Swiss-based agricultural chemicals maker Syngenta AG (SYT) reported first quarter 2010 revenues of $3.5 billion, just slightly lower than estimates of $3.574 billion. That's -3% at today's exchange rate, but -8% at a constant exchange rate to the first quarter of 2009.

When you look at the headlines, there's not a lot to be rosy about in Russia right now. But the Market Vectors Russia ETF (RSX), Mechel (MTL), Wimm Bill Dann Foods (WBD) Vimpel Communications (VIP), and Mobile TeleSystems (MBT) are all good Russia stocks to buy.

Due to surprisingly strong U.S. demand for the iPad, Apple (AAPL) was forced to postpone the device's international launch.

As left-handed golfer Phil Mickelson donned his third green jacket Sunday at the Masters in Augusta, it shareholders of Callaway Golf (ELY) and Golfsmith International (GOLF) stock had trouble basking in the glow. That's because the golf club maker and retailer (both Mickelson sponsors) had crafted a nifty promotion called "If Phil Wins, You Win." The campaign meant anyone who purchased a Callaway Diablo Edge driver in March or April would get their money back if Mickelson won the master.

How the potential financial reform legislation will shake out is anybody's guess, but Citi isn't waiting around to see, and is selling off its hedge fund assets.

As left-handed golfer Phil Mickelson donned his third green jacket Sunday at the Masters in Augusta, it shareholders of Callaway Golf (ELY) and Golfsmith International (GOLF) stock had trouble basking in the glow. That's because the golf club maker and retailer (both Mickelson sponsors) had crafted a nifty promotion called "If Phil Wins, You Win." The campaign meant anyone who purchased a Callaway Diablo Edge driver in March or April would get their money back if Mickelson won the master.

Earlier this week, the Canadian province of Ontario announced that it had chosen the companies to build $8 billion worth of renewable energy projects under the province's strengthened feed-in tariff program. The new renewable supply totals about 2,500 megawatts, and solar stock Canadian Solar, Inc. (CSIQ) won about 28% of the program total, 176 megawatts.

The International Energy Agency this morning announced that it was raising its projection of crude oil demand increases in 2010 by 30,000 b/d, to 1.7 million b/d. Total demand is now expected to reach 86.6 million b/d.

Retail stock Walmart (WMT) is the quintessential capitalist success story. Founded by Sam Walton in 1962 as just a mom-and-pop retail store in a small Arkansas town, Walmart has managed to grow into the biggest retailer on the planet. As king of the retail sector, Walmart serves more than 200 million customers a week at more than 8,000 affiliated stores worldwide.

First quarter earnings season is finally upon us, as Alcoa (AA) kicked things off with a bang today. Over the next four weeks, 65% of the companies in the benchmark S&P 500 index will report results. Currently, the consensus estimates Q1 S&P 500 earnings per share of $17.07, representing a 39% increase over last year. According to Credit Suisse analysts, this forecast is consistent with the forecast of increased economic activity.

The two largest and most obvious tech sector earnings reports to watch this week are Intel Corporation (INTC) and Google Inc. (GOOG). There are others to watch out for as well, with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Linear Technology (LLTC), and Fairchild Semiconductor (FCS) all on deck this week. It is too soon for putting together color beyond basic estimates on next week's major tech earnings, but next week's biggest technology earnings are IBM (IBM), Apple Inc. (AAPL), VMware (VMW), EMC Corp. (EMC), Yahoo! (YHOO) and Micrososft (MSFT).

Hong Kong-listed Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd. reported net profit rose 35% in 2009 to $173 million on sales of about $2.07 billion. The largest privately-owned Chinese car maker sold 325,413 cars in 2009, 59% above its 250,000-unit target. The elephant in the room, of course, is competition from foreign automakers like General Motors, Ford Motor (F), Toyota Motors (TM), Honda Motors (HMC), and Audi/Volkswagen.

About three weeks ago, an analyst at Canaccord Adams set a price target of $0/share for Palm Inc. (PALM). The company had just announced that it projected revenue for its fourth fiscal quarater ending in May would be half previous estimates. Canaccord Adams said at the time that there was no value in the company's common shares.

Two troubled electricity generating companies have announced a merger that will create a new company, called GenOn, with a market cap of $3.1 billion and 24,700 megawatts of generation. The merger, between Mirant Corp. (MIR) and RRI Energy Inc. (RRI), has been approved by the boards of directors of both comapneis and will now go to a shareholder vote. The deal creates the largest independent power producer in the U.S.

Though it's a bit later than fast-food rivals McDonald's (MCD) and Burger King (BKC), Arby's is at last rolling out a value menu of its own. The restaurant is adding more lower-priced items to its menu including a small roast beef sandwich, curly fries and a "jamocha" shake -- and operator Wendy's/Arby's Group (WEN) is backing them with an expensive new advertising campaign.