Top 10 Most-Searched Stocks on TheStreet.com

Financials play a big part in the latest edition of the top 10 most searched stocks on TheStreet.com, namely thanks to Citigroup (C Quote) and Morgan Stanley (MS Quote), who agreed to a joint venture involving their brokerages.

Morgan Stanley will pay $2.7 billion for a 51% stake in the venture, which will combine Citi's Smith Barney unit with Morgan Stanley's wealth-management division. Citigroup is also moving up its earnings announcement to this Friday, when the company is expected to report dismal results and news on a big downsizing.

Next up is General Electric (GE Quote), a stock weighing on the Dow Jones Industrial Average in recent sessions. Part of the reason is that Barclays cut its fourth-quarter earnings expectation on GE, saying it believes the company will report numbers at the low end of its estimated range.

However, Jim Cramer is buying this stock on weakness for his Action Alerts Plus portfolio and focusing on the company's industrial division and recent contract wins. To see what else Cramer is buying and how he's navigating this market, email us for a free trial.

The last bank on the list is Bank of America (BAC Quote). The stock has been tumbling with its peers, and Ladenburg Thalmann has slashed its earnings estimates through 2010.

The company will report earnings on Tuesday, and investors anticipate more writedowns as BofA digests the Merrill Lynch acquisition. The big question is whether BofA will be able to preserve its dividend. In this turbulent market, it's important to pick the right dividends. David Peltier, portfolio manager of the Dividend Stock Advisor, warns against financial dividends and instead says to focus on consumer staples, such as Kimberly-Clark (KMB Quote).