Despite a positive earnings report, some profit taking and new concerns about the company going forward have caused Ford shares to fall today.

There are still plenty of people who believe that the U.S. economy remains on life support and is likely to grind to a halt at any time. Yet the data is simply not supporting that point of view.

Citrix Systems (CTXS), a company that specializes in ''cloud computing," has the potential to revolutionize the speed of modern devices over the next few years, and is a good buy now for tech investors.

Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) reported earnings for the first quarter today. Specifically, Sprint earnings showed an EPS loss of -$0.29, but adjusted for a tax charge, the EPS loss totaled -$0.17, right on the average estimate. S earnings also showed revenues of $8.09 billion that were slightly ahead of the average estimate of $8.05, but 2% below first quarter 2009 revenue of $8.21 billion. This is not a good earnings report for Sprint.

On Tuesday Goldman Sachs (GS) executives were grilled by the Senate Banking Committee over allegations the bank helped inflate the housing bubble -- and then made billions of dollars when that bubble burst. The current Goldman woes are having a negative effect on the share prices of many banking stocks, including JPMorgan (JPM), Wells Fargo (WFC), Citibank (C) and Bank of America (BAC). But here's why Bank of America is a buy.

In late February, CKE Restaurants, Inc. (CKR) agreed to be acquired by Thomas H. Lee Partners, a private equity firm, for about $928 million, including $309 million of net debt. That means changes for industry rivals McDonald's (MCD) and Burger King (BKC).

UAL Corp. (UAUA), parent of United Airlines, and US Airways Group (LCC) both announced losses that were not as bad as last quarter and not as bad as expected.

Radio Shack (RSH) earnings were reported after the bell today. RSH earnings for the first-quarter improved as Radio Shack sales rose 4%, topping Wall Street forecasts. Specifically, RadioShack earnings included first-quarter net income of $50.1 million or 39 cents a share, up 16% from $43.1 million, or 34 cents a share in the year ago period.

If you're feeling trapped and held hostage by your own portfolio, don't fret. Here are five different trade-ups that allow you to move your money into similar companies that are a much better investment than what you may currently be holding: In the auto sector, sell Toyota (TM) and buy Ford (F). In pharmaceuticals, sell Pfizer (PFE) and buy Merck (MRK). In consumer staples, sell General Mills (GIS) and buy Kraft (KFT). In tech, sell Apple (AAPL) and buy Intel (INTC). In the ulilities sector, sell PG and E (PCG) and buy Exelon (EXC).

There's a whole lot of fuss on Wall Street right now about the impact of a first-time homebuyer credit expiring this week. The $8,000 question -- whether the housing market will continue to improve without the payday, or whether we are in for another round of falling home prices and rising foreclosures.

Nearly five years ago Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (PAA) bought two natural gas storage facilities from Sempra Energy (SRE). Bluewater Gas Storage in Michigan has a working gas capacity of 20 billion cubic feet, and Pine Prairie Energy Center in Louisiana also has 20 billion cubic feet of capacity. Today, Plains has commenced an IPO of the two businesses as another master limited partnership named PAA Natural Gas Storage, L.P. (PNG) that will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol 'PNG'.

BlackRock Inc (BLK), one of Wall Street's most iconic money management stocks, reported strong first-quarter earnings that were up more than 400% over the 2009 numbers. However, BlackRock earnings still fell short of the consensus profit forecast. BLK earnings estimates on Wall Street were a bit higher.

Eagle Materials Inc. (EXP), a housing stock that produces wallboard and cement products, reported fiscal fourth-quarter earnings today that significantly topped profit forecasts. Eagle Materials earnings actually pulled into the black, with fourth-quarter net earnings of $1.9 million or 4 cents a share, compared with projections of a loss by most Wall Street analysts. The consensus earnings estimate was a loss of -2 cents a share.

The latest batch of major bank earnings is in the books, and the news has been stellar. Bank of America (BAC), Citibank (C), JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Wells Fargo (WFC) all reported better-than-expected earnings over the past two weeks, and all appear to be fully on the path to recovering from the depths of the 2008 financial crisis. And while not all of these banks have fully recovered from the ravages of the meltdown, their recent earnings showings have many investors pining for a bigger slice of the pie via increased dividends.

The oil field services sector got a bump of about 2.5% earlier this week when Halliburton (HAL) reported results and indicated that the outlook for the rest of 2010 was looking better. So far today, the sector is up nearly 7% on a similar earnings outlook from Schlumberger Ltd. (SLB), even though the company's revenues dropped in the quarter. Even Weatherford International Ltd. (WFT) is getting a nice boost on Schlumberger's coattails.

When you're looking for stocks to add to your portfolio, a good thing to ask yourself is "What are those who are 'in the know' buying?" Those in the know could be analysts, or they could be top stock advisors. Insider buying is a key indicator of success, and some big-name stocks including Simon Property Group (SPG), Enterprise Products (EPD), CVS Caremark (CVS), DirecTV (DTV) and Dr. Pepper Snapple Group (DPS) have all seen high levels of insider buying lately.