CORPORATE EARNINGS SEASON BEGINS WITH ALCOA AA

4/5/2008 Saturday 7:18 PM CT

By Dave Harris

Last week brought usual volatility in the market, but the major indices still managed to end on the positive side. The Dow Jones Industrials, for example, gained over 3 percent for the week, up to 12,609.42. But will the trend continue? I believe investors will look closely at the start to the earnings season’s first quarter when aluminum maker Alcoa (AA) reports Monday. Attention will shift from where we've been, to where we're going.

Wednesday the likes of bed Bath and Beyond (BBBY) and Circuit City (CC) will give some indication of consumer spending. Thursday is biotech company Genentech (DNA), but these aren’t the real market movers. The tidal wave starts in a few weeks when we get Intel (INTC), Johnson and Johnson (JNJ), IBM (IBM), Google (GOOG), and the like.

Wine maker Constellation Brands (STZ) managed to surprise Wall Street, even after reporting a loss in the quarter. Excluding charges, Constellation earned 34 cents and sales hit over $884 million. I think things will turn out better in the next quarter and the stock is pretty well valued here at about $19 per share. I would get in at this price.

Other buy recommendations on my list include Apple (AAPL), now the #1 seller of music in the country. I like Motorola (MOT), who will spin off its handset business. That stock is turning around. While I'm on tech, I suggest selling Research in Motion (RIMM). Yeah they had a great quarter, but the stock is overvalued in my view. I would take some profits and put the money into AT&T (T).

I hope the jobs numbers didn't surprise you. After all, we're supposed to be in a light recession. 80,000 jobs were lost last month and unemployment rose to 5.1 percent. My take is we'll be out of the recession before we finally confirm that we’ve just been in one. Investors are looking forward.