Top Stocks

If you were one of the naysayers who thought Microsoft (MSFT) was nuts with its 2009 launch of Bing, prepare to eat crow. The latest numbers show that Bing is now the No. 2 search engine in the U.S., knocking Yahoo (YHOO) from its perch.

The steady march upward for the Microsoft model shows that Google (GOOG) may not be quite as invulnerable as previously thought. A profitable partnership Bing recently forged could help the Microsoft engine really go head to head with the biggest name in search. (Microsoft owns and publishes MSN Money.)

By Jim Cramer, TheStreet

Does the seemingly endless sell-off in tech stocks make sense, the selling that I believe will resurface again after Monday's Nasdaq ($COMPX) snap-back? Is the liquidation rational given that worldwide growth seems to be coming back, according to China, India, Brazil and now the EU?

I want to differentiate two things here. First, yes, it made sense earlier this summer. I know I was too bullish on the group. I didn't see the zero-sum possibilities of Apple (AAPL), believing that other stocks would be able to rally even if Apple went higher. I thought that the mobile Internet tsunami and cloud computing could lift more boats than it did, particularly semiconductor boats, but it turned out that almost all were leaky. I was less concerned with seasonality than I should have been. The group performed much more horribly this summer than I anticipated, in part because I think it was far more over-owned than I thought.

Unlimited calls and texting for $45 a month? That's the cell phone plan Wal-Mart (WMT) plans to roll out next week.

The store is unveiling the first cell phone plan under its own name, according to The Associated Press. And it's a pretty good deal, too -- one that could drop prices at other carriers.

• Bing: Text-message traffic

Wal-Mart is calling it the Wal-Mart Family Mobile service. It will run on T-Mobile USA's network. T-Mobile is a division of Deutsche Telekom(DT).

Here are the details of the plan:

Who knew that porn stars, drunken dwarfs and fart jokes were so valuable?

The radio star largely responsible for Sirius XM's (SIRI) success -- Howard Stern -- may be poised to leave the satellite radio provider, and investors and analysts wonder whether the company is doomed without him.

Stern, 56, hinted last week that he may leave satellite radio when his five-year, $500 million contract expires in 2011, saying he may start a Web-only program or offer one through a mobile application.

Maybe there's just no hope to the disinformation campaign against investors.

While working out this week, I saw a headline that the European Union is basically "doubling" its growth projections, with the economy putting on a big move after the doldrums of the past few months.

That came right on the heels of China's reporting 13% growth -- that's right, 13% growth -- and I am marveling at all the people who said China was finished, as we saw from the Baltic Freight (which became the Baltic Fright) and the tepid oil futures. Plus, hadn't copper just peaked?

While investor sentiment shifted this week amid some better-than-expected economic reports, a number of fears continue to lurk beneath the surface -- fears that have pushed investors out of stocks and into bonds at a rapid rate in recent months. From the week ending Aug. 4 through the week ending Sept. 1, investors yanked a total of more than $20 billion out of equity mutual funds, according to the Investment Company Institute. At the same time, they were pouring more than $35 billion into bond funds.

What to do during such turbulent, emotional times? A couple of the top strategists I keep an eye on have recently pointed to the same thing as one of the keys: staying disciplined.

• Check out my Buffett-inspired Top Stocks tracking portfolio at Wall Street Survivor
  

One of those gurus is Liz Ann Sonders, Charles Schwab's chief investment strategist. Sonders (who was one of the few to correctly call the start of the 2007-09 recession, and appears to have been very close to the mark in calling its end) recently stressed the importance of rebalancing one's portfolio -- both within and between different asset classes. "Many investors have probably skewed their portfolios too far away from stocks and toward bonds," she wrote in her latest market commentary. Her advice: Use "a plan that takes advantage of volatility and includes rebalancing and reallocating gains to areas of your portfolio that are underexposed."

What you think of Goldcorp’s (GG) $3.4 billion bid for Andean Resources will depend on how impressed you are with Goldcorp’s track record valuing potential acquisition candidates.

There’s no doubt that Andean Resources’ (ANDPF) Cerro Negro project in Argentina is an attractive gold asset. The project isn’t scheduled to go into production until late 2012, but indicated reserves now come to 2.1 million ounces of gold and 20.6 million ounces of silver. 

Production costs project out as relatively low, a key criterion for any Goldcorp acquisition, at $60 an ounce after silver revenue. Capital spending to get the mine up to production targets is a reasonable $275 million to $300 million, according to Goldcorp.

Comcast (CMCSA) was forced to shut down its e-mail servers entirely after being hit, a spokesperson said on Twitter. "Apparently, this virus (if you click on it) will pooch your PC if you shut it off if you're infected," she added. 

"Good Morning America" weatherman Sam Champion was among those affected at ABC. He posted a message on Twitter that said a "huge email-spam-virus" was "filling up" his ABC News email account.

By Louis Navellier, Investorplace.com

Penny stocks can be tricky for many retail investors, with shares trading for only a few cents always listed on the pink sheets and frequently involving high fees and high risk.

But the next-best thing is to go for low-priced investments that barely qualify for the major exchanges, skirting the $1 share price limit.

Right now, a number of decent small-cap financial companies are right on the line with shares at around a buck apiece. To help you get into these picks before they take off, here's my list of three cheap financial investments to buy now: