Today on <I>TSC</I>: Lots of Earnings With IBM Leading the Charge

It's been a torrent of mergers, news and earnings for a couple of days now, resulting in some of the most volatile trading in weeks.

IBM

(IBM) - Get Report

came in big and the Fed Chairman

Alan Greenspan

had

nothing surprising up his sleeve, giving the markets a shot in the arm after a down week.

Key stocks:

JDS Uniphase

(JDSU)

has bolted upward again, as markets writer

Justin Lahart

said it would last night after the

announcement that it's been placed in the

S&P 500

index. And it took a lot of tech stocks with it. Meanwhile, all eyes are turning to

America Online

(AOL)

which is scheduled to report earnings after the close today. We'll be there.

What you might have missed:

Our primary mission here at

TSC

is to get behind the first burst of news and analyze how the news will affect you as an investor. Reporter

George Mannes

looked at the huge

CNet

(CNET) - Get Report

/

ZDNet

(ZDZ)

deal yesterday, and columnist

Herb Greenberg

dissected the

Intel

(INTC) - Get Report

and

Microsoft

(MSFT) - Get Report

earnings earlier in the week. The

results may surprise you.

What you don't want to miss:

Tonight, look for

Brett Fromson's

piece examining the plusses, and perils, of trying to find old-economy turnaround stocks.

Today's link:

Flip-flop: it's for more than just politicians.

Jonathan Krim is executive editor of TheStreet.com. In keeping with TSC's editorial policy, he doesn't own or short individual stocks, though he owns stock in TheStreet.com. He also doesn't invest in hedge funds or other private investment partnerships. He welcomes your feedback at

jkrim@thestreet.com.