Stock markets held managed to end on the upside on Friday after wavering for much of the day; this capped a third straight week of gains for Wall Street. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke addressed the Chicago Fed Conference. He said the U.S. financial system is still vulnerable five years after the onset of the financial crisis. He cited the shadow banking system as something that continues to threaten financial stability. In addition, Bernanke said the Fed is watching asset markets closely for new signs of excessive risk.

Many traders spent the day watching the Gap (GPS). Shares climbed more than 5% after the company sales figures for April. Total revenue rose 5% to $1.21 billion. Same-store sales were up 8% at the company's namesake brand and 9% at Old Navy. Gap also says it expects to post quarterly earnings more than 15% higher than analyst estimates. The Gap is now trading at a 52-week high.

Priceline (PCLN) got back on course, rising 3% today after an earnings report which

With first quarter earnings season now 90% over, and the stock market extending a winning streak that has led to a string of record highs, investors could be forgiven for assuming that all is well inside the halls of corporate America. Unfortunately, it's not. As John Butters, senior earnings analyst at FactSet explains, that's only half the story.

"On the earnings side, we'll give the companies high marks. On the revenue side, the marks aren't as good," Butters says in the attached video of the better than expected 3.2% earnings growth rate for the S&P 500 (^GSPC) versus no sales growth at all.

"However, if you go to the revenue side, it was not a good quarter. We saw less than half (48%) of the companies beat (sales expectation) and it looks like we're going to finish with no growth for the quarter," he says, pointing out that it was even less than the meager 1% sales growth analysts were looking for at the start of earnings season a month ago.

Despite this mixed report card and an overwhelmingly negative guidance ratio (where 79% of companies gave a bleaker outlook than the analysts who cover them), equity markets have largely ignored cautionary indicators and tacked another 3% onto a 6-month, 20% rally that started in mid-November. Over the past five years, Butters says, this negative guidance ratio has averaged only about 61%, which suggests that, for whatever reason(s), companies are even more cautious today than usual.