Last week's report from the US Census Bureau on retail sales for May showed a drop of about 1.2% from April sales. It was the first drop in retail sales since September 2009, a winning streak longer than any in the past 10 years. Suspected retail weakness may have gotten its first piece of empirical evidence this morning as Best Buy Inc. (NYSE: BBY) reported earnings for its first fiscal quarter of 2011 that were well below analysts' average estimates of $0.50 EPS on revenues of $10.9 billion. Best Buy reported EPS of $0.36 on sales of $10.8 billion.

Time Warner (TWX) stockholders are probably missing the good old days of 2008 right about now. Before 2008 got ugly and the financial crisis began in earnest, Time Warner stock was a hot ticket thanks to film studio Warner Bros. and the summer blockbuster The Dark Knight. That single tent-pole film went on to earn a total worldwide gross of over $1 billion, an influx of cash that made movie studio stocks very attractive to investors hungry for the next hit. While summer officially starts next week, the summer movie season has been running since the first week of May, and 2010 has been a lot less sunny than previous years for the film industry.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange became the last U.S. member-owned exchange to issue stock to the public with its CBOE Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBOE) IPO.

In the business world, there's rarely a thing as growing too big. But unfortunately for Sam Adams brewer Boston Beer (SAM), the price of success could be higher costs -- and the loss of its label as an "artisan" craft beer.

Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS) is reported to be in talks with Mexico's Grupo Fertinal SA de CV about acquiring the Mexican fertilizer maker. The deal could be worth as much as $1 billion. Agriculture stocks including Potash Corp. (NYSE: POT), Syngenta AG (NYSE: SYT), Monsanto Corp. (NYSE: MON) and Intrepid Potash, Inc. (NYSE: IPI) are all down dramatically from the commodity boom of 2008, and the fertilizer sector appears to be searching for a new bottom. This means mergers or buyouts could be in the works for the ag stocks and fertilizer sector.

According to The New York Times, the US has "discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan." These mining resources include metals such as copper and gold, as well as lithium which is used in cell phones, laptops and hybrid vehicle batteries. The mining find in Afghanistan is huge, and is being closely watched by the biggest names in mining like Freeport McMoRan (FCX), Rio Tinto (RTP), Newmont (NEM), Vale (VALE) and BHP Billiton (BHP).

Over the past four decades, the American economy has transformed from its prior focus on manufacturing to a new focus on services. In this new world, a degree from a four-year college has become almost mandatory even for entry-level sales and marketing jobs. But for people who had to work immediately after graduating from high school, obtaining such a degree has been tough. That's where specialized degrees from for-profit schools come in. And Strayer Education (STRA) has become a leader in the field, offering education to 55,000 students on a part-time basis and making a lot of money in the process.

Some simple trading strategies involve buying oversold stocks with great numbers -- but another great investment strategy for your retirement money is to buy stocks with strength. There's no denying the market has been swept up in a wave of selling, and over the past eight weeks we've seen the S and P 500 descend about 11% off its April highs. As stocks now are officially in correction territory, investors may think it's the time to go bargain hunting.

While I'll be the first to jump for joy after yesterday's awesome 2.95% rise in the S and P 500 -- I feel obligated to point out the fact that big rallies of 3% or more are rare. And they normally happen in the midst of bear markets. One caveat: Since the SEC got rid of the short-selling uptick rule in 2007, overall volatility has increased. So we've seen a bunch of 3%+ since then -- 32 to be exact. Most of these came during the bear market rallies of the spring and fall of 2008. The rest were clustered around the initial rebound from the March 2009 low.

Stocks continue to churn without making any real progress. But simple trading strategies aren't doomed. Investing your money in the stock market instead of hiding out in cash may be your best bet right now. Retirement investors could miss out on a rally if they sell their stocks, and indicators show there is not that much downside risk left on Wall Street.

Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) got a little too excited over its Friday launch of the EVO 4G smartphone. Maybe it was an attempt to steal even more thunder from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), which announced its own 4G iPhone on Monday. Sprint originally reported that it had sold three times the number of EVOs on launch day as it had sold Samsung Instinct and Palm Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) Pre phones in the first three days of sales of those two phones combined.

When the chairman/CEO/president of Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) said that his company wasn't buying Palm Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) in order "to be in the smart phone business," did this mean that HP was going to abandon the smartphone market as soon as it completes its acquisition of Palm? Doesn't the company want to fight it out with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) and Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) for handset supremacy or with Google Inc. (NYSE: GOOG) for operating system bragging rights?

Stock IPOs get a lot of hype on Wall Street, and initial public offerings are often surrounded with dreams of once-in-a-lifetime investments that make investors enough money for their retirement in a matter of weeks. Even though IPO participants are always insiders and those close to the company, individual investors often race to get into a new stock as soon as it goes public in the hopes of sharing in the success right out of the gate.