What To Expect, Come Early Friday -- From Whitehouse Station

Again -- I'll be more keenly interested in the finer details of the financial analysis -- as opposed to the simple top-line and bottom-line figures (too noisy).

To be clear, I do now expect a wallop of sorts, from foreign exchange (just as Pfizer reported, this morning), in the fourth quarter of 2012 -- at Merck.

Here is how Forbes sees it, as of Tuesday evening:

. . . .Analysts are expecting Merck to come in with earnings of 81 cents per share, 16.5% less than a year ago when it reported earnings of 97 cents per share. . . .

Analysts are expecting earnings of $3.81 per share for the fiscal year. Analysts look for revenue to decrease 6.7% year-over-year to $11.47 billion for the quarter, after being $12.29 billion a year ago. For the year, revenue is projected to roll in at $47 billion. . . .

As I say, we shall see, come Friday morning -- but it seems that stodgy old branded pharma is supporting a minor market rally today on the NYSE. Who'd a' thunk it?