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In terms of volatile trading, it would be hard to match the last week. The markets opened today facing huge lay-offs at tech firm Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA) and with Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK) saying consumer buying was so broken that cellphone sales, which have grown worldwide for years, will drop in 2009.

When the opening bell rang at 9.30, it looked like the world had gone to hell. For reasons that no one can explain, trading settled down and the markets closed down modestly (by current standards):

Dow: 8,497.31 -337.94 (-3.82%)
S&P: 500 873.29 -38.00 (-4.17%)
Nasdaq: 1,516.85 -79.85 (-5.00%)

Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) moved down nearly 4%, probably based on the Nokia news. Since both PC and handset sales are weak, Apple has some real exposure.

On a tiny bit of hope that Congress still might send them a check this year, Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) and General Motors Corporation (NYSE: GM) were flat to slightly up.

Research from the music video game industry showed slow sales and Electronic Arts, Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) and Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) took big tumbles.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 24/7 Wall St.

Maybe the government should start subsidizing the anti-depressant industry. That's the only way investors are going to be able to cope with the drumbeat of depressing economic news such as consumer confidence hitting near a 28-year low.

According to Bloomberg News, The Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index of consumer sentiment unexpectedly rose to 57.9, from 57.6 in October. In 2007, the index averaged 85.6. I was able to tell things were bad this summer by the huge number of garage sales that I saw in my area. A few people placed their living room furniture for sale on their front lawns. It was among the saddest things I have ever seen.

Consumers have good reason to feel uneasy. Companies such as Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA) are laying off thousands of workers. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson abruptly changed his mind yesterday about how to prop-up the ailing banking sector and still wants to keep details of the deals that have been cut secret. My colleague Peter Cohan persuasively argued that President-elect Barack Obama should scrap the Paulson plan when he takes office in January.

On Thursday, government statistics announced that 516,000 Americans filed for unemployment in the first week of November. Today, 16,000 more workers from two companies joined what is likely to be a daily list that strikes fear into the hearts of people across the country. And why not? After eight years of declining inflation-adjusted wages, their reward for hanging on is a heightened risk of losing those jobs altogether and competing with more people for fewer jobs in a receding economy.

The two companies announcing big layoffs: a big bank and a leading tech company that sells to banks. According to reports, Citigroup (NYSE: C) may lay off 10,000 employees -- adding to the 23,000 it has already cut in the last year. Sun Microsystems (NYSE: JAVA) announced it will can 6,000 people -- 18% of its work force --- citing the need to "align its cost model with the global economic climate."

Is this the bottom? I seriously doubt it. The unemployment rate could get up to 8.5%, and maybe as high as its post-Depression high of 10.7%, up from its current 6.5%. At least that's what Nobel Prize winning economist and New York Times op-editorialist Paul Krugman expects. Needless to say, in an economy which depends on consumers for 70% of its growth, this is not good news since it divides the country into two categories -- those who lose their jobs and those who fear losing them.

And both groups are likely to spend less.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College. His eighth book, You Can't Order Change: Lessons From Jim McNerney's Turnaround at Boeing, will be published by Portfolio on December 26, 2008. He owns Citi shares and has no financial interest in Sun securities.

Best Business Schools of 2008
BusinessWeek's 11th biennial ranking of the top B-schools shows a lot of changes and a lot of surprises this year. University of Chicago retains its top spot from 2006 with ambitious students, academic rigor, and a top-notch faculty. Rounding out the top five are Harvard Business School, Northwestern's Kellogg, University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business and University of Michigan's Ross School. Columbia Business School saw the biggest improvement as it rises to # 7.
http://images.businessweek.com/ss/08/11/1112_best_business_schools/1.htm
Table: Full Rankings

Thanksgiving Food Cost Cuts
In the midst of the worst holiday economy in decades, foodmakers and grocers find themselves offering special deals at a time of year when they're more accustomed to doing the turkey trot for profits. Butterball is watching for turkey poaching by cheaper private labels. Ocean Spray is rolling back cranberry sauce prices. Giant Food, in some states, is giving away free turkeys to its best customers. One thing's for sure: Many folks will find ways to trim costs. Check out these Turkey Day maneuvers.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2008-11-13-thanksgiving-cost-cutting_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) cuts its revenue forecast for the fourth quarter by nearly $1 billion. That is a remarkable number given that the quarter is not even half over. It is also 10% of Intel's projected revenue for the period. In other words, it is a catastrophe. The world's largest chip company said it now expects fourth-quarter revenue to be $9 billion, plus or minus $300 million, lower than its previous prediction of between $10.1 billion and $10.9 billion..

