Gilead Sciences breaks out of a trading range with the possibility of moving higher on analyst’s upgrades, improving profitability and a patent infringement case against Teva Pharmaceuticals.

The Federal Reserve cut lending rates aggressively on Tuesday allowing banks everywhere to offer 30 year mortgages at near 95 year record lows. The average rate dipped initially from 5.06% on Monday to 5.01% Tuesday. The rate banks can now lend to one another is set in a range from 0.25% to 0%. Plus the Federal Reserve continues to plan out the purchase of up to $500 billion in mortgage back bonds currently held by banks.

With the New Year and the 2008 Tax Season right around the corner, H&R Block is experiencing some buying interest which could translate into a buying opportunity. This past week the 13 day moving average (MA) crossed the 50 day MA for the stock indicating a technical break upward. The company has a decent dividend and has run from April till July the last four years.

Sony is planning on cutting 8,000 jobs to reduce expenses by $1.1 billion as the company struggles to stay profitable. They will also delay spending on manufacturing and streamline their supply chain. Technology companies in Asia are worried that others may have to take similar steps as the worldwide slow down has reduced demand to high-definition television sets, computers, and other small electronic devices.

Retailer in general and online retailers such as Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) rallied on Wednesday sending the markets upward for a strong finish to a lackluster day. Amazon moved 9.5% higher after comScore reported that sales online on Monday were 15% higher or $846 million more than last year on what is now called CyberMonday.

I was considering looking for some good long stocks with the recent week of gains but this morning’s manufacturing report of 36.2 versus the expected 38.4 has the markets falling sharply close to mid-day.

Citigroup Inc (NYSE: C) landed a big investor over the weekend. This time it wasn’t a sovereign fund or Warren Buffet, it was the US Government. The Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp all came together to purchase $306 billion in bad assets from the bank in addition to providing $20 billion in liquidity. The company may still need to take on $29 billion in losses due to this transfer.

Both the UltraShort Financials ProShares (SKF) and the UltraShort Real Estate ProShares (SRS) skyrocketed today as volitility moved higher and investors look for additional weakness in the Real Estate markets and the Financials.

A Goldman Sachs analyst today is predicting that losses at the biggest credit card companies will increase by 25% in the coming year as unemployment climbs and borrowers are unable to pay back the money they have outstanding. This increase would mean close to an 8% default rate compared to a current 6.35% rate.

This Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) seeks to reflect the performance of West Texas light sweet crude oil on a daily basis management minus fees. And you can imagine with the recent drop in gas prices and the recent drop in oil prices, this ETF has been under some tremendous pressure.