None of these thoughts below is a recommendation to buy or sell anything in any way, shape or form but rather simply verbal thoughts on the earnings of big players so far...- read the disclaimer..

GE- not bad really: Financial services earnings - surprisingly up y-o-y; healthcare- positive; infrastructure -good; backlog (future revenues) is up all around; cash flow is up slightly. The only negative is really on the softer side- given the fact that this was a "meet the number or get fired" quarter for Immelt- I am a bit surprised GE did not beat the numbers by cutting some silly expenses, which could be an indication of a stretch...

JNJ- reported decent numbers but with two thirds of the increase driven by the weak currency, I wouldn't give them too much credit. One clear theme is emerging- healthcare is slowly becoming the only Safe/er? "Heaven" out there...

INTC- not bad really, growing, winning market share but I do think the third quarter will look worse as the big drop off in the emerging markets demand only began a month or so ago... Surprisingly stock did not really move much- tells you - there are many scared people out there who aren't willing to commit at this price...

KMB- bad news- inflation is starting to hit hard where it really hurts- profit margins- look for of the same from many more commoditized companies...

USB- surprised me on the upside- yes loan provisions went up but earnings still held up quite well. But US Bank is unique because of their processing sub- NOVA which is benefitting from the cash to electronic payments winds and thus I don't think one could use USB as a good indicator for other banks...

DNA- not bad really, but not that great either- the fact that stock rallied confirms that "smart" money is moving into "growth" healthcare/biotech sector...

STX/NVDA- terrible numbers- tells you profit margins are suffering all over the IT hardware sector...

WYNN- selling Vegas is quickly becoming a favorite bet of many investors out there. Macau is taking away the big gambling dollars- bad news for the once "hot" market...

ORCL/ADBE/INTU- to me the software sector earnings so far have not been too bad, so sell- off is a bit surprising. We'll see how GOOG does- right now it is priced as if the growth is poised to slow down big time...

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