11:30pm (EST) MARKET COMMENTARY Friday was a rough day for the bulls as the Dow fell 67 points, or 0.7%, to close the week at 9,995.  However, the Dow managed to break the 10,000 level last week and closed above it on Wednesday and Thursday.  We were prepared for a “down” Friday as we mentioned that 7 out of the last 10 years were negative on October expiration day.  It would have been nice to see 10,000 hold but we don’t think the bulls are too worried.  Most of the talking heads (or bears) were talking down the number and were trying to do the “shrug of the shoulders, simply a number” routine.  Well, just like any star receiver in the NFL would do, the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) passed out “Dow 10,000” hats on the floor and the party was on Wednesday and Thursday.  The hangover came Friday but the bulls aren’t ready to leave.  Either the bears put up a fight or this party is just getting started. Sure, earnings were mixed as companies continue to miss top-line revenue numbers, but overall, the comments have been very encouraging.  Some stocks rocked and some rolled over but when you hear a company’s CEO say… “While there is a lot of uncertainty about the pace of economic recovery, we believe the worst of the recession is behind us and now feel confident about investing heavily in our future.”  That was Google’s (GOOG, $549.85, up $19.92) CEO, Eric Schmidt who made those remarks.  There were a lot of investors betting against “Goog’s” on Friday when the company reported earnings but they came out smelling like a rose.  Can I be the first to say Goog’s will be a $1,000 stock by 2011?  Well, maybe…I don’t carry quite the weight that other Wall Street analysts do but they were tripping over each other to raise their price target on Friday.  Because I had nothing better to do, I took a look at some options in Google just to “see” what would happen if Google hit a $1,000 by 2011.  My, my, my…did you know that a $2,500 investment in a certain Google call option would give you a return of $25,000 by buying only 1 option contract?  I profile the trade in the Members Area but I’m still on the fence with it.  The interesting thing is that the stock wouldn’t have to make it to $1,000.  If Google just managed to break $800 in 2010, the trade would still be a double… For the week, the Dow added 131 points, or 1.3%, and finished at 9,995.  The S&P 500 got did slightly better as it gained 1.5%, or 16 points, and closed at 1,087.  The Nasdaq was higher by 17 points, or 0.8%, and settled at 2,156. Here we our thoughts from Thursday before the market opened: “The Dow is at 10,015 (up 145 points yesterday), the Nasdaq is at 2,172 (+32) and the S&P 500 (+19) is at 1,092.  So where do we go from here?  If you will notice from my 8/23 notes, we could hit 2,275 on the Nasdaq and 1,175 for the S&P 500.  For the Dow, we could see 10,300-10,400 if the rally continues.  Now, we may not see these levels during earnings season but there’s a good shot we end 2009 at those aforementioned levels.” We were 70% sure we would have a down day on Friday but those are still our near-term targets. On the earnings front, Financial stocks were a mixed bag.  Bank of America (BAC, $17.26, down $0.84) and Citigroup (C, $4.59, down $0.16) reported lousy 3Q numbers as both banks reported losses.  BofA reported a wider-than-expected loss of $0.26, sending the shares down 5% on Friday, while Citigroup reported a $0.27 loss, dropping its shares 3% on Friday and nearly 8% for the week. Goldman Sachs (GS, $184.37, down $4.26) beat Wall Street’s estimates as earnings per share came in at a staggering $5.25 while sales topped $12 billion.  Everybody and their grandmother was expecting a pullback and we got one, but, somehow we have a feeling if the rally continues, Goldman breaks $200. And on another sad note, Galleon Group founder and billionaire Raj Rajaratnam will be joining Bernie and the boys.  Dude was arrested Friday and charged with securities fraud and insider trading.  When will these knuckleheads learn?  As we look ahead towards Monday’s open, futures are showing a slightly lower open but we will have plenty of fireworks.  We will be back in the morning by 9am (EST) with a BIG list of the companies reporting earnings this week AND our Current Trade updates.  Imax (IMAX, $10.85) continues to push new highs and is our latest trade making a push for a triple-digit return. If you are not a current subscriber, you can sign up anytime between now and Monday to get our updates instantly emailed to you before the opening bell.]]>