ConocoPhillips Pumps Profit; Pepsi Sales Improve; Amazon Profit Doubles; Oil Continues to Slide; Northwest’s Almost Profit; Beige Book’s Got the Blues; China’s Google Scores on Olympic Traffic; Chrysler Cuts Jobs.

Chrysler Building Sold to Abu Dhabi; 2,500 Employees Depart From Northwest; Icici Bank on the Prowl; OPEC Revenue to Jump 86%; Steve & Barry’s Bankruptcy; Bear Market S&P; Busch to Shareholders: Just Say No; Bank of America Chief Sees Mid-Year Recovery

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%.

More news on the Silent Spring front from oil and energy expert Byron King.

Byron, on his Energy and Oil blog, has a great piece on the future of aviation. He reckons big changes are coming thanks to high crude oil prices…

Mother Nature is taking her revenge in the form of high-priced oil. The cost of jet fuel is soaring. The airplanes of the world are starting to get grounded. The skies of the future will not be so crowded. Flying will cease to be an option for many tens of millions of Americans — maybe for hundreds of millions.

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.

Consumer Confidence Hits 5-Year Low; Citi to Offer $3 Billion in Common Stock; Denny’s Satisfied by 1Q Earnings; IBM Bumps Dividend; Merck Drops on FDA Rejection; Airline Shares Take-off; MasterCard’s “Priceless” Quarter; Gildan Shares Sacked for a 30% Loss.

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.

As the dollar continues its historic decline, imported goods will become too costly for many Americans.  In addition, more of those products still made domestically will be exported to wealthier foreign consumers whose appreciated currencies increase their purchasing power.

It’s earnings season again. But with an odd twist. You see, most investors realized that earnings season would be dismal; so when the results came in pretty much as expected, many investors seemed to find that the news, especially among financial, was not worse and went on a buying spree.