Halloween is just around the corner. It’s time to choose that distinctive costume that will stick in people’s minds at least until the next year. Remember, if you weigh more than 120 pounds and attempt to impersonate Michael Jackson, you are just going to look like an errant Blues Brother.

With deference to the reader who thinks that Venetian mariner John Cabot was first to set foot on North America around 1497, I would dress like the actual first explorer to discover North America , the much tougher Norseman Leif Ericson. According to historians, Ericson made three trips and discovered Newfoundland., Labrador and possibly as far south as Cape Cod about 500 years before Cabot. Ericson also makes a better looking character.

One wonders: what do clowns dress up like on Halloween? Perhaps they just don a dark suit and size-9 shoes and leave off the squirting lapel flower. It’s particularly difficult to find out what a mime plans to wear. They just aren’t talking. Do children from biker families rebel and dress like CPA, with pocket protector, shiny shoes and the swimsuit issue of Accounting Today?

It’s always odd to see how many men want to dress like a Playboy bunny or Hooters server. Are they actually revealing some repressed desire?

Be careful and don’t ask a potbellied man shod in flip-flops and wearing a flowered shirt and brightly colored shorts if he’s trying to Jimmy Buffett. He probably always wears that outfit and will say “I don’t dress for Halloween.”

You can make a political statement this Halloween by dressing like the poor woman who is going to be canned for drinking a beer in public in . I don’t know how anyone could dress like Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick, accused of raising and fighting canines, but if they do I hope they don’t use a real dog. Dressing like former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin would be so yesterday.

Well, I hope I have got everyone thinking about letting their hair down and being creative on Oct 31. Halloween is the one holiday on which we can evoke our creative spirit and relish attracting stares.

Intel (INTC)has done it again. The world’s largest semiconductor chipmaker reported third quarter earnings this week that once again beat market expectations. Not only that, the quarter was so impressive that the results actually surpassed the company’s own updated guidance released two months ago. 

Thanks to a strong back-to-school season, growing China sales, as well as general industry restocking, Intel collected $9.39 billion in revenues, easily outpacing consensus expectations of $9.05 billion. Gross margin (percentage of sales remaining after costs of production are taken out), which has steadily risen for the last 3 quarters was 58 percent, beating the company’s own expectations of 53 percent. These two factors led to larger profits, as net income was reported at $1.86 billion, or 33 cents a share, handily beating estimates of roughly $1.5 billion or 27 cents a share.

Intel, whose chips already power more than 80 percent of the world’s PCs, continues to expand its global reach – particularly in . On the company’s conference call, Intel’s CEO Paul Otellini reiterated his thoughts that Asian consumers will lead a rebound in the personal-computer industry – initiating a rebirth of year-over-year growth in that market this year (which is contrary to most analysts’ predictions). 

The region already accounts for an impressive 65 percent of Intel’s sales – 55 percent if you take out . Gartner Inc., a technology research firm, noted that shipments of PCs in grew by 11 percent in the second quarter over the year-earlier period, far beyond the 2.8 percent growth seen in the first quarter. Gartner has yet to release their third quarter figures, but based on Intel’s results, I will expect to learn that the pace has remained torrid.

Intel’s outlook for the fourth quarter was also exceptionally upbeat. The company expects revenue for the current period to be $10.1 billion (plus or minus $400 million), outpacing consensus estimates of $9.7 billion. Further, the company sees margins expanding even further, expected at 62 percent (plus or minus 3 percent). While already impressive, the margin number is also notable given that if the company can reach the high-end of its range it would represent Intel’s largest profit margin in the last decade. 

Needless to say, many analysts are thoroughly impressed with the company’s quarterly numbers, and think Intel is executing its fundamental business plan exceptionally well. With less reliance on the domestic market (only 20 percent of sales), and continued expansion into developing economies, Intel’s revenue stream is growing at a fast clip. The diversity of revenues also helps reduce overall business volatility. This utterly dominant company is trading at less than 15 times 2010 earnings, and with a PEG of 1.4, the shares continue to represent compelling value.

For every piece of data that comes out offering a glimmer of hope for the expansion, such as the recent ISM non-manufacturing index, investors are being bombarded with a slew of data of late that points to the recovery being quite weak. The latest piece to fit this bill was the employment report out last week, which not only was worse than expected, the numbers were worse than the previous month’s figures. While unemployment is often viewed as a lagging indicator (which is perhaps why the stock market shrugged off the latest reading), in the case of credit driven contractions such as we’ve experienced) it’s much more of a leading indicator. And the numbers behind the headline 9.8 percent jobless rate suggest we’re in for more pain in the months ahead ( how to trade options).

As of last count, 5.4 million people have officially been out of work for more than half a year now. I say officially because if you include those who have simply given up looking for work, the unemployment rate would stand at 10.3 percent. The official rate is also skewed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics birth/death adjustment, which is essentially just a wild guess (not actual survey data) of the number of people who have joined newly formed businesses. Excluding this guess the unemployment rate jumps to 10.5 percent. And the numbers would be worse if many people hadn’t just given up and stopped looking for work. Those people who are still employed are working fewer hours. The average number of hours worked has fallen to just 33, the lowest reading in the 45 years this statistic has been tracked. Had hours worked remained constant throughout the recession, millions more jobs would have been lost. It follows then that companies are going to be slow to add new hires going forward as they will simply be able to use their existing staff more.

Perhaps the best measure of the employment situation is the measure which, in addition to the total unemployed, adds in marginally attached workers working part-time because they can’t get full-time work. This figure reached 17 percent last month. And if you factor in the other adjustments mention above this metric would top 20 percent. The labor market hasn’t been this weak since the Great Depression, and everything points to it only getting worse in the coming months. With millions laid off and millions more concerned they’ll either lose their job or see their pay cut in the next 12 months, it’s hard to envision a meaningful pick up in consumer spending this coming holiday season ( learn to trade options).

Corporations seem no more likely to ride to the economy’s rescue, judging by surveys of corporate spending plans and the trend in bank lending, which has contracted at an alarming rate in recent months. We should get a better feel on this score in the coming weeks: The third-quarter earnings season kicks off this week. Expectations are for another quarter of losses, but the consensus sees a resumption of growth in the fourth quarter, thanks in large part to soft year-over-year comparisons.

Forward guidance may set the tone for the stock market in the next several weeks every bit as much as actual results. More important than fundamentals, however, are the technicals, which have driven this rally from day one. After reaching a recovery high around 1080 on the S&P 500, stocks pulled back in the last two weeks only to bounce off of their 50-day moving average. I won’t rule out this kind of action continuing for a while longer, with stocks climbing even higher without a meaningful correction, but I can’t help but conclude that at some point market fundamentals will re-exert themselves. When they do, stocks will contract in a hurry ( stock trading review).