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By Antoine Gara

Kudos to Apple (AAPL) for figuring how to legally shuffle $44 billion in profits to non-tax jurisdictions.

Unfortunately, while the iPhone designer may have broken new ground in tax avoidance -- according to a Senate Subcommittee on Investigations -- the company would be better off not holding the most swollen bank account among non-financial companies in the history of Corporate America.

Currently, Apple is sitting on about $137 billion in relatively interest free cash. The company even recently raised $17 billion in debt financing to boost its dividend and increase share buybacks, while leaving its cash untouched.

• Bristol-Myers (BMY) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup
• Roche (RHHBY) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup
• Volcano (VOLC) upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at First Analysis
• Cree (CREE) upgraded at Sterne Agee from Neutral to Buy
• Chesapeake (CHK) upgraded to Positive from Neutral at Susquehanna

By John Dobosz, Forbes Dividend Investor

Oil is bubbling higher again over the past month, with both West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude prices up 10%, since hitting short-term bottoms in mid-April.

Shares of U.S. oil majors Exxon Mobil (XOM) and Chevron (CVX) are modestly higher by about 4% in that time, but several European majors, like previously recommended Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) and Total (TOT), have rallied 7% and higher.

Lean valuations and fat yields in the group prompt me to add another global energy giant to our list of recommendations -- Britain's BP (BP). The company is one of the largest integrated oil and gas companies in the world, with upstream (exploration and production), midstream (transportation and storage), and downstream (refining and marketing) operations.

By Jim Powell, Global Changes & Opportunities Report

The government's biggest stimulus target is now the housing industry. More than any other industry in which we can invest, housing has a mandate to be successful. Without a housing rebound, the economy has little chance of becoming self-supporting again.

Besides the long term capital gains we can expect, housing also offers a good way to convert paper and electronic "wealth" into real, tangible wealth. In addition, real estate is usually a great inflation hedge. If you put all the attractions of the housing sector together, you get what I believe is a compelling case for making an investment.

A housing recovery is already underway, but it's still in its early stages. I think prices will start to move much higher this summer. The big question is, how much higher are prices likely to go from this point?

By Jim Probasco

Until last week, only 15% of the corn crop in Iowa (the leading corn growing state in the nation) had been planted.

Then came a week of good weather. Iowa farmers responded by launching an invasion of farm machinery into their fertile fields. As of Sunday, 71% of the corn crop had been planted according to The Associated Press.

The same scene played out in all of the key grain states to the extent that the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in its weekly crop progress update that 71% of the corn crop had been sown in those states as well. This figure isn't far off from the 79% average farmers planted by this time over the past five years.

Younger people hate the food chain. It's like Ronald Reagan with Russian missiles. He was willing to trust them, but he wanted to verify. The millennials, who will be about 30% of this country in a half-dozen years, want their food vetted and verified.

That's exactly what Whole Foods (WFM) does. What it stands for. The millennials believe Whole Foods wouldn't sell something unless it were as good as it can be for them. I say "good as it can be" because, even if it is made or sold at Whole Foods, it can still be fattening. It can still be "bad for you," so to speak. But you need Whole Foods to protect you from a world of mass production the way you needed Upton Sinclair's The Jungle as a way to expose the wretched unsanitary conditions of the meatpacking industry at the turn of the century.

By Kyle Woodley

Stick to sandwiches, Subway.

The "House That Jared Built" recently went on the offensive against McDonald's (MCD) and the rest of the fast-food gang by unleashing the results of a survey gauging customer "shame."

The results were both entirely predictable and mostly useless. Reports Business Insider:

By Tim Parker

U.S. markets reached another record high Tuesday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU) added 50 points and the S&P 500 ($INX) nearly three points. All eyes will be on Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony at 10:00 a.m. ET Wednesday.

Morning news

• Disney- (DIS) owned ESPN announced it will cut 300 to 400 jobs or 4%-6% of its workforce.

• JPMorgan Chase (JPM) voted not to split the chairman and CEO roles.

• Oklahoma tornado was listed as one of the top five costliest in history.