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The question on everybody's mind this week was when will the declines end? Was that the so much talked about capitulation? Have the stock markets bottomed?

Well, I can't answer that, and suffice it to say that many market analysts, fundamental and technical, are still quite gloomy. Pretty much all we can do in this time is hope for flat performance from a few select stocks, which perhaps would yield good returns once the economy starts rebounding and the bear market has completed its course.

Here are some picks and pans from the past week from BloggingStocks contributors:

Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) -- Steven Halpern brought a recommendation from one of The Forbes Wireless Stock Watch advisors, Nikhil Hutheesing. In Hutheesing's words: "In the long run, smart investments today will lead to profits down the road. One of those companies, that I now think looks attractive, is the Canadian maker of the BlackBerry." Not only is RIMM's corporate business strong, it is also working on getting its phones to consumers. In addition, it has lots of cash and little to no long-term debt and great prospects, what the advisor is looking for in addition to value and fundamentals in this environment.

Lear Corp. (NYSE: LEA) is an auto parts supplier. Jamie Dlugosch bets on a bailout for the auto industry here. Today, Lear has a $110 million market capitalization, down from its peak within the last 52 weeks of $2.6 billion. If the bailout finally happens, owners of LEA could benefit greatly.

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) shares jumped over 12.5% in pre-market trade (7:34 am) after the The Wall Street Journal reported that the second-largest U.S. bank by assets may be weighing a sale of all or part of the company, including the Smith Barney brokerage, the credit card unit and the transaction services unit. Citi shares have lost over 25% of their value Thursday and have actually lost 50% this week as investors became concerns over whether it has enough capital. This morning the WSJ reported the bank is holding a board meeting to discuss the options. Citi shares continued their plunge today, down another nearly 19% by midday trading as CEO Pandit said the bank plans to keep Smith Barney.

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) reported Thursday after the close that fiscal third-quarter profit sank 5% as corporate spending on computers and other technology products declined due to economic concerns. But it seems Wall Street was expecting worse. DELL's earnings were 37 cents per shares in the quarter, 6 cents better than analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected. The stock traded nearly 5% higher in pre-market trading (7:41 am). Dell shares ended up declining in the session, down 5.4% by midday trading as analyst cut targets on the stock.

Salesforce.com, Inc. (NYSE: CRM) had investors cheering even louder as it said profit and revenue grew sharply -- 55% and 43% respectively -- in its fiscal third quarter, beating expectations. This could mean that online business software may be better insulated from the economic downturn than conventional offerings. CRM shares gained nearly 10% in pre-market trading (7:39 am). As markts grapple with Citi news, CRM shares declined over 6% by midday trading.

[Update 8:58: Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) named Mike Duke CEO and president, succeeding Lee Scott. WMT shares actually gained 1.7% by midday trading even as investors try to understand the timing of this management change.]

Finally. Finally, I can say that U.S. stock futures actually soared early Friday morning, following days of gut wrenching declines in the stock markets that had the Dow indsutrials Thursday closing below 7,600 in a 5.5% nose dive. The declines were partly due to the delay in the automotive sector government bailout that increased recession fears.

But Citigroup came and said late Thursday it may be open to selling itself, and along with upbeat results from Dell and Salesforce.com investors were a little more encouraged.

Meanwhile, overseas, European and Asian stock markets rebounded Friday with investors picking up financial, energy and commodity stocks, most beaten up lately. This, in turn, caused oil prices to rise from their 3-year low and rade back above $50 a barrel.

With no economic releases today, investors would focus on Citi. For now, at least, futures indcate a 2.5-3% higher start at the open on Wall Street.

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL), the personal computer maker, is due to report its financial results after the market close. The company is expected to post a 9% drop in earnings to 31 cents per share, according to Briefing.com. DELL shares were 1.5% higher in premarket trade (8:00 am). Dell shares were 2.7% lower about half an hour after the open.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) is seeking funds from China Investment Corp., Government of Singapore Investment Corp. and at least two other sovereign-wealth funds. GE shares have plunged some 60% this year as the company has lowered 2008 profit target twice. But GE also raised $3 billion last month as Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK) invested in the company. GE shares declined 8.3% around 9:55 am. The company said that while it is in talks with Asian investors about joint ventures, it has no intention of raising additional capital from sovereign-wealth funds.

General Motors Corp (NYSE: GM), Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) and Chrysler Llc returned empty-handed from Washington as the bailout plan for the automotive sector seems hanging by a thread. The sought after compromise couldn't be reached and the Senate canceled plans for a vote Wednesday. The Bush administration and congressional Republicans have rejected Democrats' plan to dip into the $700 billion Wall Street rescue fund for a $25 billion automotive sector bailout. Interestingly, some think no bailout will not send the stock market off a cliff. Meanwhile, Chrsyler still wants to merge with GM -- little wonder there.

