Today Ford reported second quarter earnings of 31 cents per share profit, which surprised almost everyone. The market was expecting a net loss. However, this profit blip on the financial map doesn’t mean Ford is out of the woods.

If you recall, I wrote an article about Ford back on June 20, 2007 where I stated that the stock would decline as the company was in trouble. Since that time, Ford’s stock, which was trading above $9, has fallen to the $8 level.

Ford’s surprise helped the stock as share prices rose 1.51% to close at $8.09 Thursday. It’s up another 1% in after-hours trading, but that’s to be expected. Ford holders were starved for anything resembling good news.

Don’t expect Ford to report annual profits anytime soon. Ford said they don’t expect to see an annual profit until 2009—and that might be just a tad optimistic.

The US Aerospace and Defense industry has been doing very well this year. With the war on terrorism raging on and not ending anytime soon, there are many great plays in this sector.

But what stocks should you own—Boeing, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, United Technologies? There’s an exchange traded fund that will allow you to own all these names and more.

The ETF is iShares Dow Jones US Aerospace & Defense (Symbol: ITA), which follows the Dow Jones US Aerospace & Defense Index. The aerospace side consists of companies that manufacture, assemble and distribute aircraft and aircraft parts. On the defense site, the companies produce components and equipment for the defense industry—military aircraft, radar equipment and weapons.

Here’s a breakdown of its top 10 holdings, which account for just over 60% of total assets.

As the adage goes: “fail to plan, plan to fail.” Most adults go through life by the seat of their pants. And that’s why many live paycheck to paycheck and will never experience life the way they want.

Whether you’re looking to plan your retirement, start a new business, buy a car, or take a vacation, planning is a must.

There are six steps to creating a plan.

It’s earnings season and that means one thing—pointless sell offs. This week we saw some good companies take hits. That’s good news for you.

One of the keys to making money in the stock market is to buy good companies on the dips.

Today, I’ll present you with three stocks I like for fast profits. I believe it’s possible to make returns of 5-10% or more in these stocks within the next quarter.

Caterpillar (Symbol: CAT) has had a nice run over the past year, but its 2Q earnings, which were reported Friday morning, were down 21%, and that sent share prices lower.

Despite a rise in revenue of 7%, earnings sill dropped. The company is citing a weak North American market and higher operating costs—a common theme these days.

Caterpillar posted earnings per share of $1.24, which was 28 cents per share lower than the same period last year and below the expectations of $1.42 - $1.54 per share.

CAT closed at $83.20 on Friday—a drop of $3.78 (4.35%) per share. The stock is continuing to decline slightly in after-hours trading.

Google (Symbol: GOOG) missed earnings expectations yesterday and that gave shareowners a moment of pause. In after-hours trading on Thursday, Google began declining.

Today (Friday) was actually a great day to get into Google or acquire more shares. In intraday trading, Google fell to $509.50, which was almost 8% lower than Thursday’s close of $548.51.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Web site, SEC.gov, should be bookmarked by every serious investor. The site is full of wonderful information. Today, I’ll take a look at one of my favorite SEC filings—form 13F.

The SEC requires all institutional investment managers who have investment capital of $100 million or more in Section 13(F) securities to file Form 13F. This move, authorized in the 1970s, was done to help provide transparency.

Okay, let’s cut to the chase. If you go to the SEC’s Web site and view Form 13F for a company, you’ll be looking at their stock holdings—as of the report cutoff date.

Buying stocks online is a fairly straightforward process. Gone are the days of calling up your broker, unless you want to. This financial article will guide you through the process of buying stocks online.

Finding an Online Broker

The first step is to start an account with an online broker. Since you’re just starting out, focus your selection process on the larger names out there.

I recommend looking at Scottrade.com at some point in your search. They offer many nice features and $7 trades—unless the stock is under $1 per share.

As part of my continuing educational series on investing in the stock market, I will talk about the float today. The float is the number of shares held by the general public (shares outstanding). For instance, as of this writing, Google (Symbol: GOOG) had 311.5 million shares outstanding.

It’s important to know the float when buying stocks. Here are a couple things to keep in mind with higher and lower floats.

The energy sector has been on fire all year long. Oil prices continue to rise and there’s seemingly no end in sight. One way to profit in the energy sector is to buy the Exchange Traded Fund XLE.

Before I continue, I must note that as of this writing (July 12, 2007) XLE is in my portfolio.

Energy Select Sector Spdr Fund (Symbol: XLE) is traded on AMEX and it closed at $73.23 on Wednesday.