Market Winners & Losers: Target, MetroPCS

The major indices gained back a large chunk of Monday’s losses on some better-than-expected earnings. The Dow closed up 0.9%, the S&P gained 1%, and the Nasdaq added 1.3%.

Here are Tuesday’s winners and losers

Winners:

Ciena Corp. (CIEN)

The communications equipment provider soared 9% yesterday and last traded at $12.81, up $1.06.

Agilent Technologies Inc. (A)

The measurement technology company rose 7.9% on quarterly earnings. Agilent shares closed at $25.41, a gain of $1.85.

Target Corp. (TGT)

The discount retailer’s stock was boosted 7.6% after reporting earnings Tuesday, despite a drop in same-store sales. TGT shares ended the session at $44.32, up $3.11

Manitowoc Co. (MTW)

The crane manufacturer bounced back from yesterday’s losses to close Tuesday up 7.4%. MTW shares last traded at $6.66, a gain of 46 cents.

Deere & Co. (DE)

The tractor manufacturer was seeing green today as investors pushed the stock up 6.2% in anticipation of its earnings release. John Deere shares closed at $45.09, up $2.62

Losers:

Constellation Brands Inc. (STZ)

The beer and wine manufacturer bucked the market trends as it fell 3.1%. STZ shares last traded at $13.95, a loss of 45 cents.

TJX Cos. (TJX)

The TJ Maxx owner continued its volatile trading pattern as it returned most of Monday’s gains with a 3% loss, despite posting a 31% profit gain. TJX shares closed at $34.33, down $1.05.

MetroPCS Communications Inc. (PCS)

The wireless communications provider continues to float around its yearly lows after an Atlantic Equities downgrade caused the stock to drop 2.8%. PCS shares ended the session at $8.26, a loss of 24 cents.

Coventry Health Care Inc. (CVH)

News that President Obama's health-care plan was again gaining momentum squashed all of Monday’s games for Coventry as the stock fell 2.6%. CVH shares ended Tuesday at $22.98, down 62 cents.

IMS Health Inc. (RX)

IMS was another health-care company retreating from yesterday’s gains as it fell 2.5%. RX shares closed at $13.07, a loss of 34 cents.

Market Winners & Losers: Starbucks, Allegheny TechnologiesStocks tumble amid investors’ worries

Report: JPMorgan to Lend $1.5B to California

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) has agreed to provide the State of California a short-term loan of $1.5 billion to allow the state to end its IOU program, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday, citing state officials.

The short-term loan provided by JPMorgan would allow the state to begin to repay government vendors and creditors on Sept. 4, earlier than the maturity date on the IOUs of Oct. 2.

The Times reported that the interest rate on the $1.5 billion loan has not been determined yet, but experts said the interest rate could be between 2% and 3%. JPMorgan would be repaid for the loan in late September, according to the Times, when the California government sells what’s known as Revenue Anticipation Notes that have a longer maturity schedule than the IOUs.

The Times said that JPMorgan’s reasoning for doing the short-term loan was primarily to get into the good graces of the state government, which is one of the largest bond issuers in the nation. JPMorgan also recently oversaw a major expansion into California after the bank bought Seattle-based Washington Mutual in a distressed sale during the height of the financial crisis last year.

The budget crisis and a political deadlock in California over the summer forced the state government to issue IOUs for the first time since the early 1990s.

Nashville-based prison operator CCA will get new CEORed-Hot Stocks Cool Off

Cavuto: He's Lost an Option, Not the War

He hasn't lost.‪

Here's the deal.

He's lost an option. He hasn't lost the war.

Barack Obama conceding the public option to salvage some option… any option… on reviving his tattered health-care reform.‪

Do not assume he's scrambling, or that health care is dead.‪

He isn't. And it isn't. ‪

History proves it, because hard as it may be to believe now, when Medicare debuted 44 years ago, it was seen by some as a disappointment. Not nearly as sweeping as its original designers had hoped, or even as Lyndon Johnson had planned.‪ or as all-inclusive as liberals at the time had dreamed.

What's more, its $65 million first-year budget was deemed barely enough to cover its bare bones' goals. ‪

That was then. ‪

This is Medicare now.‪ a $400 billion budget.‪ and $5 trillion in benefits handed out. ‪

Not too shabby for a bureaucratic disappointment.‪‪

Lesson learned.‪

Big-government advocates have a habit of feigning disappointment when their big government goals are tamed.‪ They aren't that dumb. But we are.‪

Here's why. Once a bureaucracy starts. It can't be stopped. It can only grow.

Medicare proves it.

Because once a bureaucrat's in the door, he has a habit of staying.‪

Sort of like that unwanted guest who won't leave.‪ and to add insult to injury, stays later than any other guest, then parks himself on your couch and orders pay-per-view movies after you've long gone to sleep.‪‪

That was Medicare then. ‪this health-care reform now.

Trust me, taking the public option out now doesn't remove it later.‪ and forming these health cooperatives now doesn't mean they don't evolve into something amazingly government-like later.‪

This is about striking a deal…any deal…to get in the door.‪

Because once in, the government ain't leaving.‪

I hope you've ordered extra food.

I hear he's hungry.

Cavuto: Now it’s Chuck Grassley’s TurnTwo tax plans would take a big bite from the rich

Housing Starts Fall 1%

Newly-released data on Tuesday revealed that housing starts surprisingly fell in July as the battered U.S. housing market continued to struggle to recover.

According to the Commerce Department, total housing starts fell 1% in July to a seasonally-adjusted annual pace of 581,000. The data was unexpected as economists predicted starts would rise 2.7% in July.

The July figures also represented a drop-off from previous months as housing starts climbed 6.5% in June and soared 15% in May.

“It’s still an improvement of where we were a few months ago. In this quarter, housing will finally contribute positively to GDP,” Peter Morici, an economist at the University of Maryland, told FOX Business.

Morici added, “I’m not concerned that it was a little bit lower than the optimistic forecasts. Overall, I think this is a pretty good number. I think we’re okay.”

The government also said single-family housing starts rose 1.7% last month, well off June’s torrid pace of 17.8%. Construction of multifamily homes tumbled 13% last month.

Building permits, which help gauge future activity, also fell, declining 1.8% in July to an annual rate of 560,000. Economists had expected permits to increase 0.5% to 573,000.

Shares of home builders like Centex (CTX) and Pulte Homes (PHM) were mixed in pre-market trading following the data.

Week Ahead: Tech and Retail Earnings On TapRetail sales dip 0.1 percent in July

Week Ahead: Tech and Retail Earnings On Tap

Earnings next week from a handful of technology and retail stalwarts will give investors a better idea of the strength of the economic recovery.

Computer maker Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) reports on Tuesday and improvements in its consumer PC business are expected to improve the company’s quarterly numbers.

Retailer Target (TGT) will post results Tuesday, and competitors Gap (GPS) and Sears (SHLD) on Thursday. Revenues are expected to be down from a year ago as consumers keep a tight check on their wallets, waiting for the labor market to improve.

Home-improvement chain Home Depot (HD) will post second-quarter results Tuesday, a day after rival Lowe's (LOW). Both are expected to show lower profits and revenue as they continue to struggle with lower demand amid the recession and housing market downturn.

Also posting results next week are food companies H.J. Heinz (HNZ) and Hormel Foods (HRL), both Thursday, and J.M. Smucker (SJM) on Friday. Farm machinery maker Deere & Co. (DE) reports on Wednesday.

Several reports next week are expected to show an improving housing market, including data on July housing starts, out Tuesday, and information on July existing-home sales, to be released Friday. On Monday, the National Association of Home Builders will issue its August housing market index; the July reading was the highest since last September.

The July Producer Price Index, out Tuesday, is expected to slide 0.2% after a 1.8% jump in June on higher food and energy prices. Inflation has remained low this year, and the July Consumer Price Index, out this week, plunged 2.1% from a year earlier, the biggest drop since 1950.

The private Conference Board will release its July index of leading indicators Thursday, and reports on regional manufacturing activity are due Monday from New York and Thursday from Philadelphia.

Meanwhile, new rules requiring credit card issuers to give consumers 45 days of notice before raising their interest rate or making other significant changes to a card plan's terms become effective next week. Issuers also must begin sending bills 21 days before payment is due. The rules are the first of a number of new consumer protections to be implemented under a major credit card law enacted in May. Most of the law's changes won't take effect until February.

Market Winners & Losers: Goodyear, AkamaiWall St. seeks to extend rally

Stocks End Higher as Bulls Wave Off Retail Data

Wall Street gained ground on Thursday as the markets proved to be unfazed by sobering economic reports that revealed retail sales unexpectedly dropped last month as jobless claims rose further.

