Apple (AAPL), one of the most iconic technology companies in the planet, has performed extremely in the past year but now faces incredible challenges. The main problem: It has executed so well that it has created a level of expectations that may be too lofty in an increasingly competitive environment.

The automotive industry spent just over $60 million on lobbying in 2009. General Motors alone spent $8.4 million of that, even though the firm is bankrupt. Ford Motor Co. (F) spent $7.23 million, Toyoto Motors (TM) spent about $5.3 million, and the Alliafnce of Automobile Manufacturers, a trade group, spent nearly $5.8 million. Honda (HMC) was surely in the hunt as well. The total spend is actually lower than the industry's peak year of 2007 when it spent nearly $70 million.

The stock market had its first major speedbump in months with the major indexes down between -1% and -1.5% on news that the SEC has charged Goldman Sachs (GS) with fraud. Goldman itself took a severe tumble, dropping by double-digits on the news. Government-run Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) got swept up in the declines, as did other top Wall Street banks. JP Morgan (JPM) shed as much as 5%, and Bank of America (BAC) was tracking down about 4% on the day.

A little bit of research shows that there are in fact a number of high yield dividend stocks that are based globally but traded on U.S. exchanges. Those companies are Telefonica (TEF), Babcock and Brown Air (FLY), Mobile Telesystems (MBT), Alto Palermo (APSA) and CPFL Energia (CPL).

Maryland-based Constellation Energy Corp. (CEG) has purchased two combined-cycle gas-fired electricity generating plants in Texas from privately-held Navasota Holdings for $365 million. Constellation adds 1,100 megawatts of capacity with this acquistion. Each plant has a project underway to add 275 megawatts to its capacity. The acquisition gives Constellation generation capacity in Texas, where it needs to increase its supply in order to meet its obligated load requirements.

Australian coal miner Macarthur Coal has agreed to postpone its extraordinary general meeting originally scheduled for next Monday to vote on Macarthur's takover of another Australian coal miner, Gloucester Coal Ltd. The delay is the result of a sweetened offer from Peabody Energy Corp. (BTU) of AUS$4.07 billion for Macarthur, provided Macarthur doesn't acquire Gloucester.

In order to spur spending, Target (TGT) has long offered discounts to consumers who signed up for its store-brand credit cards. And more often than not, those cards carried the Visa (V) logo.

March video game sales were up 6% over last year, breaking the steep declines in February and January after the holiday season. According to the NPD Group, video game sales hit $1.52 billion for the month. As expected, hardware sales declined even though prices of consoles like the Sony (SNE) PlayStation 3, Microsoft (MSFT) Xbox and Nintendo (NTDOY) Wii were marked down significantly from 2009. Activision Blizzard (ATVI) video game sales were strong.

The 10 highest-yielding Dow dividend stocks include Coca-Cola (KO), Pfizer (PFE), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), McDonald's (MCD), Chevron (CVX), Kraft (KFT), Merck (MRK), DuPont (DD), Verizon (VZ) and AT&T (T).

Buying and selling in the oil patch heated up this week, with about $10 billion changing hands in a flurry of mergers and acquisitions. Apache Corp. (APA) led things off, buying deepwater Gulf of Mexico assets from Devon Energy (DVN) for $1.05 billion.

JPMorgan Chase's (JPM) better-than-expected earnings showed just how important trading and investment banks are to the big bank's bottom line, and what government restrictions to proprietary trading might do to earnings.

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.