However, GMAC Financial Services has applied to the Federal Reserve to become a bank holding company. If approved, it would allow GM's financing arm to be eligible for aid under the Treasury's $700 billion bank rescue plan, automotive bailout or not. Still, GM shares were down about 10% in premarket trade (8:05 am), just as Ford's were up 3.2% (8:05 am). GM shares were beaten down another 11.5% around 9:55 am, Ford's were down some 4.8%.

Often is the case that after a big selloff, stocks stage a rally. Alas, this is not the case today and I feel like I'm repeating myself every morning, but U.S. stock futures were lower Thursday, indicating stocks could further extend Wednesday's selloff. Yesterday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed below 8,000 for the first time since 2003 as it lost 5%. The S&P 500 sank 6% and the Nasdaq shed 6.5%. The same concerns that had U.S. markets plunging yesterday are the same ones affecting stock futures this morning: investors fear the happenings in the financial sector, are concerned about the automotive sector, and in general worried about the overall economy -- in the U.S and globally.

It didn't help that the Federal Reserve issued a gloomy outlook Wednesday, saying the economy is sinking into recession well into next year for a yearlong recession. It also didn't help that the auto bailout seems more unlikely.

Overseas markets followed American stocks lower as fears of global recession ecnompassed all markets. Major Asian markets posted heavy losses, with Japan's Nikkei losing nearly 7%. European shares were also lower, with shares in London, Germany and France trading 1.5-2% lower at the time of this writing. Meanwhile, oil prices fell below $53 a barrel to almost a two-year low Thursday on demand concerns..

Economic releases today include weekly jobless claims, which due at 8:30 a.m. EST. Somehow, economists think the number of claims have declined the past week. October leading indicators and November Philadelphia-area economic gauge are also due at 10:00 a.m. EST, both expected to show declines in economic activity.

General Motors (NYSE: GM), Ford (NYSE: F) and Chrysler executive will return to Congress on Wednesday. After facing less than a receptive Senate Tuesday, they will appear before a House committee today to plead for a "bridge loan" to give them a massive infusion of cash they need to stay afloat in their race against the clock. GM's CEO Wagoner "warned that the failure of the U.S. auto industry could lead to a loss of 3 million jobs within the first year and ripple throughout communities around the country," saying it would be a "catastrophic collapse." GM shares traded 2.9% lower and Ford's 2.4% lower in premarket action (8:04 am). GM shares have been plunging over 15% by midday trading and Ford's by nearly 25% as Senate lowers bailout expectations, seeking to compromise.

Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) is delaying jet deliveries by as much as 10 weeks as it attempts to recover from a strike by its machinists, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. BA shares were down 2.6%, with the market, by midday trading.

Toyota (NYSE: TM) -- The troubles in the auto industry don't affect just American carmakers.Toyota said Wednesday it will reduce production in the U.S. to cope with slowing sales there. It will stop production at all its plants in the U.S. and Canada for two extra days next month, and cut about half of 500 temporary workers at a plant in Georgetown, Kentucky by March. It will also reduce production of two models. TM shares were down 4% by midday trading.

U.S. stock futures were lower Wednesday morning, unable to hold on to the gains posted on Tuesday late in the session. While investors are still concerned over the Big Three bailout, they will also focus today on some key economic releases.

Overseas, European stock markets headed lower Wednesday following losses in Asia as investors worried how the global downturn could affect banking and commodity stocks. Meanwhile, oil continued its drive toward $50 a barrel, with oil prices dipping below $54 a barrel on fears global economic weakness will curb demand.

Data on prices and the housing sector will be released before the bell this morning, at 8:30 a.m. EST. October consumer price index, probably will show a dip of 0.5%, after being flat in September. Housing starts to fall 5% from September's levels to 780,000, according to Briefing.com. Building permits are expected to drop to 772,000 in October from 786,000. At 2 p.m., the Fed will release the minutes from its last meeting in which it cut rates by a half percentage point.

In something that sounded straight out of the movies, the world learned Monday about the hijacking of the MV Sirius Star over the weekend. The oil-rich supertanker was attacked and hijacked by Somali pirates in deep water in a brazen move that left even Navy Adm. Michael G. Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, "stunned."

In addition to carrying about $100 million in cargo, the supertanker has a crew of 25 different nationals. It was seized on Saturday, far to the south of the NATO patrolled zone, about 450 nautical miles southeast of Mombasa, Kenya, according to the U.S. Navy. The pirates took the ship to a Somali port known as a hub of pirate activity. The difference between this attack and other recent ones is that usually pirates attack within 200 miles of shore and go after much smaller vessels.