Stating the obvious, the news is bad for PC companies like Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) and server companies like Sun (NYSE: JAVA) which use Intel chips in most of their products. It is also bad for retailers who hope to sell lots of PCs for the holiday.

But, it also points to something more profound. It has been assumed for some time that the US consumer would pull back spending. Corporate IT spending has been another matter. There has been some hope that enterprise investments in technology would not slow a great deal because hardware and software need regular upgrades to remain efficient. In other words, corporations save money by having better computing which should improve productivity. IT is an investment worth making.

It appears that the corporate upgrade cycle has been busted by concerns that earnings will drop and financing for any new expenditure may not be available. Spending on technology is now being hammered by consumer and corporation alike.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 24/7 Wall St.

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

• Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) reported a narrower Q3 net loss and reaffirmed its outlook.
• Barclays (NYSE: BCS) earnings and dividend prospects resulted in an analyst's downgrade.
• Burger King Holdings Inc. (NYSE: BKC) posted its 19th straight quarter of positive growth.
• Choice Hotels International Inc. (NYSE: CHH) better-than-expected Q3 report led to an upgrade.
• Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA) reported strong Q3 numbers and maintained its revenue outlook.
• DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. (NYSE: DWA) better-than-expected Q3 results driven by Kung Fu Panda.
• Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) reported another record profit in Q3 driven by record high fuel prices.
• Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN) reported a better-than-expected Q3 profit and offered guidance.
• Hercules Inc. (NYSE: HPC) posted lower Q3 earnings and anounced [regulatory] approval of its buyout.
• Janus Capital Group Inc. (NYSE: JNS) weaker-than-expected results led to an analyst's downgrade.
• Legg Mason Inc. (NYSE: LM) swung to a smaller-than-expected Q2 net loss and shares soared.
• Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) dismal Q3 results managed to beat low earnings expectations.
• Office Depot (NYSE: ODP) Q3 results included lower revenue and a net loss due to economic conditions.
• Qwest Communications International Inc. (NYSE: Q) unimpressive Q3 numbers fell short of estimates.
• Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: JAVA) swung to a greater-than-expected net loss due in part to competition.
• Texas Roadhouse Inc. (NASDAQ: TXRH) missed Q3 estimates and warned of flat full-year earnings.
• Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) strong Q3 results included a gain from a sale of a refinery.
• Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) beat Q4 earnings expectations after adjustment for litigation-related charges.
• Whirlpool Corp. (NYSE: WHR) fell short of revenue estimates and announced job cuts.

Today was a busy economic day with data, but the selling in Asia as a "sell the news" reaction from the first Japan rate cut in seven years should have ruled the roost. Employment costs came in at 0.7% as expected, and personal income and spending showed no surprises. The markets also ignored a weak Chicago purchasing managers reading. This was a horrible month, but the DJIA ended up roughly 1,000 points higher from the close last Friday.

Below are today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 9,325.01 +144.32 (1.57%)
S&P 500 968.75 +14.66 (1.54%)
Nasdaq 1,720.95 +22.43 (1.32%)
52-WEEK LOWS
Top Analyst Upgrades
Top Analyst Downgrades

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. (NYSE: BNI) was after an SEC Filing noted that Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway bought an additional 825,000 shares of common stock and now holds a beneficial ownership of 64,610,418 shares of common stock. Shares were up 2.7% at $88.93 right before the close today.

DivX Inc. (NASDAQ: DIVX) traded higher by over 6% after the online media player company beat its earnings expectations. The company also raised its fiscal non-GAAP earnings range to $0.58 to $0.60 from a prior range of $0.52 to $0.58, but lowered its revenue guidance because of product expansion and slower spending. Shares were up over 25% at $6.99 right before the close.

Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: JAVA) lost $1.68 billion last quarter. Much of that was a write-down of goodwill, but revenue fell and the company had red ink even without the accounting charge. The numbers also missed most Wall Street estimates and raised the question of how long Sun can stay independent.

Revenues for the first quarter of fiscal 2009 were $2.99 billion, a decrease of 7.1% compared with $3.219 billion in the same quarter a year ago. On a non-GAAP basis, the net loss for the first quarter of fiscal 2009 was $65 million. Last year, the figure was a net profit of $285 million.

Sun had done poorly to some extent because of competition from large competitors like IBM (NYSE:IBM), but the company is running low on excuses. As might have been expected, CEO Jonathan Schwartz, famous for his ponytail and blog, said there were better days ahead.

