi talks about -- we could catch a break. And the trade where hedge funds hedge their individual stock names with and S&P future shorts, the one Doug outlined, should have been good for more of a squeeze than we got. That seemed like a reasonable reason to go up, not to mention the minus 10 reading on the oscillator and only 25% bulls.

You didn't get those kinds of readings very often in the last 20 years and not bounce.