Consumer Confidence for October

The latest Michigan Consumer Confidence numbers came out a few minutes ago for the month of October and the number was 69.4 compared to 73.5 in September. This is not in the right direction, is it? With more and more people unemployed and not able to find work, these numbers are not expected to get much better for a long time. But that's not the stock market as it seems to go up no matter what is happening to people. It's all about earnings!

Company earnings were reported yesterday for Google and IBM, as well as GE. Google beat all expectations so the clicking of ads seems to be continuing and thriving. But IBM disappointed analysts because their Service side of the business appears weak even, though the hardware side is good. GE disappointed as well, as many who are making their earnings numbers are not doing it by growing revenue but rather by managing costs. That is disappointing. Speaking of disappointing Bank of America reported and they lost 1 Billion for the quarter. Ken Lewis is now gone and the Gov't pay Czar said he shouldn't take his salary nor bonus as BAC didn't do at all well even with Gov't help. I agree!