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By Jason Notte, TheStreet

As evidenced by Wal-Mart Stores' (WMT) attempt to streamline shelf space, even garbage inspires brand loyalty among American consumers.

Earlier this month, Wal-Mart returned Clorox's (CLX) Glad bags and Pactiv's (PTV) Hefty bags to its shelves after cutting them in February and carrying only S.C. Johnson’s Ziploc bags and its own Great Value brand. Wal-Mart says the Hefty and Glad bags and hundreds of other items were taken out of the mix as part of a remodeling effort, but the retailer replaced them when it became clear it was losing not only a $4.99 single-item sale, but entire shopping excursions by people seeking specific brands as well.

"What we found is that you can discontinue items that don't sell but get you a trip," said Bill Simon, Wal-Mart's executive vice president and chief operating officer, at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Consumer Conference last week. "So, we've been through the business and put 300 or so of those items back into the stores that were removed. We believe that that's going to solve some of those issues."

 

Thinks are pretty bleak at Big Pharma right now. Looming patent expirations and the Great Recession have held back shares, sparked widespread layoffs and slowed growth to a crawl.

 

But seeing drug companies move sideways over the past several years is one thing -- watching them slowly eroded by global competors in the future will be even worse for shareholders. 

 

That's exactly the fate predicted for current drug giants such as Pfizer, Merck and others in a recent IMS Health study. The report shows emerging markets are seeing widespread prescription growth -- and that major Western companies risk being squeezed out of the market by regional competitors.

 

By Jim Cramer, TheStreet

 

No one's sanguine about the idea that rates have to be kept down for an extended time, to use Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's words.

We should have seen rates rise a long time ago. We should have seen unemployment go to 9% or even 8% by this point and "real" unemployment dip down to the low teens instead of 17%. We should have see housing starts go back to a level that is higher than where it was when we had half the population we have now. We would love to see new car builds -- after the incredibly low levels we have seen -- surge to, say, 12.5 million units, a 50% increase from last year.

 

None of this has happened. Yet people keep yapping about higher rates.

 

There is one bright spot in the flailing videogame industry, and Hollywood already has started to take notice.

Last year, while videogame sales were down 11%, U.S. mobile game publishers took in about $539 million in sales. That's up 9.3%, according to research firm SNL Kagan.

• Related: 8 Movie Games for Your Phone
  

Even more impressive, annual customer spending is likely in the $1.3 billion to $1.5 billion range, according to Kagan analyst John Fletcher. Game publishers typically get 30% to 50%  of the dollars.

 

Ford (F) has been on an incredible run over the last year, grabbing market share and seizing opportunity as other automakers failed.

Ford expects to continue to steal business from its rivals. But Toyota (TM), despite recent problems, isn't where Ford expects to grab significant market share.

Nope, Ford thinks the biggest market share opportunity will come from General Motors, according to analysts at USB. They had a meeting with Ford management, and learned that Ford sees big potential in the mess that GM left behind. 

The Western world is about to tip its hat to and empty a few glasses in honor of Ireland, with St. Patrick’s Day celebrations taking place across the globe tomorrow.

 

Perhaps investors should bow allegiance to the maker of spirits (and other consumer products), Fortune Brands (FO).

 

Like many stocks in the market, Fortune has been on fire in the last year. The stock price has more than doubled from the March 2009 lows. These gains are rooted in strong operating performance and expectations of future growth.

 

• 5 beverage stocks to drink up on St. Patrick's Day

 

The owner of many whiskey brands -- though Scotland seems as close to Ireland as they get -- Fortune Brands appears to have navigated the recession quite well.

 

I always wonder what's up when I see a normally quiet company begin tooting its own horn in ads. It's almost never a good sign.

Tuesday's Financial Times has a full-page ad from Vale (VALE) headlined “Vale also transforms minerals into awards.” 

The text notes that Euromoney has just selected Vale as the best-managed company in Brazil and then goes on to list other awards from Euromoney and the FT.

The ad couldn't have had anything to do with Vale's decision to bring in strike breakers

 

By Scott Moritz, TheStreet

Pre-orders of the Apple (AAPL) iPad began Friday, setting off speculation about how many devices will be sold.

