I want to expand on my colleague Martin Denholm’s excellent piece yesterday about the spin on Caterpillar’s(NYSE: CAT) earnings.  As Martin mentioned, don’t take a company’s quarterly results at face value. Earnings and guidance are very conservative this year, so it shouldn’t come as a shock when a company beats its projections.

Global airline losses may total $4.7 billion this year as revenues plunge below levels seen after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the International Air Transport Association said today (Tuesday).

Airline stocks are enjoying a sharp upswing today. The industry is recovering strongly as fuel prices tumble. And investors are also encouraged by the Delta (NYSE:DAL) and Northwest (NYSE:NWA) merger. But Andrew Snyder says this remains a high-risk sector for stock investors.

Oil Bounces Back; Hungary Gets $25 Billion in Aid; P&G Boosted by Emerging Markets; Qwest Cuts Workforce; Airline Merger Cleared for Takeoff; Domestic Airfares Soar to Record High; Consumer Crunch Hits Comcast; Biotech Firm Plunges

Earnings season will plug along this week as reports from several banks provide the latest insight into how well the beleaguered financial-services sector is weathering the global credit-crisis storm.

Wells Fargo Jumps 32% on Dividend Hike; Crude Falls $10 in Two Days; Home Building Collapses; Gazprom Threatens to Take Belarus to Court; Gannett’s 2nd Quarter Tumble; SK Telecom Eyes up Sprint?; Time Warner Travels to Seattle; Delta’s $1 Billion Loss Turns to Gains

Editor’s Note: Here’s a real contrarian play: Eric Roseman, Investment Director of Sovereign Society, says airline stocks are primed to offer major profit returns in the near future.

The airline industry has been battered by the surge in oil prices. Major companies have already cut services, raised fees, and announced job losses. And share prices have collapsed since the start of the year: United Airlines (UAUA) is down a whopping 84.6%, Delta Airlines (DAL) 64.8%, Continental (CAL) 48.7% and Northwest (NWA) 58.9%.

Continental’s Cost Cuts; Possible Eurozone Telecom Merger; Rising Tide of Foreclosures; Jobless Claims Drop; Inflation Controls Threaten China Stocks; Honeywell Shot Full of Holes; Dupont’s Bumper Crop; Novartis on the Guard Against Influenza.

Continental Airlines Inc. (CAL) said it would forgo a merger with UAL Corp.’s (UAUA) United Airlines unit, while all-business-class carrier Eos Airlines Inc. ceased operations after filing for bankruptcy protection.

U.S. Federal Reserve policymakers will likely cut its key interest rate to 2.0% from 2.25% this, which would mark the seventh such move since the central bank launched its rate-reduction campaign in mid-September.