Ah the Christmas season. The hustle the bustle the inevitable familial strife over whether everyone can afford exchanging gifts this year.While most folks are preparing for the holidays by weighing inexpensive presents against a three-year grudge courtesy of a brother-in-law with brand new earmuffs others are embroiled in a full-on war.I'm not speaking of the handful of conflicts that brave men and women are fighting overseas. This one takes place domestically each year and entails the petty family-oriented fanatics who treat their respective religions like scrappy but unlucky sports teams.Rejoice! "The War on Christmas" has returned and the first ...

The recession hasn’t taken a bite out of Petsmart’s (PETM) earnings thanks to the company’s ability to cut costs and slightly increase margins on essentially flat sales.The nation’s leading pet-supply retailer will report third-quarter 2009 earnings Wednesday. Last month Petsmart increased its earnings estimate to $0.25 to $0.29 a share from $0.20 to $0.24 a share. Analysts look for $0.28 a share. The company expects to earn between $1.43 and $1.51 a share for the year up from the revised estimate of $1.37 to $1.45.In the second quarter Petsmart’s revenue increased by 5.4% led by a 10.2% growth in ...

1. The Economic Crisis Takes a Virulent TurnThe word credit comes from the Latin "credere" which means "to believe or to trust." That's really all you need to know about the modern financial system. When the "credere" is gone the whole thing unravels  and it works both ways from lender to borrower and from borrower to lender. Now we've arrived at the point where that belief "credere" -- stretched to its limits by policies of endless credit expansion over the past two decades -- has been weakened to such an extent that it has developed what may be likened ...

Wal-Mart should log high single-digit sales and profit growth over the long haul.

The October retail sales numbers released this morning present a very mixed bag. Excluding autos strategists say they looked mediocre at best. More to the point the recent decision of corporate insiders to dump shares aggressively signals that investors might want to think twice before committing capital to this sector.Retail sales jumped 1.4% beating the 0.9% increase forecast by Wall Street. But excluding auto sales retail demand increased just 0.2% undershooting forecasts of a 0.4% rise according to Briefing.com.Offsetting the headline beat Uncle Sam also had this bit of ugly news: September sales revised down to a 2.3% decline ...

NOTE TO EDITORS: The Following Is an Investment Opinion Being Issued by TheFortuneFinancial.com.

NOTE TO EDITORS: The Following Is an Investment Opinion Being Issued by Ridgewater Equity (RWE).