It was just the other day that Coach (COH) was supposed to be disappointing. The sense was that inventories were up and that there was no momentum. If you go read the call, you realize that the big worry was Japan's inventory, but that was really a currency issue. We see CEO Lew Frankfort expanding aggressively -- although as I said last week, I was surprised so much of it was domestic.

Wasn't Apple (AAPL) supposed to be mediocre? The stock got hammered quickly, as if the guidance mattered. Sure enough, Mac sales and the possibility of a new iteration of iPhone with that great iChat makes for a formidable fall. There's a rumor, buttressed by some bloggers, that Salesforce.com (CRM), one of the most forward companies, is going Apple. Corporate would be huge. If you haven't used iChat, you are missing a great deal of the Apple story.

How about the weakness in Lehman (LEH)? Remember that? Wasn't that supposed to have been a bad quarter? It is now well above where it did that financing. That's a remarkable turn.

Merrill Lynch (MER) is no different; not only did it report a so-so number, it raised more money! Anyone who put money in during the great sovereign bailout is now up very nicely, and that is encouraging others to put more money in.

People also were skeptical of the Citigroup (C) dividend, but the stock is moving up, and that's because the dividend wasn't canceled. Pretty amazing.

Same thing with Merck (MRK) -- another disappointment that is moving up smartly from when it reported

Black & Decker (BDK), too, is up from what was supposed to be a big miss.

XTO Energy (XTO). That was a huge disappointment. But was it really? When you increase your reserves as it did, disappointment is the wrong emotion.