THREE BLIND MICE…SEE HOW THEY RUN

7/6/2008 Sunday 4:28 PM CT

By Dave Harris

Yeah they're running alright, but not to their stock broker to cherry pick the values…not yet anyway. Last week's employment report was the cherry on the cake capping off another downbeat week in stocks. 62,000 jobs were cut last month. Unemployment is sticking at 5 and a half percent. As we all know, the Dow and tech heavy NASDAQ are officially in bear market territory. Seems there’s no stopping the credit concerns and record high energy prices that dampen investor enthusiasm.

It's a time to maintain your positions. Avoid panic. Don't sell. Maybe the unofficial start to second quarter earnings season will give investors a reason to find a silver lining...somewhere. On Tuesday, aluminum maker Alcoa (AA) reports earnings. In the next few weeks, we get earnings from Johnson and Johnson (JNJ), Wells-Fargo (WFC), food chain Yum Brands (YUM), and Microsoft (MSFT) among others. These are the big market movers that have the potential to please the big money managers.

Over the weekend, NBC Universal, a part of General Electric (GE) worked out a deal to purchase Landmark Communication's  "The Weather Channel". This could be a time a buy into the conglomerate. It’s selling pretty cheap here at $26-$27. The stock should really be at $36.

In economic data, the labor department has jobless claims Thursday. Then Friday, it's consumer sentiment data from the University of Michigan.

Finding a bottom is impossible at this point, because I feel stocks are likely to decline further in the near term. However, the upcoming earnings season is a reason to be mildly optimistic in this tough environment.