Today’s Markets

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 36.58 points, or 0.39%, to 9398.19, the Standard & Poor's 500 added 6.92 points, or 0.69%, to 1012.73 and the Nasdaq Composite picked up 10.63 points, or 0.53%, to 2009.35. The consumer-friendly FOX 50 gained 4.12 points, or 0.56%, to 736.84.

Concerns stemming from those worse-than-expected economic reports were countered by enthusiasm for Wal-Mart's (WMT) earnings beat and the government's successful sale of $15 billion of 30-year Treasury notes.

“I think we should be encouraged by the market action today. What could have been received as bad economic data is being overlooked and you are getting continued sponsorship of this market,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Jefferies & Co.

The slight gains allow the bulls to tack onto Wednesday's 120-point rally, which came after the Federal Reserve decided to leave interest rates unchanged and said economic activity is "leveling out." The markets are now on track to end in the green for the fifth straight week amid optimism about the U.S. economy.

The Dow was led higher Thursday by gains of about 6% each from Bank of America (BAC) and Alcoa (AA). Nearly half of the index's 30 components lost ground, including United Technologies (UTX) and Caterpillar (CAT).

Thursday's rally was limited by a pair of downbeat reports on the U.S. economy, casting some doubt on Wall Street’s second-half recovery hopes.

The Commerce Department said retail sales fell by 0.1% in July, much weaker than the 0.7% rise economists had forecasted. Excluding auto sales, which received a boost from the government's "cash for clunkers" program, retail sales fell 0.6%. Despite the report, the retail sector avoided a knee-jerk sell off on Thursday. Shares of retailers like Sears (SHLD) and Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) ended flat to slightly higher.

On the jobs front, the Labor Department said initial jobless claims rose by 4,000 last week to 558,000. Wall Street had been looking for a decline of 5,000. The government said continuing claims plunged by 141,000 to 6.2 million as unemployment benefits continue to be exhausted.

The negative domestic economic news stood in contrast to headlines out of Europe, where Germany and France surprised the markets by posting positive GDP figures. The basic materials sector on Wall Street rose in response as metals and mining stocks like Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) and AK Steel Holding (AKS) rose sharply.

The markets received a brief boost after the results of the Treasury Department said its 30-year auction received solid demand, capping off a successful week of bond auctions. The Treasury sales could help further ease fears on Wall Street about the government's ability to finance its growing debt load.

“Any concerns about the government’s ability to sell its longer maturity debt have once again been refuted,” Dan Greenhaus, chief economic strategist at Miller Tabak, wrote in a note.“Yesterday’s ten year and today’s thirty year auction have both gone quite well and have done so in the face of a powerful equity market rally.”

Wall Street also cheered Wal-Mart’s quarterly results, as the Dow component beat the Street with a profit of 88 cents per share despite a 1.2% decline in U.S. same-store sales. At the same time, Wal-Mart, which sells 10% of all goods in the U.S., upped the lower end of its full-year earnings guidance and forecasted an in-line profit for the current quarter.

On the commodities front, crude oil gained ground for the second day in a row but closed well off its highs. Crude settled at $70.52 a barrel, up 36 cents, or 0.51%.

Corporate Movers

Las Vegas Sands (LVS) soared 12% after the casino operator said it completed an amendment to its $3.3 billion Macau credit facility. The amendment increases the company's interest rates but gives it flexibility to sell a minority stake in its Macau operations.

Kohl's (KSS) disclosed a 3% drop in net income but the retailer’s EPS of 75 cents topped estimates. Kohl’s said net sales rose 2.2% but same-store sales fell 2.3%. At the same time, the department store chain upgraded its full-year guidance.

Urban Outfitters (URBN) reported a 14% decline in net income but the retailer’s EPS of 29 cents a share topped estimates. The company’s second-quarter sales rose by a better-than-expected 1% to $459 million even as its same-store sales tumbled 3%.

Estee Lauder (EL) reported a net loss in its latest quarter amid weak sales but the beauty products company’s adjusted-profit of 20 cents per share matched the Street’s view.Net sales tumbled by 16% to $1.68 billion, missing a $1.72 billion target.

DuPont (DD) unveiled plans to streamline its organization by consolidating its wide-ranging 23 businesses and eliminating five group vice president positions. The Dow component also named a new leadership team in the wake of the retirement of Richard Goodmanson, its chief operating officer.

