After sprinting out of the starting blocks to begin the year, stocks paused last week as disappointing earnings from Alcoa and JP Morgan, along with sluggish economic data helped temper, at least briefly, investors’ enthusiasm for equities.  The Dow and S&p 500 each lost less than 1%, while the Nasdaq and the Russell 2000 bore the brunty of the selling pressure. The Dow lost 8 points, reducing its year-to-date gains to 1.7% after closing at 10609. The Nasdaq declined 29 points, or 1.3% t o 2287, but is still up 0.8% for the year. The S&P 500 fell nearly 9 points, but is up 1.9% for the year after closing at 1136. The Russell lost 6 points, but is still the best performing index, up 2% year-to-date.

Earnings Season began on a sour note, as Alcoa missed on the bottom line, resulting in its stock losing 11%. While JP Morgan Chase beat its bottom-line, it missed on the top-line, raising concerns that revenue growth would remain tepid at financial institutions for a while. Even Intel, which beat expectations on both the top and bottom-lines could not generate enthusiasm from investors, as the stock declined the day after earnings.

With Earnings Season in full force next week, volatility could increase. Investors may consider watching a key support/resistance level on the S&P 500. The S&P has been range bound between 1130 and the 1150 area.  However, the chart suggests that after six consecutive “up” days to begin the year, that stock are "overbought" technically.  If stocks should retreat, watch the 1130 area which lines up with the current November/December uptrend \ and the 20-day exponential moving average (1130).  If support at that level doesn’t hold, the area around the 1110/1115 area, which marked the top of the November/December range and the 50-day moving averages.

Despite a holiday-shortened week, as the market is closed Monday for Martin Luther King Day, the earnings calendar will be extremely busy, with many of the most influential companies issuing results. Tuesday morning, Citigroup (NYSE: C) is scheduled to report results, while IBM (NYSE: IBM) is expected to post results after the bell.

Wednesday morning, Bank of New York (NYSE: BK), Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) posts results, along with several influential regional banks. After the close, eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY), Starbucks (NYSE: SBUX) and Xilinx (NASDAQ: XLNX) report. On Thursday morning, Charles Schwab (NASDAQ: SCHW), Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) and PNC Bank (NYSE: PNC) issue earnings reports. After the close, look for American Express (NYSE: AXP) and Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) to report. On Friday morning, General Electric (NYSE: GE) posts results.

While investors are expected to focus on the earnings calendar, the election for Edward M. Kennedy’s vacant Senate seat on Tuesday could have broad implications for the economy. A win by Massachusetts Democrat Martha Coakley would give President Obama the majority he needs to pass his health care bill in the Senate.  However, if Republican State Senator Scott Brown were to prevail, in what is widely viewed as a proxy on the President’s healthcare, taxes and government spending policies, it could derail Obama’s health care agenda. As of publication, the race was viewed as too close to call in the heavily Democratic state.

While the corporate calendar is busy, the economic calendar is relatively quiet. Tuesday there will be large auctions of Treasury Bills as the government will sell $23 billion of three-month and $25 billion of 6-month bonds. On Wednesday, December Housing Starts and Building Permits will be announced, along with the Producer Price Index for December, which is again expected to show that inflation is tame. Thursday brings the announcement of Weekly Jobless Claims, Leading Indicators for December and the January Philadelphia Fed Report.

Volume Alert:  In one of the most astonishing volume breakouts we have seen in some time, shares of NewCardio, Inc., (OTCBB: NWCI) a cardiac diagnostic technology provider, nearly doubled last week on explosive volume, after an Internet blog suggested that the company could become an acquisition candidate. The stock, which was thinly traded until approximately two weeks ago, surged on more than 40 times average volume, culminating on Friday with the stock rallying more than 20% on 2.2 million shares. Interest may have been heightened after the company said last week that it received notice of allowance for U.S. patent 7,647,093, titled "Apparatus and method for cordless recording and telecommunication transmission of three special ECG leads and their processing,"  from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. This represents the core patent for CardioBip, a unique, hand-held device that provides a solution for ECG telemonitoring. Shares ended the week at $1.88, up 93 cents.

