Today Jackson Hewitt tax serviced released 2010 annual earnings results and reported earnings results which smashed through analyst estimates.

For fiscal year 2010, which ended on April 30, 2010 for Jack Hewitt, the company reported a net loss of $9.52 a share companied with net income of $0.68 cents a share. Many thought the losses would be greater.

Today the National Federation of Independent Businesses reported that in its survey of small business owners optimism over the economy has fallen. The Small Business Optimism Index fell 3.2 points to 89.

Historically when recessions have ended this index has risen over 100 points within two quarters of a bottom to an economic recession.

It looks like Playboy is about to cover up. Publicly traded Playboy Enterprises announced today that it received a proposal to go private for $5.50 per share in cash. The proposed deal came from Rizvi Traverse Management LLC and Hugh Hefner who looks to buy the publicly stock that he doesn't own.

Today reports are out that the SEC is meeting to decide on rules for market makers to tighten "stub quotes" to prevent any liquidity problems during times of violent trading in the market. Some believe that a lack of liquidity in the financial markets was a cause behind the "flash crash" of April when the DOW fell over 1,000 points in a day.

Shares of State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT) are on the rise today right off of the opening bell. As of 9:55 there stock is up 8.82% and excitement is in the air. People are bidding the stock up in response to positive news that the company announced.

This morning before the open the company announced that it expects higher than expected income for its second quarter earnings release.

The S&P 500 is currently are trading down -5.50 points while Nasdaq futures are down -8.30. Yesterday the stock market opened up with a hefty gap up and rallied a bit in the morning only to give up almost all of its gains by the close, causing some commentators to identify the action as a classic bear market trap.

Shares of Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. (Nasdaq: PTEN) are up over nine percent today on opening trading. Patterson, which owns and operates land-based drilling rigs in the United States announced that it bought the Pressure Pumping and Wireline business of Key Energy Services.

As of 6:25 AM DOW futures are up over 80 points on the backs of strong rebounds in markets across the globe. The Honk Kong stock exchange is up 1.22% while the Japanese Nikkei index closed up .77%.

Over in Europe the FTSE 100 is currently trading up 2.03% and is at a high for its day as I type this while the DAX is rallying 1.92%.

US markets are closed on Monday July 5th for the July 4th extended weekend Independence Day holiday. This hasn't stopped foreign markets from trading though.

Shares in most European markets are down a bit today with the BRTSE FTSE down .3 percent, although Germany's exchange is up just barely.

Japan's Nikkei 225 stock exchange index is also up .75% while Australia's market is down .4%

No doubt you have heard people talk about bull markets and bear markets before. For those who don't know what the terms mean: A bear market is nothing else but a continuous and sustained drop in the price of a wide selection of stocks over a period of time. Usually a market has to remain in a declining phase for at least two months and drop by at least 20% before described as a "bear".