E*Trade Financial (ETFC) tumbled 3% after hedge fund Citadel Investment Group said in a regulatory filing it plans to sell as much as 80% of its stake in the online brokerage.

Dr Pepper Snapple (DPS) easily beat the Street with a 46% jump in net income to 62 cents per share. The maker of Snapple and Mott's apple juice said its net sales tumbled 4% to $1.48 billion. Dr. Pepper also upgraded its 2009 profit outlook.

Data Dump

The Commerce Department said total business inventories tumbled by 1.1% in June, a larger increase than economists had called for and the 10th consecutive month of falling inventories. At the same time, business sales climbed by 0.9% to $975.8 billion in June.

Global Markets

European markets closed higher for the second straight day. London's FTSE 100 gained 0.82% to 4755.46, France's CAC 40 rose 0.49% to 3524.39 and Germany's DAX climbed 0.95% to 5401.11.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 closed up 0.79% to 10517.19, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rallied 2.08% to 20861.30 and China's Shanghai Composite jumped 0.89% to 3140.56.

Retail sales dip 0.1 percent in JulyAffiliated Computer Services Beats Street

Market Winners & Losers: Harris Corp, E*Trade

Despite worse-than-expected retail sales the major indices closed the session in positive territory. The Dow gained 0.4%, the S&P added 0.7% and the Nasdaq traded up 0.5%.

Here are Thursday’s winners and losers

Winners:

Harris Corp. (HRS)

The IT company watched shares soar 12.1% on better-that-expected quarterly earnings. HRS shares closed at $34.19,a gain off $3.70.

Tellabs Inc. (TLAB)

An upgrade from Morgan Keegan pushed the communication company up 10%. TLAB shares last traded at $6.85, up 62 cents.

Massey Energy Co. (MEE)

The coal producer followed the sector’s upward trend up 8.4%. MEE shares finished trading at $30.54, a gain of $2.36.

Regions Financial Corp. (RF)

News that hedge Paulson & Co. purchased 35 million shares of the bank skyrocketed the stock up 7.9% Thursday. RF shares closed at $5.20, a gain of 38 cents.

Tenet Healthcare Corp. (THC)

The health-care services company led the sector with a 7.5% gain. THC shares last traded at $4.43, up 31 cents.

Losers:

E*Trade Financial Corp. (ETFC)

The stock plummeted 4.1% on the news that Citadel Investment Group sold its shares in the online-investing company. ETFC shares last traded at $1.40, down 6 cents.

Constellation Energy Group Inc. (CEG)

The utility provider recovered from session lows but still traded down 4.1%. CEG shares closed at $29.03, a loss of $1.23.

CBS Corp. (CBS)

A Caris downgrade dropped the broadcasting company 4%. CBS shares ended the session at $10.29, down 43 cents.

D.R. Horton Inc. (DHI)

A Citi downgrade cost the homebuilder 3.7%. DHI shares finished Thursday at $12.95, a loss of 50 cents.

Washington Post Co. (WPO)

The publisher fell 3.4% to end the session. WPO shares last traded at $475.60, a loss of $16.76.

Market Winners & Losers: Starbucks, Allegheny TechnologiesExperts point out where good buys might be

Bears Feast on Ugly Data; Dow Falls 77

Wall Street's recovery hopes hit more turbulence on Friday as a surprise decline in consumer sentiment spooked the markets, pushing them to their first losing week in more than a month.

Today’s Markets

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 76.79 points, or 0.82%, to 9321.40, the Standard & Poor's 500 dropped 8.64 points, or 0.85%, to 1004.09 and the Nasdaq Composite slid 23.83 points, or 1.19%, to 1985.52. The consumer-friendly FOX 50 tumbled 3.76 points, or 0.51%, to 733.08.

The worse-than-expected sentiment data, coupled with Thursday's unexpected drop in retail sales, raise doubts about the economic recovery that Wall Street has been betting on all summer. The Dow had soared 15% over the past four weeks, ending at nine-month highs as recently as Thursday.

“I think it’s a market getting tired. We’ve had a spectacular run. I personally believe it would be very healthy for the market to pull back by 10%,” NYSE trader Ben Willis of VDM Institutional Brokerage told FOX Business.

The markets ended well off their worst levels as the Dow had been down 166 points before a round of late-day buying. Still, Friday's selloff sent the Dow to its first losing week since the second week of July.

