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Updated at 6:12 p.m. ET

 

By James Rogers, TheStreet

 

Amazon (AMZN) clearly wants to reassure investors that its Kindle e-book reader is coping with the threat posed by Apple's (AAPL) iPad, but actual Kindle sales numbers are still hard to come by.

 

In a statement released today, Amazon said the latest versions of the Kindle, launched in late July, are the fastest-selling Kindles ever. The Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk websites have sold more of the new Kindle and Kindle 3G than any other products during the last four weeks, according to the online retail giant.

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Amazon's true Kindle performance, however, remains clouded in secrecy. Despite plenty of hype over the last few years, the retailer has not released any actual sales figures for its e-book device, although a company spokeswoman told TheStreet in an e-mail today that Amazon has sold "millions of Kindles overall."

 

Pretty soon you'll see bright red phone booths at airports and universities. Inside, people will be able to make free long-distance domestic and international calls.

Google (GOOG) is installing the phone booths to introduce people to Google Voice. The company is also making a splash this week by offering free voice calls through Gmail.

For the rest of the year, calls to the U.S. and Canada will be free. Calls to other countries start at 2 cents a minute.

Here's how it works: 

To be sure, American stocks have been in the doghouse. The Russell 2000 small-cap index is within a hair of its July and February lows and is trading at levels first reached last September. Over the past few months, there has been absolutely no progress.

 

Not so with emerging-market stocks. The iShares Emerging Markets (EEM) is up 12.9% from its May low and has outpaced the Russell 2000 by a whopping 16.7%. Widening the scope, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index has outperformed the MSCI Developed World Index by 6.7% year to date and by 10.7% since the May 25 low.

 

Foreign equities, along with defensive utility names, have been one of the few refuges for stock market investors over the past few months. But can the performance continue? Sakthi Siva, who heads the global emerging-markets team for Credit Suisse, believes they can and gives four important reasons.

 

Starbucks (SBUX) knows more about the real-estate downturn than most chains.

A few years ago, the company's real-estate moves were brazen bordering on reckless. It opened stores within blocks of each other and expanded too quickly in underperforming areas. The economic crisis forced Starbucks to shut down 600 stores in 2008, leaving the battered company to rethink its strategy.

Now, Starbucks has seized upon a new expansion idea, one that removes much of its real-estate risk. Forget the responsibility from a stand-alone location. Why not plant more mini-cafes in Safeway(SWY) and Target (TGT) stores? 

By Jeff Reeves, InvestorPlace.com

Almost everyone feels a bit overwhelmed when experiencing a Costco (COST) store for the first time. The size, the crush of people, the bizarre variety of items.

And that's just the view from the parking lot.

Well, if Costco has its way, the mob scene taking place at its cavernous stores will soon be on the move -- to the oversized mall spaces known as "anchor" positions, which have long been the turf of big-box retailers and department stores.

 

By Jim Cramer, TheStreet

 

Thank you, Bob Toll, for once again telling the truth.

 

The executive chairman of homebuilder Toll Brothers (TOL) has been spot on during this housing crisis, being the first to tell you the good and the bad. He basically told you to sell housing stocks a couple of months ago when he didn't like the trends he saw. He is a straight shooter, and sometimes it can be painful.

 

His comments this morning really say it all for the part of the market that wasn't dominated by the tax credit, which basically gave buyers a free year of interest payments (the average price of a home's mortgage interest in year one is what buyers got with the credit).

 

 

The bond market is so hot that some bankers are betting people will snap up 100-year bonds.

These ultra-long-term bonds are risky because the investor must believe that the companies issuing them will still exist in 100 years, according to The Wall Street Journal. But they're attractive because companies pay investors a premium for them.

"Such bonds won't pay off their principal until 2110, a date so far that the people doing today's buying and selling will all be dead," writes Katy Burne. 

Apple (AAPL) is finally getting a toehold in the corporate world, thanks to the iPad.

Companies that have historically resisted Apple products are snapping up iPads, The Wall Street Journal reports. Half of the companies in the Fortune 100 are buying or testing them, and at least 500 iPad applications are specifically for use by businesses.

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"Everyone in IT is jumping on this one," an analyst told the Journal. "Rather than wait for people to start complaining, they're saying, 'Why don't we get a few of them in and see what they are good for?'"

 

By Andrea Tse, TheStreet

 

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) received a warning letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for allegedly violating FDA rules by marketing two orthopedic products without approval, the agency said.

 

The products in question are the TruMatch Personalized Solutions System, a knee replacement device, and the Corail Hip System.

 

"A review of our records reveals that you have not obtained marketing approval or clearance before you began offering the TruMatch Personalized Solutions System for sale," the FDA said in the letter to J&J. The agency said the Corail Hip System was also being marketed for "unapproved uses."

 

Trader Joe's seems like a quirky little store with a fun wine selection and lots of organic products, but this chain is actually a well-run, smart operation.

It's sales were about $8 billion last year, Fortune reports, the same amount as Whole Foods (WFMI). But Trader Joe's sells about $1,750 in goods per square foot, which is more than double what "Whole Paycheck" can do.

Trader Joe's has no debt, and it pays for all growth on its own. And it has something other supermarket chains desperately crave: A fierce and loyal fan following.

It's perfectly normal for a TJ's shopper to  

By Ted Reed, TheStreet

 

Worried that the General Motors IPO will diminish the value of Ford (F) shares?

 

Don't be, UBS (UBS) analyst Colin Langan said in a report that looks at the impact on the stock price of a company's No. 1 competitor in the months after an IPO. Historically, competing stocks are not hurt by large IPOs in the sector, Langan wrote.

 

"We found that on average, during the three and one months preceding an IPO, the main competitor experienced above-market returns," he said. "Our findings are in contrast to investor concerns and highlight that markets are more efficient than some investors anticipate."

 

Pepsi may not be the first company that comes to mind when you think of a healthful breakfast, but the soft drink giant hopes to change that with a makeover of its Quaker division.

 

Parent company PepsiCo (PEP) will revamp the morning meal offerings from Quaker with revised breakfast options. Reformulated instant oatmeal and two new types of cereal will be at the center of Quaker's new product push and a marketing campaign to capture an evolving consumer market increasingly concerned with eating well.

 

But this isn’t your mother’s oatmeal. The new instant oatmeal will address what Quaker President Jaya Kumar said is a concern: People report not wanting oatmeal to be "mushy."

 

By Jim Cramer, TheStreet

 

Since when did we become the United States of Housing? Housing has become pretty much the be all and end all of the market outside of employment claims. We literally dread these numbers because the estimates are way too high -- based on what? -- and when the figures come in, they are either horrible or really horrible.

 

Housing used to be supremely important in this country for Black & Decker (SWK) and Masco (MAS) and for Louisiana-Pacific (LPX), Georgia Pacific, Morgan Products, US Gypsum, U.S. Home and Republic Gypsum. We used to fret about what it would mean to Phelps Dodge and to some of the independent glass companies.

 

Most of those companies are now gone or have merged. We had some regional homebuilders, and they would have periodic cycles of good and bad. But they were regional, for heaven's sake, and often their regions would be strong when others would be weak.

 

Are small investors ditching stocks, having had their fill of financial chaos?

That's what you might think if you read this New York Times article titled "In striking shift, small investors flee stock market."

But wait. On the same day, the Los Angeles Times published an article called "Still in stocks? You're hardly alone."

So are investors sticking with stocks or not?