The downtrodden retail industry is on the move today. Thanks to good news from companies like Liz Claiborne (NYSE:LIZ) and Wet Seal (NASDAQ:WTSLA), investors are putting some profits in their shopping bags.

The earnings season beginning today (Tuesday) is shaping up to be an important one, as it could have a significant impact on a struggling stock market rally.

The U.S. trade deficit expanded at its fastest pace in more than ten years in July, accelerated by rising oil prices and increased demand for auto parts and industrial supplies.

The overall markets may not be moving much today, but that has not stopped a handful of small caps from handing their investors big gains. If you are a fan of penny stocks, you don’t want to miss out on these four companies.

Investors and analysts return from the long holiday weekend only to face a rather light week on the economic calendar – except for the earliest stages of what’s expected to be yet another dismal earnings season for U.S. companies.

The Dow crashed 1.4 points yesterday, wiping out Monday’s 1.3 point moonshot. Desperate for something beyond these 0.014% “swings,” the market’s putting China in the driver’s seat today… and these guys still have quite a lead foot: Chinese auto sales soared 34% in May, year over year. According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the Red Nation scooped up 1.12 million vehicles last month, outpacing any nation in the world.

From the tidal wave of e-mails and comments I have received from numerous different sources I am under the impression that most investors view the recent rally in the world’s stock markets as a bear market rally. I suppose we would need to define a bear market rally as a rally that fails to make a new all-time high (for the S&P 500, above the 1576 reached in October 2007) and is also followed by a new low for this cycle (below 666 for the S&P 500 reached in early March 2009).