But the losses were minor when compared to the recent run up. The Dow fell just 48 points this week and had been on track to close in the green until Friday's tumble. By contrast, the benchmark index surged 1252 points during its recent rally on signs the U.S. economy is slowly recovering.

Nearly every single Dow stock lost ground on Friday, led by DuPont (DD), Alcoa (AA) and Boeing (BA). Defensive stock Coca-Cola (KO) and Bank of America (BAC) bucked the trend, ending in the green.

The Nasdaq Composite tumbled nearly 1.5% as tech stocks like Adobe (ADBE) and eBay (EBAY) fell sharply.

Even the bears remain dubious about the chances the summer surge will turn into a late summer selloff.

“I still think the uptrend is in place. It’s going to be tough to fight this,” said Joe Saluzzi, co-head of trading at Themis Trading, who still believes the markets will retest their March lows. “As bearish as I am, I will not fight it. But I will remain suspect and still not believe it.”

Friday's selloff began after the Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary consumer sentiment index was released, showing sentiment fell to 63.2 in August, down from 66 the month before. Economists expected sentiment to tick up to 70 as news about the economy has improved.

Wall Street closely follows sentiment data as consumer spending accounts for more than two-thirds of the U.S. economy. Consumer discretionary stocks like Ford (F) and Macy's (M) tumbled on the report.The disappointing sentiment data comes just a day after the Commerce Department said retail sales unexpectedly fell 0.1% last month.

The markets had a more muted reaction to the latest tame consumer price data, which suggested inflation is still not a threat to the U.S. economy in the short term. The Labor Department said its consumer price index was unchanged in July from the prior month, matching economists’ expectations. However, consumer prices are off by 2.1% from a year ago, the largest annual drop in 59 years.

The tame CPI report should ease fears about a spike in inflation hurting an economic recovery and should also give the Federal Reserve flexibility as it begins to unwind one of the greatest interventions in history.

Commodity markets followed Wall Street into the red this week as crude oil settled at two-week lows amid the gloomy consumer data. Ending a four-week rally, crude fell $3.01 a barrel, or 4.27%, on Friday to settle at $67.51.

Corporate Movers

BB&T (BBT) plans to buy Colonial Bank’s (CNB) deposits after the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation seizes the Southern bank, Dow Jones Newswires reported. Colonial’s seizure would mark the largest bank failure of the year.

Boeing (BA) has halted work at an Italian plant that makes the fuselage of its new 787 Dreamliner aircraft amid new production flaws, The Wall Street Journal reported. It’s not clear how the latest snag will affect production of the airliner, which is already two years behind schedule.

J.C. Penney (JCP) beat the Street with break-even EPS for the second quarter and an in-line sales decrease of 7.9%. However, the department store operator issued a weaker-than-expected outlook for the current quarter and cautious guidance for 2009.

Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) swung to a loss of 30 cents per share amid a 30% plunge in same-store sales. However, A&F said its revenue slid 23% to $648.5 million, topping the Street’s view.

Autodesk (ADSK) saw its shares climb 5% as Wall Street cheered the software maker’s better-than-expected earnings and in-line guidance. The Adobe (ADBE) rival said late Thursday its net income plunged 88% but posted an adjusted-profit of 24 cents a share, easily topping analysts’ forecast.

Barnes & Noble (BKS) tumbled 9% after Credit Suisse downgraded the largest U.S. bookseller to “underperform.” The analysts slammed the company’s $596 million acquisition of Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, saying the deal “makes little sense” in the long term.

Republic Airways (RJET) was picked by a bankruptcy court judge over Southwest Airlines (LUV) as the winning bidder for Frontier Airlines. Republic's $108.75 million bid beat out Southwest's $170 million bid after Southwest's pilot union was unable to reach an agreement with its Frontier counterparts.

Blackstone (BX) CEO Stephen Schwartzman was named 2008’s highest paid executive by the Corporate Library after the buyout firm chief took in a reported $702 million in compensation and stock equity grants that vested last year. Blackstone disputed the calculations by the Corporate Library.

Data Dump

The Federal Reserve said industrial production rose 0.5% in July, just shy of the 0.6% analysts had expected. It was the first up tick in production since October and just the second since the recession began at the end of 2007.

Global Markets

European markets closed in the red, snapping their four-week win streak. England's FTSE 100 fell 0.87% to 4713.97, France's CAC 40 lost 0.83% to 3495.27 and Germany's DAX dropped 1.70% to 5309.11.

