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.

On October 29, 2008 a pipeline company, Western Gas (NYSE:WES), announced plans that made its shareholders very happy. I wasn’t a shareholder at the time but its announcement caught my attention and I began following the company.

My five-year old daughter has a thick mane of chestnut colored hair on her head. By the time she goes to school, it always looks perfect – but few people know about the work involved beforehand. My wife or I usually have to spend 15 minutes untangling the knots in what invariably starts out as a post-sleep bird’s nest.

The IPO buzz is building… In a span of one month, the number of IPOs in 2009 doubled. Half have been tech IPOs. Sure the tally stands at a pathetic six. But with over 100 deals waiting in the pipeline, the uptick is being closely watched.

Poor Barack. His whole presidency rests on getting this bailout thing right. If he does, he’ll be a hero. If he doesn’t, the economy will go into a Japan-like slump and he’ll spend his entire time in office dealing with people looking for handouts – zombie banks, comatose corporations, and desperate households.

Report: China Exports Likely Down 14%; Whirlpool Sales Sink 76%; Starbucks Adding Value Meals; Chavez: Venezuela Untouched by Crisis; Defaults on Jumbo ARMS Could Double; Satyam to Decide on Action Plan Following Scandal

Is Washington replacing New York – and more specifically, Wall Street – as the city that drives America?

Worries rise that stimulus package could be held up… Ford stock rises after quarterly results… Initial jobless claims on tap… S&P 500 futures off 6.70 points, Dow futures off 52 points, Nasdaq futures off 4.75 points…

China’s slowdown does not signal an economic washout, says Keith Fitz-Gerald. Domestic consumption is still booming, and the government stimulus will support growth in the future. Over time, Keith says savvy investors could see the best payoffs in a generation.

There is a full economic calendar this week, but all eyes will be on the two-day FOMC meeting and the rate decision on Wednesday.

It will be interesting to see how the FOMC approaches this meeting. The current Fed Funds target rate is 0-0.25%, which in and of itself is rather strange. It is a moving target, not a fixed rate. Who determines which rate is used? My guess is this meeting will be used to clarify what the rate is. The Fed will either officially reduce it to 0% in a continued effort to resuscitate the economy, or lock it in at 0.25%. This would at least leave the Fed with one perceived bullet in the gun.

The rest of the…