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By Jeff Reeves, editor of InvestorPlace.com

 

Facebook made a splash Wednesday with a major upgrade to its ubiquitous social-media platform: a video chat feature via a partnership with Skype.

 

The move comes along with upgrades to groups, chatting and buddy lists, adding an extra layer of interactivity to Facebook. That's saying something, considering the site already boasts 500 million active users who spend more than 700 billion minutes per month on its site.

 

So what is the motivation for the upgrade to chatting and Facebook-Skype synergy? To keep people connected, sure, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged in his press conference Wednesday that Facebook chat was a bit clunky and needed some improvement. But more importantly, to keep users loyally plugged in as competitors look to get a slice of Facebook's massive social-media pie.

 

 

By Tim Hanson

 

It's not often that a company you've criticized invites you over for a tour and tea, but that's precisely what happened to me recently in Beijing when I visited Baidu's (BIDU) corporate campus in the northwestern part of the city. And after spending a full day meeting employees and getting a sense of the company's culture and growth strategy, I'm beginning to think that my skepticism of the company has been misguided.

 

I'll tell you why, but first I need to explain what I used to think.

 

This story begins 1,800% ago
Baidu went public in 2005, and given the excitement about emerging markets then, the stock nearly doubled on its first day of trading. It's looked expensive to me ever since. One reason for that is Baidu was (and to some extent remains) a Google (GOOG) clone.

 

Netflix (NFLX) stock was a big mover Tuesday, jumping more than 7% on news that the company will expand into 43 countries this year.

This is a huge deal for the video-streaming and DVD-by-mail company. Netflix has gone international only once, launching services in Canada last year. Now it plans to offer videos in Spanish, Portuguese and English to subscribers in Mexico, Central America and South America as well as in the Caribbean.

Analysts think there are 40 million to 45 million broadband customers in Latin America and the Caribbean. Think about that in terms of Netflix Canada, which won the loyalty of 8% of broadband households within seven months, says Citi analyst James Rivett.

The following video has a pretty meaty discussion about Netflix's expansion and what it means for the stock. Check it out.

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By Stan Luxenberg, TheStreet

 

Plenty of investors are worried that interest rates will rise in coming years. That could be bad news for bond funds. When rates rise, bond prices tend to fall. So investors in bond funds can't be sure how much money they will have on any particular date.

 

To help reduce the uncertainty, Fidelity Investments recently introduced four municipal funds that target specific dates, ranging from 2015 to 2021. The funds hold bonds that mature near the target dates. The idea is that shareholders will receive their principal back on the target dates.

 

The funds could be attractive for cautious investors who are saving for specific events. Say you will need to make college tuition payments in 10 years. You could invest in Fidelity Municipal Income 2021 (FOCFX).

 

By Miriam Reimer, TheStreet

 

Wendy's (WEN) is once again a solo fast-food name brand -- dropping Arby's from its name now that its sale of the struggling roast beef chain is complete -- and the company is forging ahead with new menu items, an updated logo and a focus on global growth.

 

Wendy's said early Tuesday that it completed the sale of Arby's to private equity firm Roark Capital Management, a long-anticipated divestiture announced in June. Effective immediately, its corporate name was changed to The Wendy's Company, and its common stock will continue to trade under the ticker WEN.

 

The sale of its struggling Arby's chain showed that Wendy's was looking to deleverage its balance sheet and finally divest a brand that's been dragging on its financials for years.

 

We're less than a month from the point where the U.S. government risks defaulting on its debt. Can Congress put aside the hot air and actually hammer out a solution before then?

At this point, negotiations stand pretty much exactly where they were two weeks ago, when House Republicans pulled out, The Washington Post reports. And we've heard plenty of bluster from both sides of the aisle since then.

Congress is in full debate over whether to lift the country's $14.3 trillion debt ceiling by Aug. 2. If the impasse continues after that point, we could very well see a plunge back into recession, a crumbling stock market and a financial ripple effect across the globe.

Check out the following analysis of the debt ceiling drama from CNBC.

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Equities enjoyed one of their best performances of all time last week on signs of renewed economic vigor and progress by European leaders to quell the latest round of the Greek debt crisis. The "re-recovery" I've been writing about in my columns and blogs posts has arrived, and investors are crawling over themselves to participate after stocks fell to their most oversold levels since the late 1990s by some measures.

 

It was only the 10th time in the history of the S&P 500 since 1928 that it gained at least 0.75% for five straight days. History also suggests Tuesday's slight weakness was to be expected: Seven of the other nine examples dipped the next day. But in eight of those nine examples, buying the dip resulted in gains two weeks later.

 

I think a similar performance is in store for us now, thanks to cautious sentiment, impressive market breadth and strengthening economic fundamentals. But above all, the Federal Reserve's "stealth stimulus" -- a subject I've touched on frequently -- will keep funneling easy money into risky assets like stocks as the same dynamic that powered the housing bubble is at work again.

 

By Don Dion, TheStreet

 

Here are five exchange-traded funds to keep an eye on this week.

 

1. iShares MSCI Japan Index Fund (EWJ)

 

The Japan-tracking EWJ spent much of the month of June treading water, subdued below its 50-day moving average. At the close of the month, however, the fund caught a break. Thanks to a three-day ascent during the middle of last week, shares of EWJ managed to recapture levels seen at the start of May.

 

In the coming days, as we take our first steps into the second half of 2011, it will be interesting to see if EWJ can capitalize on last week's strength. The Japanese markets still have ample ground to cover before the fund regains the highs witnessed before the devastating earthquake and tsunami. Along the road to recovery, expect headwinds to persist.

 

The Fourth of July holiday came early for the stock market last week as stocks exploded to their best weekly gain in many moons.

 

Powered by solid economic numbers and optimism for the forthcoming second-quarter earnings season, bulls pushed the S&P 500 to a gain of more than 5% for the week.

 

It is amazing watching the wall of worry crumble. The bear argument for a double dip or stock market armageddon never did hold much water. The three-month pause in the market was just that, a pause.

 

Despite the big gains, many stocks trade for relatively low valuations. As long as profits come in as forecast, we can expect more gains in July. It will be a tremendous summer rally if corporate earnings beat analyst estimates.

 

I’m staying long and strong with my ETFs to buy this week. Keep an eye on the iShares S&P North America Technology and Multimedia Fund (IGN).

 

 

 

This is one foreclosure that won't go Bank of America's (BAC) way.

Donald Trump is putting a huge squeeze on the bank as it tries to foreclose on a 24,000-square-foot estate in Virginia. Bank of America owns the house and is trying to sell it for $16 million, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Maybe the bank could sell a normal estate for that much, but not in this case. You see, Trump owns the backyard, the front yard and most of the driveway. He doesn't own the house itself, but he's willing to take it off the bank's hands for, oh, $3.6 million.

Ah, you gotta love the Donald. Here's how this nightmare for Bank of America came about: