Playboy Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: PLA) has already cut its staff and cut its office space ... but you know things are bad when Hef starts cutting back on the amount of skin his Bunnies are baring. According to industry reports, Playboy is planning on a mix of new sites aimed at tackling a tamer market -- and none of them involve nudity. According to Playboy insiders, the company is developing a "free, safe-for-work site" its calling TheSmokingJacket.com, as well as additional subscription content with a slightly tamer feel.

Exactly a month ago, a federal court ruled that the US Federal Communications Commission does not have the authority to regulate broadband Internet service providers. The ruling came in a lawsuit against the FCC brought by Comcast Corp. (NYSE: CMCSA) in response to an FCC order that Comcast disclose how it managed its network and develop a publicly available plan for new, non-discriminatory practices. Comcast's successful challenge was based on a reading of the FCC's mandate that excluded broadband from the commission's purview because it was not a "telecommunications service." Other broadband and cable providers such as Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC), Cablevision Systems Corp. (NYSE: CVC), AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), and Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) are also covered by the court's ruling.

Stocks have scorched higher in the past 13 months in a virtually unprecedented fashion -- barring some of the craziness this week, of course. From the March 2009 low to the recent rally high, a span of 277 trading days, the S&P 500 has risen 79%. According to analysts at Lowrys, that is the strongest rally of any new bull market since at least 1960.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) added only 423,000 subscribers in Q1 of 2010 compared to 1.1 million subscribers during the last quarter of 2009. We believe that Verizon will continue to gain share in the US mobile phone market, but will have to continue launching new smartphones in order to boost subscriber gains.

The Dow logged its worst intraday decline in history and closed down nearly 350 points. So where are we headed from here?

Wells Fargo Securities, a division of Well Fargo Corp. (NYSE: WFC) has apparently decided that the solar power industry is here to stay. The company has initiated coverage on six Chinese solar makers with no less than a 'Market Perform' rating on any. Three companies, Trina Solar Ltd. (NYSE: TSL), ReneSola Ltd. (NYSE: SOL), and Solarfun Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: SOLF) were all started at 'Outperform'. Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSIQ), SunTech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NYSE: STP), and Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. (NYSE: YGE) were started at 'Market Perform'.

Engineering and construction firm Foster Wheeler AG (FWLT) is the first of the world's three largest publicly traded construction firm to report earnings. Competitors Fluor Corp. (FLR) and McDermott International, Inc. (MDR) are scheduled to report next week.

Less than two weeks ago, Qwest Communications (NYSE: Q) and CenturyTel, Inc. (NYSE: CTL) announced a merger that would result in CenturyTel owning 50.5% of the combined company for a deal valued at around $22 billion once Qwest's debt was included. Qwest shares jumped on the news, and CenturyTel shares fell. Both stocks are up today following their earnings announcements this morning.

With earnings season about half complete, let's take a look at how companies' first quarter of the year is shaping up. Of the companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings to date, 83% of reported results above analyst expectations according to Thomson Reuters. If the trend continues, and the quarter ends with 83% of companies beating estimates, it will mark the best quarter for the S&P 500 since at least 1994 (when the data started being tracked).

Cool, wet weather in April combined with an earlier Easter and one less shopping day conspired to reduce sales for the month. The news is not all bad, though, as some retailers are still projecting a profitable quarter as they have been able to stem discounting and work through inventories. Among the April retail sales winners were Costco (COST), Limited Brands (LTD) and TJX Corp. (TJX). Among the retail stock losers were Target (TGT) and Kohls (KSS).

Mexico is the 11th most populous nation in the world, with the 15th largest area of any country and the 13th largest nominal GDP on the planet. So why is it that U.S. investors often overlook economic opportunity south of the border? There are a lot of companies there with big potential -- including blue chip telecom stock Telefonos de Mexico (TMX), beverage giants Coca Cola Femsa (KOF) and Fomento Economico Mexicano (FMX) and construction leader Cemex (CX).

The Coca Cola (KO) and its iconic Coke brand soft drink is one of the world's most recognizable stocks. Coke has been serving up the fizzy cola drink since the 19th century, and over the past six decades the beverage giant's stock also has delivered big-time returns to shareholders. Like most major conglomerates, KO stock took a hit from October 2008 to March 2009, but for the remainder of that year Coke stock fought its way back and became a huge winner.

Apple (AAPL) recently announced that it sold 1 million iPads within the first 28 days after the April 3, 2010 launch of the device in the US. In comparison, it took 74 days for Apple to sell 1 million iPhones in 2007 and Amazon (AMZN) sold only about 1 million Kindle e-reader devices in total throughout all of 2009.

When Beazer Homes (BZH) reported earnings this morning, the dramatic rise of homebuilders' share prices came to a screeching halt. Beazer earnings and related BZH stock news is weighing on the entire homebuilding industry today. Beazer is down about 15%, Pulte Group (PHM) is down nearly 5%, Lennar Corp. (LEN) is down about the same amount, and Toll Brothers, Inc. (TOL) is down more than 5%. The SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (XHB) is also down about 4%.

When Beazer Homes (BZH) reported earnings this morning, the dramatic rise of homebuilders' share prices came to a screeching halt. Beazer earnings and related BZH stock news is weighing on the entire homebuilding industry today. Beazer is down about 15%, Pulte Group (PHM) is down nearly 5%, Lennar Corp. (LEN) is down about the same amount, and Toll Brothers, Inc. (TOL) is down more than 5%. The SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (XHB) is also down about 4%.

Telecom stocks as a group slightly outperformed the market in April. Diversified telecommunications blue chips like AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ) didn't have much to write home about -- T stock dropped -1.2% on the month after one-time charges held back ATT earnings, and VZ stock dropped -4% after a 7-5% earnings slump. But several pure wireless telecom stocks such as Sprint (S), Leap Wireless (LEAP) and Metro PCS (PCS) performed very well.

Burger King Holdings (BKC) typically has to fight off chief fast food rival McDonald's (MCD) when it comes to prices and promotions. But recently MCD stock has taken a back seat to inner struggles at BKC as Burger King franchisees fight corporate BK execs over a $1 double cheeseburger promotion. The disagreement got legal late last year via a lawsuit on behalf of Burger King franchisees that went all the way to a federal court in Miami.