After the bell, Intel (NasdaqGS: INTC) reported a record year and higher than expected earnings with a whopping 4th quarter net income of $3.4 billion or 59 cents per share. The street had been expecting 53 cents a share. What also stands out to me is the company experienced top line growth and also gave a stronger outlook for the current quarter. The 4th quarter earnings were derived from revenues of $11.5 billion compared to $10.57 billion for the year earlier period. In one of my previous blogs at the end of last year, I eluded to the need for top-line growth as one of the key factors for the current market rally to continue. Now I know this is only one company reporting and indeed it’s encouraging to see some top-line growth, however this trend must continue on a much broader scale.

Next week you have got other Tech Titans reporting such as Apple Inc. (NasdaqGS: AAPL) and Google (NasdaqGS: GOOG) along with options expiriation. So I expect a very volatile week ahead and hopefully a very profitable one as well. Good luck to all.

~George