Dear Subscribers,

This is Tracey Ryniec filling in for Steve Reitmeister

Friday's dismal jobs report shocked investors. For the second month in a row, job creation wasn't even close to where it's supposed to be at this, or any, stage of the recovery cycle. It's almost hard to believe that it's been nearly 3 years since this crisis first began and jobs are still stuck in the neutral zone. Why isn't there more job creation?

It all comes back to the very thing that started the financial crisis: housing. New home construction creates jobs. Right now, we're still near record lows for new construction starts. Until we get more new home construction, we won't see the big job growth we need to spark the economy.

With the jobs report behind us, all eyes are now turning to corporate earnings. Earnings season officially begins today with Alcoa reporting after the bell. US companies have been producing amazing earnings over the last few quarters, especially if they have overseas operations. Many of the old main line manufacturers, those that have been in business since, say 1920 or 1930, reported some of the best quarters in their history in the first quarter. Will they do it again?

The economy is a conundrum. We have an employment market that is on life support but many companies are in the best financial shape of their lives. They are lean, mean, fighting machines. Starting this week, we're going to see just what kind of condition the global economy is in. I'm betting that it is stronger than Friday's dismal jobs report indicated. If so, market bulls could push stocks to new 2011 highs.

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Regards,

Tracey Ryniec
Equity Strategist, Zacks Investment Research

Today's Top Stories: Monday- July 11, 2011

ZACKS RANK BUY STOCKS

• Aggressive Growth - Revlon, Inc. (REV) recently surged into a new multi-year high on the heels of two consecutive strong earnings surprises. This Zacks #1 rank stock also has a bullish growth projection. Read More...
   
• Growth & Income - Triangle Capital Corporation (TCAP) first quarter net investment income per share came in at 46 cents, well ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 41 cents. It was a whopping 104% increase. Read More...
   
• Momentum - Altra Holdings, Inc. (AIMC) saw some decent movement in estimates, with the current year adding 16 cents to $1.52 while the next-year estimate gained 25 cents to $1.84, a bullish 21% growth projection. Read More...
   
• Value - Macy's Inc. (M) released its June sales figures and saw same-store sales jump 6.7% which was much higher than the consensus of retail analysts of 5.1%. Total sales rose 7.5% to $2.2 billion. Read More...
   

Learn how to profit from our exclusive Zacks Rank stock-ranking system with free resources. Read More...

• Top 5 Aggressive Growth Mutual Funds Read More...
• Mutual Fund Homepage

• Bull Of The Day: Altera Corporation
  Full Zacks research report: Read More...
  
  
• Bear Of The Day: PetMed Express
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• Ahead of Wall Street
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• Zacks Industry Outlook: Non-U.S. Banks Stock Update - July 2011
  Though the growth potential of some non-U.S. banks could be subdued due to higher reserve requirements, increased property taxes and strict lending limits as part of the regulatory overhaul, greater transparency in regulation could strengthen the fundamen Read More...
  
  
• Analyst Blog Highlights
• Insurance Cos Sue Goldman Sachs
• Medtronic Expands Surgical Business
• Hackers to Target Apple Devices?
• Full Analyst Blog

• Netflix Grows Globally
• Prepare to Profit from Earnings Season
• Beat the Pros at Their Own Game

PeopleAndPicks.com:

VIP "MightyMo" is reaping the returns from his BUY calls in (BIDU), (CAT), (DRI) and (KMX). Read More...

• Earnings take center stage @ CNNMoney.com
• Let's Spend More and Call It a Spending Cut! @ FOXBUSINESS.com

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Best,

Steve Reitmeister
Executive VP, Zacks Investment Research

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