My eyes are currently drawn to the land down under: Australia's central bank slashed interest rates by 1%. Mr. Bernanke, take notice!

At present, oil is ticking higher; it's currently flirting with the $91 level. And thus far the Dow and S&P are higher. Might we see a rebound here?

Corning (GLW)
Before the open, Corning said that it still puts third-quarter earnings in line with the revised guidance of $0.43 to $0.45 it released in September. (Analysts are at $0.44.)

I normally wouldn’t get too excited about this, but not reporting bad news is almost like reporting good news these days. The shares are off a bit at the open, but I think they could make a comeback by day’s end.

Wachovia (WB)
Last night after the close, Wells Fargo (WFC), Wachovia, and Citi (C) put a halt on their legal wrangling until midday on Wednesday. The assumption is that the parties are trying to hammer out a deal to see who gets what with regard to Wachovia.

My take: I think that the parties can and should work out an agreement to avoid what would probably be a very costly battle. At the same time, the prize is kind of big, so resolving all differences without legal intervention may be a challenge. Let’s just say I’m cautiously optimistic.

In any case, if I were long Wachovia, I wouldn’t hang around to see who won. I’d take my $6 a share and simply be on my way.

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