Volume Alert: Shares of stem cell company Neuralstem (NYSE AMEX: CUR) continued to surge on heavy volume, jumping 23% last week on three times average trade, likely helped by the announcement last month that its Phase I trial to treat Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease) with its spinal cord stem cells was approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) at Emory University in Atlanta, GA. The trial, which was approved by the FDA in September, will take place at the Emory ALS Center, under the direction of Dr. Jonathan Glass M.D., Director of the Emory ALS Center, who will serve as the site Principal Investigator. Shares ended the week at $2.40, up 45 cents.

Enzo Biochem, Inc. (NYSE: ENZ) said last week that its Clinical Labs division has become one of the first diagnostic laboratories to make available a rapid and sensitive H1N1 PCR test for the swine flu virus. Enzo Clinical Labs serves physicians throughout the Metropolitan New York area, as well as New Jersey and parts of Pennsylvania. The H1N1 identification is very specific, without cross-detection of other influenza variant subtypes according to the company. Shares ended the week at $5.89, down 25 cents.

Healthcare services company Hythiam (NASDAQ: HYTM) announced last week the publication of a paper titled, “Application of Multivariate Probabilistic (Bayesian) Networks to Substance use Disorder Risk Stratification and Cost Estimation,” in Perspectives in Health Information Management, Volume 6, Fall 2009. The predictive modeling work that forms the basis for the publication was sponsored by Hythiam to develop advanced tools for use in its Catasys program. The paper features the creation of predictive models that draw on historic healthcare claims and diagnostic data to estimate the expected future costs of a population with a substance dependence diagnosis, and that can stratify the population based on the expected benefit of intervention. Hythiam expects the models to be used to develop new and innovative approaches for substance dependence solutions that result in improved member care and reduced costs for healthcare payors. Shares ended the week at $0.52, down 2 cents.

PositiveID Corporation (NASDAQ: PSID) said last week that it plans to expand its HealthID division by adding products and tools for the daily management of diabetes. In addition to the continued development of its in vivo glucose-sensing RFID microchip to detect glucose levels in the human body, PSID is planning to broaden its technology platform by adding complementary non-invasive glucose-level testing technologies. According to a November 2009 study by researchers at the University of Chicago published in the journal Diabetes Care, the number of diabetics in the U.S., which currently stands at 23.7 million, may almost double in 25 years, and the annual cost of treating them may triple to $336 billion. Shares ended the week at $1.07, down 6 cents.

CEL-SCI Corporation (NYSE AMEX: CVM), a late-stage cancer company, reported results last week for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2009. CEL-SCI ended the year in its strongest financial condition ever, with more than $33 million in cash and cash equivalents and an unqualified audit report. A majority of the proceeds will be used for the company's upcoming Phase III clinical trial of its cancer drug Multikine. In connection with that, the company appointed Todd S. Burkhart as Vice President of Manufacturing/Facilities and Commercial Operations for its manufacturing facility. The company has a facility where it will produce Multikine. Shares ended the week at $0.94, up 4 cents.

 Volume Alert: Shares of Money4Gold, Inc. (OTCBB: MFGD), an emerging global leader in direct-from-consumer, reverse logistics specializing in the procurement of precious metals and stones, surged nearly 16% on more than four times average volume last week. MFGD reported strong third quarter results for the period ended September 30, 2009, as the company reported gross revenue of $6.8 million, an increase of 871.4% compared to gross revenue of $0.7 million in the year-earlier period and 460.4% compared to gross revenue of $1.5 million in the previous quarter. The company said it expected “dramatic” revenue growth in the fourth quarter as well. The stock ended the week at $0.37, up 5 cents.

Forbes Medi-Tech (NASDAQ: FMTI) said last week that it has appealed its delisting to the Nasdaq Staff Deficiency Hearings Panel. The Nasdaq Staff Deficiency determination indicated that the Company does not meet The Nasdaq Capital Market initial listing standard as set forth in Listing Rule 5505. The Company will be preparing a plan to regain compliance with the NASDAQ initial listing standard and will be submitting the plan to the Panel. Shares ended the week at $0.30, down 1 cent.

