The high of my hometown Giants winning another Series. The low of wanting to reach through the screen and give that struggling portly fellow a hug. No, not Billy Butler. He’ll be fine. Rather, the Chevy guy doing his Chris Farley impression when handing over the MVP award. It’s a wonder GM GM, -4.57% shares are down only a couple of cents this morning.

But let’s not get into all the merriment of game 7. Baseball season is over and so is the Fed’s bond-buying program (professional segue; don’t try at home). Back to business.

Detractors contend the Fed has failed us in many ways, some of which won’t be felt for a while. But Yellen and her posse deserve a thumbs up for managing expectations. At least as far as QE3 is concerned. We knew it was coming, and when it finally did, the official end of the easing era stung the market like a cotton ball from a slingshot.

The critics don’t really see it that way.

“QE has been most effective in inflating asset prices and both the markets and economy are addicted to the stimulus,” said Peter Boockvar, chief market analyst for the Lindsey Group. “Without it, we will see a big adjustment. Our biggest worry is not what happens to markets — they obviously will correct — but what the Fed does next.”

Of course, calling anything obvious in this market is a dangerous proposition. It’s certainly not obvious at this point, other than the cop-out excuse of “eventually, everything corrects.”

For what it’s worth (not much), a decline would fly in the face of seasonal strength. We just entered the best half of the year. From October 29 to May 6, the Dow has risen 7% on average, throughout its history, per Crossing Wall Steet’s Eddy Elfenbein. The other six months haven’t done squat. Virtually the entire performance of the blue chips tends to happen starting now.

Interesting, but ultimately as helpful as a helicopter’s ejection seat.

Key market gauges

Things are heating up in premarket a little. Signs of an exodus? Futures on the Dow US:YMZ4 and the S&P US:ESZ4 are moving into the red at a snappish pace. Asia ADOW, -1.03% was mostly mixed, with the Nikkei NIK, +0.17% having a decent showing. Europe SXXP, -2.65% has reversed direction to head lower. Gold bugs aren’t liking this action at all, with prices GCZ24, getting gutted in the wake of the Fed’s show of confidence in the U.S. economy. Oil prices CLZ24, +0.04% are sliding.

The quote of the day

“Other than Kocherlakota’s preference for ZIRP on a Buzz Lightyear time-scale, the statement was about as un-dovish as could reasonably have been expected.” — Macro Man

The economy

GDP grew 3.5% in the third quarter, a bit better than expected as exports surged and the U.S. saw the biggest jump in federal spending in five years. Meanwhile, initial weekly unemployment claims, which are seen dipping slightly.

Earnings

Visa V, -1.97% is basking in some upbeat numbers this morning. So are DreamWorks US:DWA and blast-from-the-past JDS Uniphase US:JDSU. Baidu BIDU, -3.09% is taking some lumps on its report, joined in the red by Akamai AKAM, -0.99% .

The earnings train just keeps rolling along. LinkedIn US:LNKD and GoPro GPRO, -2.36% are two of the sexier names to post results after the closing bell. Add Expedia EXPE, -2.91% and Groupon GRPN, -6.48% to the list. Last but not least, Starbucks SBUX, -3.36% will also report its numbers after the close. Click here for MarketWatch’s list of notable earnings previews.

Morning results highlights include MGM MGM, -4.08% , ConocoPhillips COP, -3.20% , whose earnings beat estimates, and Time Warner Cable US:TWC, which saw earnings per share rise 10%. Avon US:AVP was climbing premarket after it beat on profit, while MasterCard MA, -2.77% got a 2% bump up after its report.

The buzz

Level 3 Communications US:LVLT got called up to the big leagues and investors are pushing shares up 3% premarket. S&P Dow Jones Indices announced late Wednesday that the company will replace Jabil Circuit JBL, -3.14% in the S&P 500 after Tuesday’s close.

Israel’s SodaStream US:SODA fell in the wake of its report yesterday, but more people seem to be interested in the company’s decision to leave the West Bank. Well, that and its spokeswoman. As for the move, SodaStream said it’s for “commercial” reasons, even though its presence in the territory has triggered huge backlash.

The chart of the day

“Same-day drone delivery? Wake me up when you hear one buzzing above your house. Its new smartphone? A busted flush,” says the Daily Reckoning’s Greg Guenthner, who posted this chart to illustrate his point. And he says it’s only going to get worse. “If you haven’t dumped your Amazon AMZN, -1.39% stock — even after reading my pearls of wisdom — you’d better hope Amazon doesn’t launch any new “initiatives” anytime soon. Read his full takedown.

The call of the day

Some people just aren’t ready to completely write off BlackBerry US:BBRY. “Shock Exchange” is one of them, and he took to Seeking Alpha to lay out his bull case. “BlackBerry’s best-in-class security should be a strong selling point to the enterprise in China,” he wrote, adding that its Passport phablet could also be a hit in the premium segment of the market. Another tailwind could come in the form of Samsung and Sony exiting the region, he said. (And then there’s the Kim Khardashian hunting down BlackBerrys on eBay.)

And, Shock Exchange didn’t mention this, but if this tweet is any indication, BlackBerry seems to be big among the rioting set, as well. Buy signal?

Random reads

One Brazilian town has seen 57 homeless people killed in just two years.

In the spirit of Halloween, six horrifying video games.

Watch the end of this and get ready to feel terrible for the quarterback.

Clowns in France (no, actual clowns) are on the attack.

Is Spirit Airlines really that bad?

An entire Connecticut town for only $800,000.

Nothing’s funny about the objectification of women, as portrayed by this video. A man doing the same thing, well, that IS funny.

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