General Electric, GE, leads the way. I  like this writeup by Henry Blodgett.

My initial reaction, with GE futures down, is that this is a good opportunity to buy GE on tempoary weakness, though there is probably no need to rush. I continue to see the GE glass as half full. This is why I am investing. “Industrial earnings to remain strong in third quarter, up 10-15%, led by infrastructure businesses” and they say in the press release

In their press release GE state a lot, so you should probably just read it. Here are some key bits.

GE today revised its earnings guidance for the third quarter, to a range of $0.43 to $0.48 per share from $0.50 to $0.54, reflecting unprecedented weakness and volatility in the financial services markets. GE now expects that its financial services businesses will earn approximately $2 billion in the third quarter, which, while impacted by current market conditions, is expected to exceed the earnings of any financial services company. Industrial earnings are expected to continue to be strong in the quarter, led by excellent performance in the infrastructure and media businesses and are expected to increase approximately 10-15%, excluding Consumer & Industrial.
GE anticipates that difficult conditions in the financial services markets are not likely to improve in the near future, and as a result, is revising its earnings guidance for the full year to $19.5 to $21 billion ($1.95 to $2.10 per share) from $22 to $23 billion ($2.20 to $2.30 per share). 

GE also reaffirmed its longstanding commitment to its Triple-A credit rating. While GE’s funding position is strong and GE has performed well during the recent market volatility, it is taking steps to strengthen its already strong capital and liquidity position, including:

• Increasing capital in GE Capital to reduce leverage ratios through a reduction in the GE Capital dividend to GE from 40% to 10% of GE Capital’s earnings and by suspending the current GE stock buyback.
• With a strong liquidity position and having already completed $70 billion in long-term funding year-to-date, GE Capital does not need to raise any additional long-term debt for the remainder of 2008.
• Although demand remains strong, reducing GE Capital’s commercial paper to 10-15% of GE Capital’s total debt going forward.
• Resizing GE to deliver 60%/40% industrial-financial services earnings split by end of 2009.

GE also stated that its Board of Directors had approved management’s plan to maintain GE’s quarterly dividend of $0.31 per share, totaling $1.24 per share annually, through the end of 2009.