Good news for Macau casino operator Melco Crown Entertainment (MPEL) -- it looks like free-spending gamblers will offset any problems caused by tighter credit markets in China. That's according to a Credit Suisse analyst who upgraded MPEL stock to "outperform" from "neutral" today. The analyst also upgraded Sands China, owned by Las Vegas Sands (LVS), but kept Wynn Reports (WYNN) subsidiary Wynn Macau at "underperform."

Yes earnings season is over. But there are still some stragglers and some who have off-calendar quarterly report cycles. We are gearing up for earnings from AMBAC Financial (ABK), Nike Inc. (NKE), FedEx Corporation (FDX), GameStop Corp. (GME), and Palm, Inc. (PALM).

California-based TeleNav provides GPS navigation services to more than 13 million subscribers and recently completed a study of the most searched-for destinations of its users. The top five destinations were Walmart (WMT), followed by Starbucks (SBUX), Target (TGT), Best Buy (BBY), and Bank of America (BAC) in that order. Three of the top ten destinations were food purveyors: Starbucks, Pizza Hut (owned by Yum! Brands (YUM)), and McDonald's (MCD).

General Electric (GE) just hit a new 52-week high today thanks to a bullish statement from the firms CFO and the promise to growth dividends again in 2011.

One of the strongest stock picks of my stock model this month has been Varian Medical Systems (VAR), which provides radiation technology solutions that assist doctors treating cancer. Shares are up 7.2% for my subscribers in March so far, which will just about pay for six hours in the hospital. I still recommend it on dips for growth investors.

U.S. taxpayers own about 80% of American International Group, Inc. (AIG) and should be able to call the shots as the former insurance giant tries to work its way out of the mess that caused us to cough up more than $182 billion to rescue AIG from extinction. That is sort of the case.

PepsiCo, Inc. (PEP) has decided to return some more cash to its shareholders. The company said this morning that it would raise its dividend 7%, to an annualized $1.92/share, and increase its stock buyback program to $15 billion. When you think about it, there really isn't much else for them to do.

Everyone knows about the potential upside when investing in precious metals, especially over the last year, as gold, silver and platinum prices all surged higher. But if you dig into the dirt a little deeper you'll also find the so-called "rare earth minerals," and for the small-cap investor, these too could be a virtual gold mine. To get a better understanding of the universe of rare earth mineral stocks, let's first take a closer look at what these compounds are and what they're used for.

CBS Corp. (CBS) announced this week that it will provide 3D coverage of the NCAA Final Four to 100 movie theaters nationwide in a move to bring this new form of sports broadcast to the masses. If successful, the gambit could change the business of sports forever.

Madonna recently announced a partnership with Iconix Brand Group (ICON) to bring a line of footwear and apparel to the retail marketplace. Here's a look at other iconic names behind big brands: Estee Lauder (EL), Martha Stewart (MSO), Wynn Resports (WYNN), Ralph Lauren (RL) and Trump (TRMPQ).

Ever since Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) withdrew its $33/share offer for Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) in May 2008, the search company's share price has been trending downward. Yahoo! is losing market share steadily, and a fair portion of the loss is going to Microsoft's Bing search engine.

Airlines have been in a tailspin for the past year, but thanks to growth in emerging markets it appearts that major carriers could be pulling out of their gut-wrenching dive -- today, the International Air Transport Association lowered its expected total airline losses for 2009 from $11 billion to $9.4 billion.

The past year was the worst in airline history. Passenger demand fell 3.5% and the average load per flight was just 75.6%. Freight also fell by 10.1% with an average load of 49.1%. Predictions for 2010 were not quite as bad, but the airlines were still predicted to lose $5.6 billion compared with $11 billion in 2009.

As if Americans need any other proof that their wealth is on the decline, the richest man in the world is no longer a Yankee. That's right: According to Forbes' most recent list of the world's billionaires, Bill Gates and Warren Buffet play second and third fiddle (respectively) to Mexican telecom giant Carlos Slim Helu. The margin Carlos Slim beat out gates by? A mere $500 million.

It was one of the few big breakout IPOs of 2009, and the euphoria surrounding advanced battery maker A123 Systems (AONE) resonated throughout Wall Street. But now that the IPO party has long since settled, the company is starting to face the reality that its quarterly numbers are what really matter. Well, on Tuesday A123 reported those numbers for the fourth quarter, and the results were mixed bag.

It's no secret that Barclays (BCS) and its London parent made out like bandits when the bank purchased the U.S. operations of then-imploding Lehman Brothers. Now, there are reports that the bank is shopping for a U.S. retail banking operation with a market cap in the $10 billion-$30 billion range.