It looks like pessimism reigns again. Asian markets are in the red, with the Nikkei off more than 9%. Europe is also showing massive losses. All and all, things look pretty lousy out there. At present, the Dow and the S&P futures are both well in the red.

Could today be a capitulation day?

General Electric (GE)
I don’t know if they're going to “bring good things to life” today, but GE reported Q3 EPS from continuing ops of $0.45 per share, inline with the $0.43 to $0.48 per share guidance it issued a few weeks back.

Normally, I wouldn’t bat an eyelash at something like this. But in this market, meeting expectations is worth mentioning. Per CNBC, “The company said it is on track to meet its revised full-year guidance.” Another plus.

Finally, I’d like to mention that the release itself seemed pretty upbeat, particularly considering all the carnage in the financial markets. Its chief exec, Jeff Immelt offered up the following:

“We have taken a number of steps to protect investors from the downside risk in financial services, and we have ways to mitigate potential disruptions in infrastructure and media markets... We have big backlogs, great products, stable service revenue, strong operating discipline, an unmatched global position and multiple revenue streams... Our Board has approved our plan to sustain the GE dividend through 2009.”

So would I buy the stock here?

Like most of you, I’m skeptical of jumping into this market full force, and for good reason. But I do think that, a couple of years down the road, the shares have the potential to trade much higher.

Okay, okay - that’s a half-assed response. But here’s the rub: I can’t call a bottom at this point. But I do think that the company still has some decent longer-term earnings potential.

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