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After years of forcing customers into long-term contracts, major U.S. wireless companies are finally relenting.

They're allowing more customers to go without contracts, The Wall Street Journal reports. They're embracing prepaid services and charging by the minute.

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Sprint (S), for example, says it will only charge 7 cents a minute for some of its plans. That's about half what prepaid king TracFone Wireless charges. Even Verizon (VZ), which resisted for a long time, is starting to move into the business.

 

There's a lot of uncertainty in the oil industry right now as the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster continues to wreak political, environmental and economic havoc. BP (BP) has seen its stock dive 18% in the last month, and the rest of the sector has been fighting against the fallout as well.

 

But not all energy stocks are a bust. There's one oil stock that is up over 11% in the last 30 days -- and on top of this share appreciation, it boasts a stunning dividend yield of 12.6%.

 

 

First, let's get one thing straight: A stock split does NOT change the underlying value of a company. It's simply a repackaging. For instance, instead of selling 10 whole pies for $10 each, you cut each pie into 10 pieces and sell them for $1 each. Either way, you have $100 worth of assets.

 

So why in the world did Baidu (BIDU) get a hefty boost in share price simply from dividing its $700 shares into 10 smaller, $70 pieces?

 

Nobody can really say for sure. The answer probably involves a complicated mix of investor psychology and differences in liquidity and trading volume now that 10 times the shares are on the market. But the real question many investors should ask

 

It’s the new negative thesis: Our country's slowing. That's what swept through our markets Thursday, that we are joining Europe in a slowdown that is emanating from the consumer -- Kohl's (KSS) and now Nordstrom (JWN) and Cisco (CSCO).

 

It's rippling through the economy -- hence the decline in oil. And it's going to lead to stagflation -- hence gold. In fact, everything's bad and you have to sell everything!

There, I think that pretty much captures it. There's not much room for discussion.

 

OK, here's where I come down.

 

When I was a kid and I'd turn up my turn up my nose at a great present that wasn't exactly what I wanted, my grandmother would say, “What do you want, egg in your beer?”

Thursday, investors in Cisco Systems (CSCO) remind me of that little kid I was. They've sold off shares of Cisco by more than 4% Thursday because, in earnings announced Wednesday, the company only reported the strongest quarter in company history (said chief executive John Chambers) and didn't raise guidance for the next quarter.

Mind you, Cisco didn't cut guidance. On the conference call, the company said revenue for the next quarter -- the company's fiscal fourth quarter -- would be up 25% to 28% from the fourth quarter a year earlier. That works out to revenue of $10.6 to $10.9 billion, exactly in line with the $10.68 that Wall Street analysts had projected.

 

Adobe (ADBE) stayed pretty quiet last month as its products were brutally bashed in an essay by Apple (AAPL) chief executive Steve Jobs.

Now, Adobe has an answer. Instead of turning the other cheek, Adobe is giving Apple a big kiss -- and then a smack on the hand.

"We [heart] Apple," the company said in full-page advertisements in many major newspapers Thursday. "What we don't love is anybody taking away your freedom to choose what you create, how you create it and what you experience on the Web." 

Even the prisoners in India are now getting outsourcing jobs.

A jail in southern India is setting up an outsourcing unit that will give 200 convicts work in data entry and information processing, the BBC reports.

These jobs are part of a partnership between the jails and Radiant Info Systems, an Indian outsourcing company whose clients include Accenture (ACN), IBM (IBM) and Oracle (ORCL).

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How much will these prisoners make?

 

Last week's so-called "flash crash" continues to fade into memory as stocks here in the United States continue to push higher. Risk aversion is melting away. But curiously, at the same time precious metals like gold and silver continue to power to new highs.

 

This seems counterintuitive at first, since gold tends to act as a safe haven asset during times of distress. Euro weakness is also holding up the U.S. dollar -- another safety asset.

 

As a result, speculative cash is flowing into the precious metals instead of stocks while the lofty U.S. dollar continues to keep pressure on the commodities complex. Once this condition reverses, stocks should jump higher led by energy and materials stocks. I expect European stocks to also bounce back in a big way, led by

 

By Kevin Grewal, TheStreet

 

As fear continues to hover over the global markets, investors continue to seek the ultimate safety blanket, gold, pushing the precious metal north of $1,200 per ounce and pulling gold related equities along the way.

 

Typically, this time of the year is slow for gold, however, the highly sought after commodity has been on the move, causing some analysts to call the shiny metal the world's new currency reserve and hint that this elevated trend is likely to continue.

  

Despite the recent $1 trillion bailout move in Europe, continued concerns about the overall eurozone's fiscal health and strength of its currency continue to add concern in the region and overall market stress. In fact, the massive infusion of currency has raised questions about whether the eurozone has increased its exposure to risk, rather than bailing out its troubled nations. Additionally, the debt problems in nations like Greece, Portugal and Spain are so severe that a $1 trillion solution will not ratify the situation overnight or mitigate the risks in the region.

 

Call it Christmas come early: Last week we learned that stocks posted an average gain of about 9% for March retail sales.

We also learned consumer spending in the U.S. rose in March by the most in five months, and many economists are predicting continued spending acceleration as the economy adds more jobs and gets back into the groove.

 

It’s hard to believe, but consumer spending may already top the 2008 peak before the market slump. Really! That means investors should seriously consider some type of retail play to benefit from these trends.

 

By Peter Morici, TheStreet

 

The day of the "flash crash," I was asked at an executive seminar in Jersey City, N.J., what impact Greece would have on equity markets. I replied, "It should all be over by Wednesday."

 

I had taken the podium after the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU) had fallen more than 250 points owing to Greek worries, but prior to the computer-trading blitz that created the now famous "V"-shaped pattern of stock prices in just about an hour. My BlackBerry turned off, no one alerted me to the panic unfolding on Wall Street.

 

Now that stocks have made up all their lost ground, what's next?

 

I had to put an end to the Citigroup (C) madness yesterday. It's not just the long trips with no sleep that bother me; it's the endless asking about Citigroup by everyone from strangers to fans, from Facebook to Twitter.

 

So, with the idea of clearing up the great mystery here and referring it to people, I like Citigroup. I think it is a good stock. It's not as good as Bank of America (BAC) or JPMorgan Chase (JPM), otherwise I would own it, too.

It is good, though, because it is getting to be a well-run international bank with superb leadership courtesy of Vikram Pandit, and a bench that is deeper than I thought. With 50% of its business coming from overseas -- much of it in emerging growth markets -- Citigroup is a growth vehicle, as its colossal revenue gains this last quarter made quite obvious.

 

So much for Whoppers in the West Bank.

 

Burger King (BKC) is closing the doors of locations in Israel this summer after a failed attempt to bring Western tastes to the Middle East. A local competitor, Burger Ranch, will take over the 52 locations in the nation.

• Related: Burger King Holdings BKC - 5 Reasons to Sell

You hear a lot about fast-food success stories on a global scale -- with Taco Bell recently making a splash with its potato and paneer burrito in India. But how about the failures? The reality is that Burger King’s failed Israel growth plan is just the most recent gaffe among big American restaurant giants.

 

Google (GOOG) and Verizon (VZ) have become best buds who apparently really want to knock Apple (AAPL) from its perch.

The two are already on the way there, working to kick the iPhone from the No. 2 spot in the U.S. smart-phone market. Now, Google's Android phones are in that position, behind the BlackBerry family, while the iPhone has been pushed back to No. 3.

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Now that the iPhone assault is under way, Google and Verizon are turning to another target: Apple's iPad.