Asian markets closed mixed overnight as Japan's Nikkei 225 rallied 0.76% to 10597.33 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 0.15% to 20893.33 but China's Shanghai Composite dropped 2.98% to 3046.97.

Stocks End Mixed; Microsoft PlungesNew jobless claims rise unexpectedly to 558,000

Madoff's Right Hand Man Pleads Guilty

Bernard Madoff’s right-hand man, Frank DiPascali, admitted Tuesday that he played a key role in orchestrating the largest investment fraud in history.

DiPascali, 52, now faces 125 years in prison after pleading guilty to the following 10 counts: conspiracy, securities fraud, investment adviser fraud, falsifying books and records of a broker dealer, falsifying books and records of an investment adviser, mail fraud, wire fraud, international money laundering to promote specified unlawful activity, perjury, and federal income tax evasion.

Prosecucutors said they would ask that DiPascali be held on $2.5 million bail.

During a hearing in federal court in lower Manhattan, DiPascali apologized to victims of the fraud and admitted to essentially running the day-to-day operations of Madoff’s investment firm. “It was all fake. It was all fictitious,” he said.

DiPascali is just the third person to face criminal charges as a result of Madoff’s massive Ponzi scheme.

Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Tuesday that civil charges have been filed against DiPascali charging him with fraud.

“DiPascali and Madoff ran an extraordinary and massive counterfeiting operation that concealed their fraud from investors and regulators alike,” said Robert Khuzami, Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, in a statement.

The criminal case against DiPascali was widely anticipated, as DiPascali was listed as the chief financial officer of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities. In testimony Tuesday, DiPascali confirmed what investigators had determined months ago. Namely, that Madoff’s investment firm did not conduct a single trade for investors for many years prior to Madoff's arrest and that all of the financial statement created by employees were fraudulent.

If, as believed, DiPascali is talking with authorities, his cooperation could be damaging for others who did business with Madoff, especially the managers of so-called feeder funds who acted as de facto agents for Madoff’s business.

The government has requested a sentencing date for May 2010, presumably to give investigators time to work with DiPascali.

DiPascali was almost certainly in a position to know which money managers with whom Madoff did business knew that Madoff was running a scam.

Madoff was arrested in December after confessing to FBI agents that he had bilked investors of billions of dollars. He subsequently pleaded guilty to 11 felony counts and was sentenced in June to 150 years in jail.

Madoff’s accountant, David Friehling, was charged in March in a criminal complaint with fraud for allegedly rubber stamping audits of Madoff’s financial statements.

DiPascali’s attorneys issued a statement Friday saying they would have no comment on the criminal case.

Al Lewis: Don’t Know Much About BankruptcyWall St. seeks to extend rally

Cavuto: Now it's Chuck Grassley's Turn

Missed Wednesday's Cavuto ? Catch "The Deal" right here on FOXBusiness.com

Now it's Chuck Grassley's turn.

And here's the deal:

One of the gang of six is getting ganged up on.

Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley...One of the so called "Gang of Six" key swing senators, considered crucial to the passage of health-care reform, getting an earful on health-care reform.

Right now, he's holding one of those now very familiar town hall meetings.

His now Democratic colleague Arlen Specter all but shouted down at a couple of forums he hosted yesterday.

But Republicans by and large, unscathed in this public scathing.

That is, until now.

Now Grassley will see it -- and hear it -- for himself.

Here's why.

Grassley's one of the few Republicans open to some, actually a lot, of the things President Obama wants to do on health care.

That's why the President keeps inviting him to the White House. And trying to broker a deal from the White House.

He needs Grassley.

Anything to show whatever the President comes up with will have bipartisan support, even if it also means actually very little Republican support.

Something is better than nothing.

And Grassley is something.

Actually, he's a big something.

And for those planning to question their Senator today, he's a big target too.

The very face of the very big government health care a lot of 'em don't want, and a lot of 'em blame Grassley for pushing.

So stick around...This thing is going on as we speak.

Things could get interesting.

And loud.

Cavuto: Health-Care Thing Losing Ground to Harvard Professor ThingTwo tax plans would take a big bite from the rich

Jobless Recovery Means Sacrifices for the Still Employed

A ‘jobless recovery’ seems like the worst kind of oxymoron.