This is a cause of alarm since, as Navy commanders put it, it "represents a fundamental change in pirates' ability to hijack bigger vessels farther out at sea." It gets even scarier. If pirates have managed to attack this supertanker, there's no reason to believe they couldn't hijack LNG tankers. Liquefied natural gas is highly volatile and if a tanker explodes, it would equal fifty Hiroshimas. If an LNG tanker was hijacked, it could end up at the hands of terrorist.

General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) and Chrysler LLC and the head of the United Auto Workers union will testify at a Senate Banking Committee hearing as they seek $25 billion in aid. While the democrats generally support their request, the Bush administration and Republican are against the proposed bailout. GM shares traded about 7.5% lower by midday.

The Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) reported better-than-expected quarterly financial results Tuesday -- 45 cents per share profit vs. estimates of 38 cents per share according to Thomson Reuters. Sales, however, continued to decline -- 6.2% in the quarter -- amid ongoing weakness in the housing, construction and retail sectors and the home improvement retailer warned that sales could plunge 8% for the year. HD shares are up 2.25% in premarket trading (8:04 am). HD shares traded about 6.5% lower by midday.

Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) founder and CEO Jerry Yang has finally decided to step aside as chief executive. Apparently, he's too emotionally involved to run the struggling internet portal properly. The new CEO will face the same problems Yang faced when Semel left and he was made CEO, boosting earnings and facing skeptic investors. But now the job will be that much harder in the current economic downturn. This could clear the way for Yahoo selling to Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT). YHOO shares are jumping nearly 12% in premarket trading (8:04 am). Shares of MSFT are up 1.2% in premarket trading as well (8:08 am). YHOO shares gained nearly 13% by midday.

[Added 8:32: Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) shares are soaring 12.75% in premarket trading (8:17 am) after the company said it expects fiscal fourth-quarter results above Wall Street's expectations due to its global reach, diverse customer base and cost-cutting measures, and despite the bad economy.] HPQ shares gained 12.75% by midday.

U.S. stock futures dropped significantly lower, indicating U.S. markets could again start on a down note as investors continue to digest what's happening in the economy, in the financial sector and in the auto sector. Today, executives of GM, Ford and Chrysler head of the UAW will testify at a Senate Banking Committee hearing as they seek $25 billion in government aid.

Meanwhile, overseas, stocks in Europe and Asia declined for a second day, led by commodity producers and financial companies. Investors fear the deepening recession will erode profits. Oil prices fell below $55 a barrel Tuesday as the owner of the Saudi oil supertanker hijacked by Somali pirates over the weekend said the company is trying to have the crew and vessel, which is carrying about $100 million in cargo, released.

Investors will also await for some economic releases today: Starting at 8:30 a.m., the Labor Department will October producer price index, and inflation gauge at the wholesale level. Prices are expected to decrease by 1.8% in October, according to Briefing.com. At 10 a.m., that time, the National Association of Realtors will release third-quarter area home prices and sales. At 1 p.m., the National Association of Home Builders issues its monthly outlook.

Finally, the market will also tune in to listen to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair scheduled to testify in front of the House Financial Services Committee, which holds a hearing regarding oversight of the bailout plan.

The breaking news is that the SEC is charging Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, with insider trading related to sales of shares in Mamma.com, Inc., now Copernic, Inc. (NASDAQ: CNIC). The entrepreneur billionaire allegedly dumped 600,000 shares in the Internet search engine company when he found out it was raising money by selling shares in a private offering. This information was not publicly known.

The SEC filed its complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, saying that in June, 2004, Cuban was invited to participate in the stock offering after he agreed to keep the information confidential. Knowing the offering would be conducted at a discount, Cuban then sold his entire 6% ownership within a few hours after he learned about it. When the financing was announced the next day, the company's shares dropped more than 10% due to dilution concerns. Cuban thus avoided more than $750,000 in losses.

If these allegations are true, this is a classic case of insider trading. The public had no way of knowing the stock price would drop, while Cuban and other insiders did. The SEC release didn't mention what other insiders did, but it seems, for now at least, that only Cuban acted on the information.

I've had about all the news of corruption I can take. Of course, I don't mean to sound accusatory, or find Mark Cuban guilty before he has been properly tried, but it's just the timing of it. When the world is swirling into a global recession based on greed, and probably at least a little bit of corruption, these news items are definitely ones I can do without.

[Update 8:18: Citigroup Inc (NYSE: C) plans to cut 50,000 people from its workforce, CNBC television said on Monday. Citi shares were down 5.5% around 10:38 am.]