Sun's shares have dropped from a 52-week high of over $23 to $5.29 and are likely to be pushed down more by the news.

The responsibility for Sun's performance now rests squarely with its board. The group has refused to fire Schwartz, or put the company up for auction. A look at the members shows that very few of them have had careers of much distinction. Perhaps that is why they were chosen. One member, Anthony Ridder, flew his company, newspaper firm Knight-Ridder into a mountain. Another, James Barksdale, ran Netscape, a well-know tech company failure.

The board may simply not have what it takes to begin to fix things at Sun.

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

U.S. stock futures fell Friday morning, after two days of gains and ahead of some economic data that will likely show further economic distress. The economic releases are: the employment cost index for q3, personal income and spending for September, the Chicago manufacturing PMI and the University of Michigan's consumer confidence for October. Global stocks generally declined Friday as oil again dropped below $65 a barrel to around $63.50. Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan cut its benchmark interest rate to 0.3%, which was less than expected, causing the Nikkei to drop by 5%.

Chevron (NYSE: CVX) is due to report this morning, following Exxon Mobil's (NYSE: XOM) record profit reported Thursday.

Burger King (NYSE: BKC) reported first quarter earnings of 38 cents per share, ex-items, below the consensus of 39 cents. Revenues came in at $674 million, versus the consensus of $667.6 million.

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) shares dropping 14% in after-hours trading after it posted a wider loss and reduced its annual forecast. The game maker also announced layoffs.

Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA) on Thursday reported a $1.68 billion fiscal first-quarter loss due to charges, but sales also fell more than 7% from a year ago. In all, ex-items, the company would have lost $65 million, or 9 cents a share on revenue of $2.99 billion for the quarter. Shares were down 3% in after-hours.

U.S. stock futures were much higher this morning, indicating markets could open with strong gains a day after the Federal Reserve cut rates by half a point to 1% and indicated further measures will be taken as necessary. While Wall Street ended mixed, global markets took this, as well as other measures central banks around the world have been taking, as a good sign and stocks in Asia and Europe rallied. However, at 8:30 a.m. this morning, advanced GDP for the third quarter will be released, and will likely show the economy has contracted for the first time. Economists expect GDP fell 0.5-0.6% in the quarter. Weekly jobless claims is also due at the same time.

Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) - sometime before the opening bell, Exxon is scheduled to report third-quarter earnings. Much like other oil producers that have already reported, posting huge profits for the quarter due to record high oil prices, so is Exxon expected to report sharply higher profit.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) - after the merger was approved Wednesday, Delta completed its $2.8 billion acquisition of Northwest Airlines (NYSE: NWA) on Wednesday to become the world's biggest carrier. Shares of both carriers surged 6% in after-hours.

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

• American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) Q3 results were dragged down by charge-offs due to the recession.
• Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) posted stronger-than-expected results due in part to iPhone sales.
• Boeing Inc. (NYSE: BA) posted a bigger-than-estimated earnings decline due in part to the strike.
• Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) reported Q1 earnings that were in line with Wall Street expectations.
• Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) Q3 results fell more than expected due to lower copper prices.
• Kimberly-Clark Corp. (NYSE: KMB) edged past estimates but felt the squeeze from exchange rates.
• McClatchy Co. (NYSE: MNI) reported dismal Q3 results as advertising revenues dry up.
• Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) posted solid Q1 results but offered conservative guidance.
• New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT) reported awful earnings and announced that it might cut its dividend.
• Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE: PM) topped profit estimates and maintained its guidance.
• RadioShack Corp. (NYSE: RSH) better-than-expected results were driven by sales of digital TV converters.
• Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA) warned of a Q1 loss and acquisition-related charges.
• Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN) missed estimates due to slowing mobile phone sales.
• United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS) reported better-than-expected Q3 earnings.
• Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) earnings tumbled in Q3 and it announced layoffs.

For more earnings highlights from this week, see Amazon, McDonald's, Mattel, Pfizer, AT&T, Sony and others.

Watch for upcoming quarterly reports from Verizon (NYSE: VZ), Estée Lauder (NYSE: EL) , US Steel (NYSE: X), Aetna (NYSE: AET), Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), Qwest (NYSE:Q), Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA), Kellogg (NYSE: K), Kraft Foods (NYSE: KFT), MetLife (NYSE: MET), Moody's (NYSE: MCO), Office Depot (NYSE: ODP), Avon (NYSE: AVP), CBS (NYSE: CBS), CVS Caremark (NYSE: CVS), Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: JAVA), Eastman Kodak (NYSE: EK), Motorola (NYSE: MOT), Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM), Chevron (NYSE: CVX), Washington Post (NYSE: WPO).