How can the U.S. economy hope to recover if that recovery doesn’t include replacing some of the 7 million jobs lost in the past two years as the country has struggled through one of the worst economic downturns since the Great Depression?

In the first place, the term is more of a misnomer than an oxymoron.

“There will be hiring but it will be hesitant,” explained Gus Faucher, the director of macroeconomics for Moody’s Economy.com

It’s really fairly simple, according to Faucher: gross domestic product, or the total market value of all goods and services produced in the U.S., is starting to grow and with it the U.S. economy.

But businesses, badly weakened by the recession, will continue to shed jobs for several more months, albeit at a much slower pace than seen since the layoffs began back in 2007.

There’s evidence that’s already happening. Consider the surprising dip in the jobless rate announced Friday. U.S. employers cut just 247,000 jobs, the fewest in a year, and the unemployment rate dipped to 9.4%, its first decline in 15 months. Economists had widely expected the number to jump to 9.6%.

And then factor in Thursday’s relatively positive numbers – the Labor Department reported that new claims for unemployment benefits fell to 550,000 last week from 588,000 in the previous week. Economists had predicted the claims would be around 580,000.

So it seems on the labor front things are getting worse slower, the same dynamic that began to spur optimism in the broader economy earlier this year.

“Employment always lags economic expansion,” said Faucher.

Faucher predicted that as the recovery takes hold the unemployment rate will decline, but it will do so “very slowly” due to the severity of the current recession.

Faucher said he expects the difficult hiring environment to last through most of next year despite increasing signs that the economy is expanding. And despite Friday’s pleasant surprise, most economists still believe the unemployment rate will hit double digits before it turns around in earnest.

In any case, Faucher stressed that the all-encompassing term ‘jobless recovery’ is largely inaccurate. “It’s not really jobless,” he said.

The primary causes for the conflict between hiring and economic growth are twofold. First, much of the growth is being fueled by federal spending -- one-time funding that will dry up at some point. Second, growth has resulted from cuts made by employers who have scaled back on the costs of their operations.

Both of these factors virtually ensure that employers are going to be extremely reluctant to start hiring again until they’re absolutely certain that the economy is back up and humming at pre-recession levels.

Just ask them.

“We’re gonna be sure that we’ve got our feet on solid ground before we do any more hires,” said Diann Alford, owner of Two Sisters’ Kitchen, a restaurant in downtown Jackson, Miss.

For two decades, locals have headed to Two Sisters at lunchtime – many of them from the nearby state capital -- for the kind of fare their grandmothers used to cook on Sundays: homemade fried chicken, country fried steak (so tender you don’t need a knife, according to a recent review) and fried green tomatoes.

But business has fallen off 30% to 40% since the economy soured, according to Alford.

It’s been a struggle to make ends meet, she said, as many regular customers have apparently shifted to brown bags and other less expensive alternatives in an effort to cutback.

Rather than layoff any of her 10 employees, Alford said she spoke to all of the members of her staff and they all agreed to scale back on their hours. So no one has to be let go the employees take turns leaving early.

“The people who’ve been with me have been with me for a long time and we don’t want to let them go. So we’re all making sacrifices,” she said.

Most of her employees have been with her a minimum of four years, she noted, an unusually long time in an industry known for high turnover.

In order to pick up the slack caused by the need for her employees to cut back on hours, she and her daughter are wearing two or three hats, including at times the chef’s hat. A college-aged neice is also contributing a few hours a week when she’s needed.

Alford said she doesn’t expect the employment situation to change any time soon.

“I won’t be hiring more people beyond a shadow of a doubt,” she said. “The ones who are here will have to work harder.”

These same sentiments are being expressed by employers and their staffs across the U.S., and it’s these conditions that will prolong the so-called ‘jobless recovery.’

Alford also gives voice to the sense of optimism that the worst is over.

“My business will pick up and people will be coming in again,” she said. “We’re just gonna suck it up until things turn around.”

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Affiliated Computer Services Beats Street

Affiliated Computer Services (ACS) said after the markets closed Thursday that its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings were down from a year ago but better than Wall Street’s expectations.

The company’s profit fell to $97.5 million, or 99 cents a share, from $98.6 million, or $1.01 a share, in the year-ago period.

Excluding one-time items, the company would have reported a profit of 95 cents a share. Revenue rose to $1.7 billion from $1.61 billion last year.

Analysts had estimated a quarterly profit of 95 cents a share on revenue of $1.68 billion.

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