By Louis Bedigian, Benzinga Staff Writer

Apple CEO Tim Cook says he wants the day to come when his products are manufactured in the United States. But will it ever really happen? And if so, when?

Cook spoke about the company's manufacturing practices at this year's All Things Digital conference. He started off by answering why Apple (AAPL) does not own the factories that produce its products. Apple has been criticized for using cheap labor in Asian countries to build products instead of hiring American workers.

 

 

It's time to buy American stocks, writes well-known investor Doug Kass.

He's not saying this for patriotic reasons. Instead, Kass describes the U.S. stock market as the best house in a bad neighborhood, and said that foreign investors will be moving in. The rest of the world is doing so badly that U.S. stocks stand to benefit, he writes.

"In Europe there is hopelessness," he writes. 

VIP table games have been a major growth driver for the Macau casino industry. In 2011, VIP baccarat generated gross revenue of $24.5 billion, accounting for 73% of the casino sector's overall revenue.

Wynn Resorts (WYNN), which derives approximately 60% of its revenues from the Macau region, depends on VIP tables games for much of its future growth.  

By Peter Pham

 

While McDonald's (MCD) has made great inroads in China, it is still not a dominant player there.

It has big plans, however, and hopes to expand the reach of its Golden Arches from the current 1,300 locations in the People's Republic to 2,000 by the end of 2013.

 

Updated 4:20 p.m. ET

Why are shares of Sears Holdings (SHLD) down?

The stock fell nearly 9% Wednesday afternoon, but there wasn't an apparent reason. Other retailers were seeing smaller sell-offs -- Kohl's (KSS) fell 3.6%, and JC Penney (JCP) closed down 3.5% after it changed its promotions strategy.

Sears has been in an intense drop from mid-March, when it topped $83 a share. By early afternoon, trading volume was already at 1.6 million, higher than the daily average of 1.36 million. The stock closed Wednesday at $52.34. 

The market's grinding volatility continues as the euro plunges to levels not seen since the initial panic over the first Greek bailout back in 2010. There has been no shortage of market-moving headlines, including news of another Spanish credit downgrade, word that Chinese lenders are cutting their exposure to Europe, rumors of European Central Bank resistance to Spain's bank recapitalization plans (later denied) and a plan by the European Commission to use eurozone bailout funds to directly recapitalize troubled euro banks.

 

A lot of moving parts here, obviously. And while the U.S. dollar has strung together an impressive rally -- up 19 of the last 21 days, crushing dollar-sensitive commodities like gold, silver, crude oil and copper -- there is evidence the Wall Street heavy hitters are using the chaos to build short-dollar, long-commodities positions at low cost. Here's how to participate.

 

By Harry Domash, Dividend Detective

Unless you've been on the moon, it won't be news to you that natural gas prices are close to record lows and are likely to stay down for a long time.

How can investors profit from low natural gas prices? Here are two ideas: chemicals and fertilizers.  

By Suzanne McGee

This is what a company circling the drain looks like: Research In Motion (RIMM) has officially hired JP Morgan (JPM) Securities and RBC Capital to advise it on its previously announced "strategic review" of its business.

CEO Thorsten Heins described the role of these advisers in a jargon-laden statement Tuesday as evaluating "the relative merits and feasibility of various financial strategies, including opportunities to leverage the BlackBerry platform through partnerships, licensing opportunities and strategic business model alternatives." Translation? RIM is in dire straits and may end up selling part of the business. 

Information provided by Theflyonthewall.com

Numerous brokerages cut their price targets on shares of Research In Motion (RIMM) after the company warned it expects to report an operating loss for the May quarter.

Citigroup lowered its price target for shares to $9.50 from $11.75, Jefferies took its target down to $10 from $12 and RW Baird cut its target for the stock to $8 from $10.  

China's second largest wireless service provider China Unicom (CHU) added 3.3 million subscribers in April. The company now has about 213 million mobile subscribers, up 1.6% from the prior month.

China Mobile (CHL) and China Telecom (CHA) also released their monthly subscriber adds. Both of them showed a healthy number of 3G subscriber additions, but fell well short of China Unicom's net 3G adds. 

Research In Motion (RIMM), whose shares have been reeling after the company reported a surprise loss, is poised to fall further. The BlackBerry maker is living in a dream world that will come crashing down on the Canadian company sooner rather than later.

Though it announced Tuesday that it had hired investment bankers to pursue "strategic options," Bloomberg News and other media have reported that these options -- at least at this point -- do not include a sale of the company. 

Junk food is becoming quite the American export.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Dunkin' Brands (DNKN), the corporate parent to Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin-Robbins, is looking to open as many as 450 locations outside of the U.S. this year.

And Dunkin' isn’t alone in the quest to capitalize on the taste for American food abroad. A growing middle class in emerging markets has prompted a race to India, China and Brazil among U.S. fast-food giants.

 

Information provided by Theflyonthewall.com

Wednesday's noteworthy upgrades include:  

• Aixtron (AIXG) upgraded to Outperform from Underperform at Exane BNP Paribas
• Angie's List (ANGI) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA/Merrill
• LinkedIn (LNKD) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup
• Research in Motion (RIMM) upgraded to Market Perform at JMP Securities

 

By James Brumley

 

The good part about owning luxury stocks: They fly high when investors are feeling giddy. The bad part about owning luxury stocks: Investors will dump them with extreme prejudice at just the slightest whiff of economic trouble.

 

Well, investors got a whiff of trouble in late March, sending shares of Michael Kors Holdings (KORS), Tiffany & Co. (TIF), Blue Nile (NILE), Ralph Lauren (RL) and a few other high-end-goods manufacturers into the proverbial gutter. It's a complete turnaround from the rally these names were doling out just a few months earlier.