The forth quarter earning reports, the report card for publicly held companies, held no good news for Merck or its stockholders. Merck released its not overly optimistic guidance for 2009 that forecasted earnings and revenue below that expected by Wall Street analysts. It is never a good to disappoint ‘the street.’ Merck named lower sales of its Vytorin and Zetia cholesterol pills, sold as part of a joint venture with Schering-Plough as one reason for declining profit.