Speculation on General Electric (GE: sentiment, chart, options) was thick this morning, after a report in The Wall Street Journal hinted that the company might cease offering quarterly earnings guidance. In an update this afternoon, GE confirmed these rumors, stating that it would no longer provide quarterly earnings guidance beyond the current fourth quarter. However, GE said that it would "provide a full-year operating framework with detail in the industrial and financial businesses." The company also said it will maintain its annual dividend of $1.24 in 2009, contrary to analyst speculation cited in the Journal.

Technically speaking, GE has joined in the post-Fed market rally this afternoon, and was last seen higher by nearly 7%. The stock has struggled with resistance at its falling 10-week moving average, but the shares have marched ahead of this trendline in late-trading today. However, GE is still battling with short-term resistance at the 18 level, with the shares bouncing about this region this afternoon.

On the sentiment front, options traders remain heavily bullish toward GE. The stock's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.90 ranks below 69% of all those taken during the past year, hinting at an optimistic bias from the speculative crowd. The mood in the options pits may be changing, however, as data from the International Securities Exchange (ISE) and the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) reveals a 10-day put/call ratio of 1.05. This reading indicates that puts bought to open have outpaced calls bought to open during the prior 2 weeks. What's more, this ratio ranks above 92% of all those taken during the past year, highlighting an increasing degree of skepticism toward GE from options traders.