Investors appear worried that the economy is not keeping up with the eight-month old rally in the stock market.  Disappointing outlook and grim economic data are further fueling concerns that markets are ripe for a pullback and a full-blown economic recovery would take time.

On Friday, the 30-share Dow Jones industrial average fell 14 points, or 0.1%, to close at 10,318.16.  The broader S&P 500 index closed 0.3% lower at 1091.38 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq finished the day at 2146.04, off 0.5%.  On the week, the Dow average managed to hang on to gains, registering a paltry 0.5% advance.  The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq fell 0.2% and 1%, respectively.  On the New York Stock Exchange, 1.1 billion shares exchanged hands, with declining issues ahead of those that advanced in price by a three-to-two margin.

Last week’s disappointing reports on housing and weak forecasts from technology companies had antsy investors swooping up safe haven investments like Treasury bonds and dollar.  The demand for safe havens also spiked after European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet remarked that the bank is planning to unwind some of its stimulus measures.  A higher dollar pushed crude prices lower and pressured stocks.

Nevertheless, at the center of the activity on the Wall Street is the ascending price of such physical assets as gold, which touched its fresh highs of $1146.80 on Friday, and a declining dollar.  The metal, although lacking fundamental valuation measures, has surged 29.7% so far this year.  Since India's central bank bought 200 tons from the IMF, the metal has jumped 11.5% on its dollar-alternative, safe-haven, inflation-resistant appeal.

Meanwhile, the decline in the US dollar has raised valuation expectations for the major industrial companies, with offshore sales expected to boost revenues.  Nevertheless, this week’s highlight remains today’s after-market-close earnings from Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ).  Last week the company preannounced strong quarterly numbers, anticipating record sales results of $30.36 billion, and earnings of $1.13, and also lifted its 2010 guidance.

Last week, the 1% decline in the technology shares came after weaker-than-expected guidance from two software companies, Autodesk (NASDAQ:ADSK) and Salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM), was compounded by disappointing numbers from Dell (NASDAQ:DELL).  Technology companies felt the heat after Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) reported quarterly earnings that were well below analysts’ expectations.  The company said sales of its computers to big businesses remain weak.  Shares in the company plunged 10% to $14.29.  So far in November, the NASDAQ has advanced 5%, and is up 36.1% year-to-date. 

The 0.2% pullback in S&P500 was caused by declines in oil and gas (-1.4%) and tech (-1.3%) sector shares that offset gains in health care issues (+1.5%) and basic materials (+1.2%).

The earnings calendar has slowed, but companies still due to report include: Campbell Soup (NYSE:CPB) on Monday; American Eagle (NYSE:AEO), Barnes and Noble (NYSE:BKS), Dollar Tree (NASDAQ:DLTR) on Tuesday, with Deere (NYSE:DE), J Crew (NYSE:JCG) and Tiffany (NYSE:TIF) on Wednesday.

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BloggingStocks: Though the earnings season is winding down, and the coming week includes the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S., plenty of reports are still due out. And analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters don't seem to be expecting too many turkeys among this week's ... Read more

Weaker-than-expected results from Dell (DELL) pushed the tech sector lower Friday, which in turn sent the broad market skidding into the red. Disappointing results from builder D.R. Horton (DHI) also weighed on sentiment, adding to worries the real estate market will continue to hamper a recovery in the U.S. economy.[More...]

“The problem with Gamestop is you need to be able to have both good hardware and software sales. Not until later next year do I expect Grand Theft Auto. We had Rock Band, Guitar Hero. Those are all played out. I can’t get behind GameStop not because they’re not a great company but because they don’t have enough good stuff to sell.” — CNBC’s Mad Money 11/17/2009[More...]

On a day when the market is stuttering, specialty retailer Chico's FAS, Inc. (CHS) finds itself in the green by about 10.5%. That's more than enough to make it a Zacks #1 Rank Top Performer for Wednesday.

The advance can be attributed to a strong fiscal third-quarter report announced earlier today. EPS improved on a year-over-year basis and topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate, while sales also moved higher.

Volume today is around 11.5 million shares, which is almost triple the daily average of 4.1 million.

Chico's FAS is a women's specialty retailer of private branded, sophisticated, casual-to-dressy clothing, intimates, complementary accessories, and other non-clothing gift items.

It is part of the retail-apparel/shoe industry. On today's Zacks #1 Rank List, there are 4 other names from this space: American Apparel, Inc. (APP), which was recently a Zacks #1 Rank Top Performer on Nov 13, J. Crew Group, Inc. (JCG), Limited Brands, Inc. (LTD) and Nordstrom, Inc. (JWN). (There are 226 stocks in total on the Zacks #1 Rank List today.)

Strong FQ3 for Chico's FAS

Earlier today, Chico's FAS announced fiscal third-quarter earnings per share of 13 cents, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 7 cents by nearly 86%. CHS has now either met or surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 9 consecutive quarters; meeting 3 times and beating 6 times. Looking at the last 4 quarters, it has amassed and average surprise of about 40%.

The result also marked a solid year-over-year advance from 1-cent per share.

Sales rose 13.3% to $446.9 million from $394.2 million. Meanwhile, same-store sales increased 12.8%. These are encouraging developments given the still sluggish economy and the fact that many companies are beating EPS estimates due to cost cutting rather than revenue growth.

Earnings Estimates

Of course, earnings estimates are not yet reflecting Chico's FAS' quarterly report from earlier today. There are now 18 covering analysts for this year and 19 covering analysts for next year pouring over the data; we'll watch how this impacts the estimates going forward.

At the moment though, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for this fiscal year, ending January 2010, is at 28 cents per share. That outlook has advanced 21.7% in 3 months and 3.7% in 30 days.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for next fiscal year, ending January 2011, is at 54 cents, or 93% better than the guidance for this fiscal year. Expectations for this period have advanced 20% in 3 months and 1.9% in 30 days.

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