The financial sector led the way today, but the rising tide appears to be lifting most boats. Some of the stocks that are getting a boost include Western Refining, Inc. (NYSE: WNR), Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM), Basic Energy Services, Inc. (NYSE: BAS), Solarfun Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ: SOLF), and the Oil Services HOLDRs ETF (NYSE: OIH). The US FCC also made its decision on the purchase of mobile advertising service AdMob by Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was the decisive factor.

Yesterday officials of BP plc (NYSE: BP) estimated that it was siphoning off 5,000 b/d of oil from the leak that started a month ago when the semi-submersible platform owned by Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) exploded and sank, killing 11 workers. They lowered that estimate to 2,200 b/d this morning and said they would provide more details about the decline later today.

Starbucks (SBUX) made a splash recently with news that it would be focusing on its Seattle's best coffee brand in the coming months as a way to broaden its appeal to consumers who prefer a milder cup of java -- and a lower price point. Unfortunately, it appears SBUX stock execs were too busy crunching numbers and not busy enough working on how to present the Seattle's Best brand. A recently redesigned logo is getting panned by the public, with a whopping 68% of consumers saying Starbucks should try again according to a recent survey.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported today that natural gas stocks grew by 76 billion cubic feet since last week. Working gas in storage now totals 2.165 trillion cubic feet, above the high end of the five-year average range. That weighed on natural gas stocks Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK), Devon Energy Corp. (NYSE: DVN), Petrohawk Energy Corp. (NYSE: HK) and Range Resources Corp. (NYSE: RRC)

Discount retail stock Target (TGT) has been called the "cheap chic" store of choice for consumers seeking stylish goods at reasonably low prices. Over the years, the Target mix of style and discounts has made TGT stock a profitable bet for retail investors. TGT stock has been particularly strong over the past year with favorable earnings and sales numbers, as Target shares have climbed about 28% in the past 12 months.

Video game sales slipped severely in April, falling 26% over last year's numbers. But before you read too much into the number, it's worth noting that one of the biggest drivers for this poor sales performance was a lack of compelling new titles from big game studios Activision Blizzard (ATVI), Take Two Interactive (TTWO) and Electronic Arts (ERTS). And while sales of Nintendo (NTDOY) consoles including the Wii and the DS fell, Sony (SNE) actually saw a jump in PlayStation 3 sales as did Microsoft (MSFT) with its Xbox 360.

One of the hottest areas of development in social media these days is location-aware applications. Most of the companies involved in this development are privately-held startups like Gowalla and Foursquare, but one six-hundred pound gorilla has now weighed in among publicly traded stocks. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) has announced a free, open API for its location-aware app called Latitude. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:APPL) hasn't made any plans yet for a competitor, but is surely taking notice.

On May 19, Deere & Co. (DE) showed just how powerful its brand is, as Deere earnings were just released for the company's most-recent quarter. Deere is a great stock to buy for these five investment reasons.

Video game blogs have been spouting rumors as of late about Sony (SNE) instituting a $50 a year premium online gaming service for its PlayStation console that could include a downloadable game each month. This would be a bit of hybrid between the Microsoft (MSFT) Xbox Live online gaming service and Nintendo (NTDOY) with its Wii Shop channel to download games for varying prices. On the heels of some huge success by Activision Blizzard (ATVI) to forge ahead with ATVI online video game sales through its latest Call of Duty expansion pack, more gaming companies are looking to the web to boost profits and earnings.

Gold bullion prices are making headlines every day as volatility in the yellow stuff continues. Just three months ago, gold prices bottomed out at around $1,050 in February and now we are once again pushing $1,200 an ounce for the precious metal. Not surprisingly, the investment continues to garner attention as gold bullion investors ask the question, "Is gold going lower, or are gold prices going higher?"

Consulting firm Booz and Co. has issued its report on CEO succession for the past decade, which includes data gathered from the top 2,500 global companies about the 3,719 CEO turnovers between 2000 and 2009. The report notes that new CEO appointments are dominated by insiders, that the roles of CEO and chairman are more often being split, and that turnover rates are increasingly consistent regardless of geography.

Jack A. Ablin, chief investment officer over at Harris Private Bank in Chicago, is one of my favorite thinkers in the portfolio manager community. He put a good note out this week on employment that I would like to share with you because I think it's accurate and helps explain my view on why U.S. stocks have an opportunity to work well this year unless they're sidetracked by other problems.

When it comes to discount retailers, there are usually two investment camps. One prefers the style and low prices offered by Target (TGT), and the other investment strategy will trade a little less style for the better prices offered by retail giant Walmart (WMT). This week we saw just how well each retail stock fared in terms of their most-recent earnings (Get more detail on Target earnings and Walmart earnings)

By now, every techie under the sun knows that Apple Inc. (AAPL) chief executive Steve Jobs has issues with Adobe (ADBE) and its Flash software. Some of the highlights of the Apple leader's open letter on Flash include how its performance, reliability and security are all shoddy. All are reasons that Apple has decided not to support Flash on the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. But a recent survey of Apple iPad users indicates that Steve Jobs may have missed the mark when it comes to his AAPL customers and Adobe Flash. According to ChangeWave research, the top complaint among the first Apple iPad owners is the lack of Flash capability on the AAPL device.

When Apple Inc. (AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs took the stage in January with an iPad in hand, he declared that the device was the next generation in personal electronics, a 'magical and revolutionary product' that would bridge the gap between multiple devices. And according to a May survey by ChangeWave Research, that vision has proven to be a reality – at least among initial users.

When Apple Inc. (AAPL) formally unveiled its groundbreaking iPad tablet computer in January, gadget junkies were agog with the device and high demand was anticipated. It was supposed to be a laptop, an e-reader like the Amazon (AMZN) Kindle, a multimedia platform for movies and music and a video game console like the Nintendo (NTDOY) Ds all rolled into one. Every geek wanted one.

The respective first-quarter earnings numbers for the world's two largest home improvement stores are in, and the results show that do-it-yourself consumers are back to spending big bucks. On Tuesday, No. 1 home-improvement retail stock Home Depot (HD) came out with a strong first-quarter earnings beat. One day earlier, rival and No. 2 home-improvement retail stock Lowe's (LOW) bested its first-quarter earnings estimates. Both HD and LOW stock saw improved sales as a result of the government's first-time home buyer credit and rebates for energy efficient appliances. And while both retail stocks Home Depot and Lowe's enjoyed solid Q1 performances in their earnings, the battle between these two titans is far from equal.

Germany's ban on naked short selling sent a tremor through the markets today, increasing fears that the euro was going to weaken further. Heavy machinery makers like Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE), Caterpillar, Inc. (NYSE: CAT), and CNH Global N.V. (NYSE: CNH) which could take a hit from reduced construction overseas, watched share prices drop between 2% and 5% even though Deere reported that it beat EPS and revenue expectations.