General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), Ford Motors (NYSE: F) and Chrysler - The Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing on the issue of a bailout for the Big Three on Tuesday and the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday. Meanwhile the debate whether they should be bailed out or not rages on. GM shares were up 5.3% in premarket trading (8:03 am) and were up 10% around 10:38 am.

Meanwhile, in an attempt to get cash as it awaits the government decision, GM will sell its entire stake in Suzuki Motor Corp. for 22.37 billion yen ($230 million). GM was also in discussions with the German government about guarantees for its Opel division.

Low's Cos (NYSE: LOW) continued to get hurt in the third quarter by the downturn in the housing market. Profit fell 24% to $488 million, or 33 cents per share, but the results still beat Wall Street's expectations of 28 cents a share according to Thomson Reuters. Revenue actually climbed to $11.73 billion from $11.57 billion, but same-store sales sank 5.9%, but recovered when the session started, up 4.5% around 10:40 am.

U.S. stock futures were lower Monday morning despite the pledge from world leaders to take coordinated measures to help the global economy. Most remained skeptic as not many concrete measures were announced, but mostly talk about more fiscal and monetary stimulus. The reaction in Europe was mute as markets started Monday somewhat lower following Asia's mixed performance.

Meanwhile, Japan's economy slid into a recession for the first time since 2001, and oil prices fell below $56 a barrel on the news.

Several economic reports are due today including October industrial production and capacity utilization figures, and November Empire State Index -- a measure of manufacturing activity in the New York region.

Following the week we have just endured, many would find it hard to return to the stock market any time soon, despite so many pundits calling the market bottom on Thursday. Bad news just keeps amassing: the Euro-zone is officially in recession, unemployment in the U.S. and globally is on the rise, the housing market is far from any sustainable recovery, the auto sector is a mess and so on.

But it is always in these hard times, when things are cheap, that bargains can be found. While cheap can be meaningless during these times as Jim Cramer said this week and Joe Lazzaro seconded, perhaps some value could be found after all. What, then, did BloggingStocks contributors find worthwhile this week?

First, let me start, not by gloating, but by pointing out that on more than one occasion, more than one contributor has suggested to steer clear of Circuit City Stores Inc. (NYSE: CC). The electronics retailer has filed for bankruptcy Monday and the NYSE has suspended the company's common stock immediately. The stock is now traded over the market under CCTYQ.

Sirius XM Radio, Inc (NASDAQ: SIRI) reported a quarter that caused Steven Mallas to pause and think. The only way he sees Sirius is as a very -- very -- speculative and risky play. Since the stock has been beaten so much and is so cheap, if it doesn't disappear by the time the economy turns, it could be interesting. But only if one has the cash to burn. Jamie Dlugosch adds a reminder about SIRI's debt, hoping it would earn a reprieve from its debt holders as it tries to operate as one company. "Just imagine what this company could do in a normal economy. It would be truly tremendous."

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) is planning to cut at least 10,000 jobs in its investment bank and other divisions throughout the world, the Wall Street Journal reported its sources revealed. Managers were instructed to slash their budgets for employee compensation by at least 25%. Meanwhile, CEO Vikram Pandit bought up to 750,000 shares of the company at prices between $8.92 and $9.45 according to SEC filings. Another exec bought 250,000 shares as Citi's stock price fell to lows not seen since the mid-1990s. Citi shares were up 2% in premarket trading (8:03 am). Citi opened much higher, and even traded over $10, but as the market declines so do Citi shares tame their jump. Around 10:10 Citi shares were 3% higher.

Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN) said Thursday that its third-quarter profit fell by 57% as its same-store-sales declined. It slashed its full-year outlook below analyst expectations. JWN stock was down over 5% in after-hours trading. JWN shares had a volatile half an hour after the open. Around 10:10 they were half a percent higher.

Kohl's Corp. (NYSE: KSS) said profit fell for the fifth quarter in a row, dropping 17%, and reduced its annual profit forecast. KSS shares were down over 4% in after-hours trading. KSS shares were 2.4% higher around 10:12.

• Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF) reported lower quarterly profit, but beat estimates. It also cut its full-year outlook. ANF shares were down 7.4% in premarket trading (8:45 am). ANF shares traded over 4% lower at 10:12.
  
• J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) also reported lower quarterly profit -- fell by nearly 53% -- but beat estimates by a penny. Sales fell 8.7% in the quarter. JCP gave full year guidance much lower than analysts' expectations. Shares were down 4.6% in premarket trading (8:33 am). JCP traded 2.4% lower 45 minutes after the open.
  
• Agilent Technologies (NYSE: A) -- keeping the same theme, Agilent [reported higher profit], managed to beat estimates but gave outlook below expectations. Shares were 2% lower in premarket trading (8:23 am). Agilent shares traded 3.3% higher 45 minutes after the open.