One of the most closely watched Apple iPad sales bloggers, Deagol's AAPL Model, estimated that first day orders hit 120,000 units but dropped off dramatically to end the weekend with a total of 152,000 Apple iPads sold.

"That number is low," says an industry analyst who is independently monitoring iPad sales. The analyst, who is collecting sales data for clients and asked not to be identified, says the current tally is conservative and actual iPad sales are significantly higher. The analyst declined to offer an estimate.

 

By Jim Woods, Investorplace.com

Short selling has become a hotly debated topic these days.  Some say the practice puts artificial downward pressure on stocks, while others argue short-selling’s virtue as a mechanism for determining a stock’s real value.  The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently voted 3-2 to impose new limits on short selling; a move that SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro claims will “preserve investor confidence.” 

But thanks to new revelations surrounding the Lehman Brothers collapse, as well as Michael Lewis’ new book, The Big Short, those who defend betting against the house are finally starting to get some respect.

 

Google's (GOOG) new Nexus One phone is, so far, a bust, according to sales data from mobile analytics company Flurry.

The firm estimates that Google has only sold 135,000 of the phones after 74 days on the market, reports Silicon Alley Insider. Compare that to the iPhone (which is not a fair comparison, I know), which sold 1 million units in the same period.

The main culprit behind the slow sales? You can only buy the Nexus One online, and only from T-Mobile. 

There’s a lot of talk these days about how bad carbon is for the environment. Well, soft drink seller Coca-Cola (KO) is fighting fire with fire by using C02 to combat climate change in a new line of vending machines.

 

These new self-serve stations chill drinks without the use of harmful refrigerants known as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). About 10 years ago, research emerged linking HFCs to global warming, and the fact that KO execs have taken the research to heart is proof that the movement has really gone mainstream.

 

This is just the latest move Coke has made to green up its image. But don’t think Coke’s mission is purely in the interest of the environment -- it’s also about the bottom line. As a result, a number of other companies are racing to roll out similar green technologies.

 

By Jim Cramer, TheStreet

 

If you are like me, you are tired of opining on bills that come out of Washington, betting that they will look anything like the legislation that will become law.

 

There is enough, for example, in Sen. Chris Dodd's proposal to be construed as a "Break Up Goldman Sachs (GS)" bill. You could say that Goldman loses both its private-equity arm and its prop-trading arm. You could say that it will not be able to use leverage. Heck, you could say that Goldman Sachs will be beaten by your local community banks.

 

Similarly, you could say that Bank of America (BAC), Wells Fargo (WFC) and JPMorgan (JPM) will have to split into a bunch of companies, kind of what the government made Ma Bell do. You could easily argue that this law forces Bank of America to split into all of the divisions that made it into the national bank, including shedding Merrill. You could say that JPM and WFC have to undo all of their deals that the government asked them to do or assisted them in doing.

 

 

Gives a new meaning to "crash carts," doesn’t it?

 

According to a recent study at Duke University, there is a correlation between heart attacks and bad days for the market. That seems logical, considering the stress a bear market can cause.

 

Researchers say there is enough evidence to make the link noteworthy. But what you may find more interesting is a footnote to the study that highlights a much more practical correlation with market declines. In fact, it’s one that investors can actually put to use in their portfolios instead of their medical charts.

 

Sony Pictures chief Michael Lynton fired a shot across the large-margin concessions bow of theater chains Monday, asking exhibitors to add healthier food options at the box office.

Delivering his remarks at the ShoWest convention in Las Vegas, Lynton cited skyrocketing childhood obesity rates before noting, “adding healthier options to your existing menu is the right thing to do for our industry, for audiences and for our country.”

(Read also: ShoWest: Studios, Exhibitors Make Nice on Release-Windows Issue -- For Now)

Lynton said his studio conducted a poll of moviegoers that revealed that two-thirds of them would prefer something healthier than candy, popcorn and soda.

 

The good news, according to Moody's, is that the U.S. government will spend about 7% of its total revenue in 2010 servicing its huge debt. That will rise to 11% of total revenue in 2013.

That's the good news?

Well, sure.

• Video: The credibility of ratings
  

Moody's says that if the economy grows 0.5 percentage points more slowly than its baseline forecast of moderate growth,