General Motors (GM)
Since its pummeling yesterday, some folks have been asking me about my take - so here it is in a nutshell:

Good name, long operating history. But I wouldn’t touch the stock at this point - high fuel prices, an unwillingness to spend money among consumers, and the competition are all good reasons not to. I just don’t see this company doing a K-turn anytime soon, and as such, I’m not about plunk down my hard-earned money on the stock.

Morgan Stanley (MS)
Will Moody’s downgrade the shares? Will Mitsubishi back out of its deal with the company? I think the answer to both questions is no. I think the agreement with Mitsubishi (more specifically, its plan to invest $9 billion in the firm) is still a go - I think it’ll uphold its word and take a stake.

With that in mind, I think that Ladenberg analyst Dick Bove said it best: “We have seen this movie before. One must hold one's breath at the moment and hope that this is a different movie."

Note: I plan to stay on the sidelines on this one, though I think the stock could pop in a big way if the agreement gets done - if not, I think it goes markedly lower.

Macy’s (M)
Before the bell, the well-known retailer indicated that it expects its full-year earnings to come in between $1.30 and $1.50 a share (not counting certain charges). Just one problem: The company offered up expectations of $1.70 to $1.85 per share in conjunction with its second quarter results in August.

I’m not too surprised by this news, given Nordstrom’s (JWN) third-quarter guidance, or JC Penney’s (JCP) comments on its third quarter.

The only thing that piqued my interest in the release was the following:

“The company had approximately $740 million in cash and cash equivalents at the end of September. The company expects to fulfill additional working capital needs through borrowings from its existing $2 billion bank credit agreement, led by Bank of America and  JPMorgan, which is committed through August 2012. There are currently no borrowings under this credit agreement.”

Good luck out there, folks.