Sometimes most everything you need to know is in the headline. From Reuters this morning,

"Wall Street slips as investors brace for earnings start"

The market has been up quite a bit lately because of the possible end of the worst of the beginning of the recession's middle. And because we are getting out of Iraq. Or not. And because the Iran government is about to fall. Or isn't.

I don't think most investors are quite that spooky, but it seems that the bulk of the experts who write for them are common-loon crazy.

Because every three months, about the time quarterly earnings are announced, it occurs even to financial "journalists" that the value of a company's stock depends on how much money that the company (a) now has and (b) can earn.