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage.

Earlier this week, my colleague Douglas McIntyre observed that Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: JAVA) "is one of the worst performing large-tech companies in America." It seems that ratings firm Fitch agrees with his take as last night it slashed JAVA's ratings outlook from "stable" to "negative." As a result of the move, JAVA is trading just pennies away from its annual low of $4.51 this morning.

In a release, Fitch cited a litany of challenges facing Sun Micro, including deteriorating demand outlook, recent share losses in the server market, significant decline in gross margin, and the expectation for continued pressure on information technology spending into 2009.

Even more troubling, investors learned today that Sun's co-founder, Andreas von Bechtolsheim, is stepping down from his role as chief architect to work for start-up firm Arista Networks.

However, as bleak as things may seem for Sun, another report adds an interesting angle to McIntyre's suggestion that JAVA should be sold to the highest bidder. Southeastern Asset Management, a value investment firm, said Wednesday that it's boosted its stake in Sun Microsystems to 21%. The firm said that it plans to hold discussions with Sun's management "regarding opportunities to maximize the value of the company for all shareholders." And we all know what that's code for, right? Stay tuned to see how this potential M&A deal unfolds.

Elizabeth Harrow is an analyst and financial writer in the research department at Schaeffer's Investment Research.

Most of today's action was based on yesterday afternoon's tech earnings, an analyst call on banks, and a billionaire getting out of a car stock.

The final index numbers looked like this:

DJIA: 9,028.24 down 2.56%

Nasdaq: 1,696.68 down 4.14%

S&P 500 954.85 down 3.10%

Tech took damage because of poor numbers from Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) and Sun (NASDAQ: JAVA). There was not a great deal of surprise about Sun because it disappoints almost every quarter. It will lose money again for the period ending in September. The stock fell over 16% to a new 52-week low at $4.69. In the case of Texas Instruments, its chips are used in such a broad spectrum of devices that it signaled a broad slowdown in consumer electronics and handsets.

Goldman Sachs repeated that Citigroup (NYSE: C) is a "sell." The research arm of the investment house said the big bank would not make money until late next year because of credit market problems. That did not do much good for the banking sector and Citi was off 6%

To remind Wall Street how bad the car sectors is, Kirk Kerkorian began to sell his position in Ford (NYSE: F). The shares he disclosed dumping so far were at a price almost two-thirds below where he bought them.

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

Minyanville contributor Adam Katz dares to share the kind of keen insight and actionable information you won't find in any prospectus. For more original thought, visit www.minyanville.com.

Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) reported disappointing results and Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: JAVA) preannounced negatively. Last week, IBM (NYSE: IBM) followed through with their positive preannouncement and Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) outperformed expectations.

What we are seeing is a divergence in where dollars are flowing. With company web sites largely representing the most effective and quantifiable marketing tool, it should come as no surprise that GOOG has revenue streams that are reasonably insulated. (This is not a call on GOOG because I believe the market is also pricing in the fact that the hyper growth days are behind them).

With respect to IBM, infrastructure software has been the primary driver behind the top line growth and growth in margins. In the meantime, the disappointment that we are seeing from TXN and JAVA should be reasonably expected as you are seeing slowing demand for hardware (in part driven by virtualization which by definition lowers hardware requirements) and TXN which, leveraged to consumer communication devices, is also taking a pause.

Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: JAVA) showed, once again, that it is one of the worst performing large-tech companies in America. The firm said its loss will be between 25 cents and 35 cents per share for the three months ended Sept. 28. Excluding one-time charges, the drop is between 2 cents and 12 cents per share. To make matters worse, it will probably take goodwill impairment charges for companies it has bought over the last two years. In other words, Sun paid too much.

Sun's revenue is also expected to be light, at about $3 billion.

It is old news to say that Sun has not come up with a single product compelling enough to get it out of the mud. Its servers are no better than those marketed by IBM (NYSE: IBM) or other large hardware companies. Corporate customers tend to go with the supplier that has the largest service force and best balance sheet.

The announcement does raise the question of why Sun is not being sold by its board. The stock trades at just above $5, down from a 52-week high of $24.08. So far this year, it is off nearly 70% while IBM is down only 12%.

Sun has a clean balance sheet with plenty of cash and modest debt. It would fit well with a number of larger companies that would like a larger part of the global server market.

Let the auction begin.

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