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Stocks are lower today in reaction to the disappointing July employment report. Payrolls fell 131,000 for the month, building on June's loss of 221,000 jobs. Much of the recent weakness has been due to the government cutting Census workers.

 

But Philippa Dunne of the Liscio Report notes that there were still a few positive signs. Mainly, private employment gained 71,000, with half of that coming from manufacturing. In fact, manufacturing has added jobs every month so far this year -- a seventh-month streak that hasn't been seen since 1998.

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And that's not the only good news. The team at the ISI Group in New York compiled the following list of positive data points we've seen over the past week.

 

Wait! A bank with too much capital?

Hard to believe, but analysts at UBS calculate that's exactly the "problem" that HSBC (HBC) is likely to face over the next four years.

UBS forecast that the bank's Tier One capital ratio hit 10% by the middle of 2010 after it successfully used a rights offering to raise capital. That ratio could well hit 13% by 2013.

That certainly removes any need to raise capital.

 

By Jim Cramer, TheStreet

 

For natural gas, this is the year of living sadly. In the past couple of days, we saw a drilling ban in New York, where the out-of-work, underfed Southern Tier has a ton of the stuff; a terrible article in The New York Times about why we can't switch to all-natural-gas electricity in the U.S. because it is too expensive; and hope for an energy bill fade as Harry Reid all but gave up on the issue in the Senate. 

 

In the meantime, we have seen natural-gas futures get stuck below $5 -- convincingly so -- during the greatest heat wave in years.

 

None of this is good. I can't sugar-coat it. Sure, the premise of the Times article was fanciful -- nobody is advocating a total dismantling of the huge coal-based utility infrastructure, just a shutdown/phase-out of the oldest, worst coal plants, which can be replaced with natural gas. That's what Canada is doing. If we had a president who cared about something other than clean coal -- talk about fanciful -- it would be happening right now.

 

Starbucks (SBUX) has figured out a way to sneak coffee into fruity summer drinks, and will soon begin testing them in its San Diego stores.

The drinks, which are being called "Refreshers," will be made of fruit. But their secret ingredient is a powdered extract made from unroasted green coffee beans.

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The beans won't taste like coffee. The company is calling them "flavor neutral," in fact. They are designed to give the drinks a little bit of a caffeine jolt -- less than you'd find in regular coffee.

 

This is so preposterous it's kinda funny. Airline fees are so out of control that one airline is now offering to reduce them -- for a fee.

The "boarding and flexibility package" by American Airlines (AMR) promises not to charge you to get on standby. And it will take $75 off the regular $150 fee if you need to change your flight. All for an additional fee of $9 to $19, The New York Times reported.

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Got that straight? The fee frenzy doesn't stop there. Susan Stellin of the Times lists some of the most outrageous airline gouges:

 

Forget about news that Petrobras (PBR) has made a new oil discovery off Angola with at least 500 million barrels of oil, or that it is beginning production from the Urugua offshore oil field this week.  

The only discovery that counts for Petrobras shares is what price the Brazilian government will charge the company for as much as 5 billion barrels of deepwater reserves in the deep, deep water pre-salt deposits off Brazil's South Atlantic coast. (Petrobras is a member of my Jubak Picks 50 portfolio).

 

As part of a complex plan to finance the development of the offshore fields, such as the apparently giant Tupi field that Petrobras has discovered but now needs to put into production, the government plans to sell Petrobras 5 billion barrels of reserves. The company will raise the purchase price of the reserves through a stock offering. 

 

OK, everyone, calm down about Verizon (VZ) and Google (GOOG). All this talk about secret meetings, backroom deals and online favoritism has whipped people into a frenzy.

Sorry, Huffington Post, this is not the end of the Internet as we know it. But it is a very messy, very thorny issue, and the Internet's biggest players are trying to get a seat at the table in the early stages while we figure this all out.

Here's the core problem: Our Internet capability in the U.S. is pathetic. We have less broadband -- and slower connections -- than many countries in Europe and Asia. We should be talking about building new online superhighways (to use an old term), but instead we're trying to figure out who should play traffic cop. 

By Louis Navellier, editor of Blue Chip Growth

 

Health care stocks are a vital part of most investors' portfolios. The theory goes that people will always get sick, so these companies will always have healthy profits.

Well, unfortunately, some rough quarterly earnings reports and dips in share values in recent weeks have proved that even the health care sector is subject to some volatility and that no earnings are guaranteed.

 

Here are three pharma and medical blue chips that have not lived up to expectations and are hazardous to the health of your portfolio:

 

Adult-entertainment icon (or dinosaur, depending on your perspective) Playboy Enterprises (PLA) reported second-quarter earnings results today that missed expectations by the proverbial penny.

 

Does it really matter?

 

For the period, the company stated that it had lost 16 cents per share in the quarter versus analyst estimates calling for a loss of 15 cents. Revenue in the period dropped to $56 million versus an expectation of $58 million.

 

If not for the prideful efforts of Hugh Hefner and his bid to buy outstanding shares at a premium valuation of $185 million, taking the company private, this stock would have little going for it.

 

By Theresa McCabe, TheStreet

 

Viacom (VIA) said second-quarter earnings rose 52% as the company slashed expenses and profited from blockbuster movies such as "Iron Man 2" and "Shrek Forever After."

 

For the quarter ended June 30, earnings climbed to $420 million, or 69 cents per share, compared with earnings of $277 million, or 46 cents, in the same period a year ago. Earnings from continuing operations were 68 cents per share, beating analysts' estimates of 66 cents per share.

 

Total expenses fell 7.6% to $2.51 billion from $2.71 billion.

 

By Jim Cramer, TheStreet

 

Maybe U.S. analysts just can't understand Europe. Maybe they are baffled by how Europeans think or work.

 

You know there's some disconnect simply by looking at three particular companies in three different industries: Allergan (AGN) in the health care sector, Priceline (PCN) in travel and leisure, and Eaton (ETN) in manufacturing.

 

Earlier this week, Allergan reported a fantastic number, and a great deal of that rally came from strength in Europe that the analysts just hadn't seen.

 

By Richard Band, editor of Profitable Investing

If business activity keeps chugging along, as I believe it will, stock prices will bounce back.

However, the recovery process will likely take several months. Investor psychology has been wounded. Before marking up share prices significantly, Wall Street will need to hear a lot more good news than we’ve had lately. That means you need to protect your portfolio -- and I have two stocks that will help you do just that.

 

On the issue of network neutrality, Google seems to have gone over to the dark side.

While the Federal Communications Commission continues to wrestle over the issue, Verizon and Google have reached a tentative deal on handling Internet content that could lead to film studios being charged extra if they want to deliver better-quality movie downloads, an individual familiar with the deal has told TheWrap.

The as yet  unannounced agreement -- potentially to be presented to legislators or the Federal Communications Commission as a model for legislation -- essentially anticipates the splitting of Internet connections into two lines. One would be for normal traffic and one for "managed services," the source said.

 

 

After flirting with new highs in June, gold has been out of sight and out of mind for most investors. In other words, the gold bugs have gone into hiding. The yellow metal has been trapped in a relentless downtrend that took prices down 8.5%.

 

You can't really blame people for looking the other way. Stocks are up more than 11% over the past few weeks.  But things are changing now.

 

It's been a good couple of days for gold -- since July 28 the Gold SPDR (GLD) has gained more than 3.3% while stocks have gained just 1.5%. More importantly, gold prices have broken up and out of its month-long downtrend. Technical indicators and investment flows all now suggest that higher prices are ahead for the precious metal.