IceWEB, Inc.  (OTCBB: IWEB), a provider of cloud computing storage solutions, said last week that its Iplicity Data Storage platform fully enables disk storage capability available in non-Iplicity based legacy storage vendor products such as those produced by EMC Corporation, Network Appliance, Hitachi, Equalogic, Hewlett Packard, and IBM. Shares ended the week at $0.12, down 1 cent.

Drinks Americas Holdings, Ltd. (OTCBB: DKAM), an owner, developer and marketer of premium beverages associated with renowned icons, announced today that the company is planning to register an up to $30 million Rights Offering for tradable transferable subscription rights to purchase Units worth up to $30,000,000.  Each holder of DKAM’s outstanding shares of Common Stock as of the Rights Offering record date will receive a dividend of one Right for each five hundred shares of Common Stock owned.  Each Right shall be exercisable into one Unit, to consist of one voting share of Preferred Stock one three-year cash exercise Warrant exercisable into one share of Preferred Stock.  Rightholders may also exchange their respective shares of Common Stock in lieu of cash for up to 50% of the amount of Rights that such investor is exercising at a ratio of five thousand shares of Common Stock for each one  Unit. Shares ended the week at $0.029, unchanged.

Sparta Commercial Services, Inc. (OTCBB: SRCO) said last week that in the month of December the cities of Clovis, NM, Flagler Beach, FL, and Cocoa Beach, FL were the latest cities to join the local governments utilizing Sparta's Municipal Lease Program. Additionally, the city of Caldwell, TX has recently renewed its municipal leases for a second term. The Sparta Municipal Lease Program offers an alternative to the traditional outright purchases of equipment required by local, city, or state governments, enabling the agencies to lease their equipment, rather than purchase it, and thereby extend the payments over a period of several years. Sparta's Municipal Lease Program can support many other asset classes in addition to the police motorcycles leased by these cities. Shares ended the week at $0.035, up $0.005 cents.

On the Wires: One Bio Corp. (OTCBB: ONBI) announced today that it has bolstered its Board through the appointment of four independent directors: Professor Qingsheng Fan, James Fernandes, Jan Koe and Frank Klees. The executives have extensive experience in the pharmaceutical industry and strong financial credentials. In order to get listed on a national exchange, a majority of a company’s directors must be independent.

A profile, description, or other mention of a company in the newsletter is neither an offer nor solicitation to buy or sell any securities mentioned. While we believe all sources of information to be factual and reliable, in no way do we represent or guarantee the accuracy thereof, nor the statements made herein. THE READER SHOULD VERIFY ALL CLAIMS AND DO ITS OWN DUE DILIGENCE BEFORE INVESTING IN ANY SECURITIES MENTIONED. This publication accepts compensation from companies that it features. This newsletter should not be regarded as an independent publication. Our editors may, from time to time, acquire positions in the companies that they cover. This could represent a conflict of interest. The CEOcast newsletter shall be under no obligation to inform readers about its trading activities. CEOcast's editors reserve the right to buy or sell shares in these companies at any time. The following companies, featured in this newsletter, have compensated CEOcast: Neuralstem seven-thousand five hundred dollars per month and forty-five thousand shares of stock for a six-month agreement. iceWEB, seven thousand five hundred dollars per month in cash, plus seven thousand five hundred dollars in stock per month for a six-month agreement, NewCardio, seven thousand five hundred dollars per month and two hundred thousand shares of stock for a six-month agreement, Forbes Medi-Tech, ten thousand dollars per month, Hythiam, ten thousand dollars per month and two hundred fifty thousand shares of stock for a one-year agreement, Drinks America, seven thousand five hundred dollars per month and six hundred thousand shares of stock, ONE Holdings, fourteen thousand three hundred seventy five dollars per month, CEL SCI Corporation, five thousand dollars and three hundred fifty thousand shares of stock for a one-year program, Money4Gold, nine thousand dollars per month and four hundred thousand shares of stock for a six-month agreement, Forbes Medi-Tech, twelve thousand five hundred dollars per month, Sparta Commercial, twelve thousand five hundred dollars per month through a combination of cash and stock, PositiveID, twelve thousand five hundred dollars per month for a one-year agreement.