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All investors search for the "Holy Grail" of investing: an investment strategy that just can't miss. I know, I've been looking for it for over 40 years and haven't found it yet. I've had to change my strategy several times. I had a new idea recently and decided to try it out. I'd like to share it with you and see what you think.

Here's my idea: Find the sector ETF that is currently having the highest relative strength and try to hand pick the best stocks from that portfolio. It's the Willie Sutton Theory. Willie was a famous bank robber and was asked:"Why do you rob banks?" His reply: "Because that's where the money is!"

If as a group, these are the stocks performing the best then why not search for the gems in the mother lode? 

Wellpoint (WLP) handed President Barack Obama a nice gift in the middle of the healthcare debate. Its Anthem Blue Cross unit decided to raise insurance premiums as much as 39% -- giving much-needed ammunition to Congressional Democrats advocating for changes to the system.

The ill-timed premium increase turned WellPoint into a hot topic, and its president, Angela Braly, justified the move and became the target of criticism from all sides.

Perhaps it's not surprising, then, that Braly was so concerned for her personal safety that Wellpoint spent $151,000 on her security, according to the Footnoted blog. The money went toward bodyguards, a security-enhanced vehicle and an in-home alarm system. 

By Jeanine Poggi, TheStreet

 

Warm weather, strong pre-Easter spending and low year-earlier numbers probably contributed to a jump in retail sales for March.

 

The S&P Retail Index hit a 52-week high on Tuesday as expectations for the sector rose ahead of comparable-store sales results, which will be released on Thursday.

 

The International Council of Shopping Centers expects stores to report the best sales since 1994. The trade group said on Tuesday it expects sales to increase 8% to 10% for the month, boosting its previous forecast of 3% to 3.5%. If the ICSC's forecast is correct, March would mark the third consecutive month of stronger-than-expected comparable sales growth.

 

It looks like the fix is in.

The governments in Beijing and Washington look like they're figured out a formula that will lead, sooner rather than later, to an end to the renminbi/dollar peg and the appreciation of China's currency versus the dollar.

Sooner, I'd say, is this summer. Maybe as early as June. The twelve-month, non-deliverable forward market in Hong Kong is pricing in a climb in the renminbi to 6.6346 to the dollar from the current peg at 6.8258.

 

By Jim Cramer, TheStreet

 

When you've done five years' worth of shows, you tend to think that nothing you could say will have any sort of impact beyond wearing a funny hat or singing a silly tune like, "You just can't slay the bull" to appropriate the end of "Hotel California."

 

But when you mention, "Don't worry, be happy," let's just say that the long knives are out, and last night for me was the night of the long knives.

People I regularly hear from and people I never hear from blasted me back to oblivion, questioning my every assumption, from the idea that the U.S. government will be pleasantly surprised with a reduced deficit -- and I am not even talking about pulling out of Afghanistan, something that I think is on the horizon because Karzai's not worth supporting -- to the notion of an exciting turn in California housing.

 

On Friday, we learned that the U.S. economy added 162,000 jobs in March -- the most in three years.

Investors everywhere are waiting for the Dow to cross the 11,000 mark and hoping that the 6% added to the major indexes in March will be seen once again in April as we enter earnings season.

• Find out whether I think Dow 11k means anything -- and get 4 expert opinions
  

 I’ll admit I’m pretty fired up about earnings myself. As a growth guy, fundamentals are everything to me, and I live for the four times a year when sales and profits are in focus and the noise of Wall Street fades into the background. (Here are my five favorite large-cap picks for this earnings season.)

 

Written by Douglas Estadt:

AutoChina International Ltd (AUTC) is involved in leasing commercial vehicles and providing after-sales support, road-side assistance, and value-added services. Check out some other reasons why we bought this stock:

 

• Great opportunity to sell the "picks, axes and blue jeans" to Chinese entrepreneurs.

 

• They lease the trucks that build the foundation for Chinese businesses and allow them to function properly (i.e. picks and axes).

 

• Have low P/E ratio and recently completed secondary offering of 2 million shares at $35.

 

• High insider ownership- it was announced that there was a $500,000 recent share purchase made by CFO Jason Wang

 

To hear more about AUTC, view the video below.

 

By Eric Rosenbaum, TheStreet

 

Americans hated companies a little less in 2009 than they did in 2008, but the country loved Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) a bit more.

 

In Harris Interactive's annual ranking of the companies with the best reputations, 81% of survey respondents said they considered the business world's reputation "not good" or "terrible," down from 88% the previous year.

 

Berkshire Hathaway beat second-place Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) for the top spot among the 60 companies in the ranking. Google (GOOG), 3M (MMM) and SC Johnson rounded out the top five. Privately held SC Johnson was the first company to debut in the top five in the ranking since Google in 2005.

 

 

By Scott Moritz, TheStreet

 

Nokia (NOK) is out to prove again that it can be late, wrong and yet still willing to stick its neck out in areas where growth could be.

 

The Finnish phone giant is gearing up to enter the tablet race, taking on the Apple (AAPL) iPad and other tech giants.

 

Nokia is working with suppliers and designers on a touch-screen tablet that would hit the market as early as fall, according to Rodman Renshaw analyst Ashok Kumar, who is close to Nokia's technology partners. Nokia declined to comment. 

 

By David MacDougall, TheStreet.com

 

Alcoa (AA) will be the first Dow component to report first-quarter earnings next week. The aluminum producer is expected to earn 15 cents a share after losing 59 cents a year earlier. The Pittsburgh-based company said yesterday it would have a $180 million charge for closing plants and an $80 million charge for health care expenses.

 

Still, analysts expect the company to increase revenue 18% this year. Much of the improvement in performance came from the rebound in aluminum prices, which have gained 70% during the past year. Alcoa has become an attractive opportunity as inflation fears grow and the metal regains the value it lost in the crash.

 

Aluminum prices and Alcoa are tightly correlated. In fact, changes in the spot price of aluminum during the past five years account for about 60% of the stock's movement. If aluminum continues to gain in the coming months, so will Alcoa shares.

 

There's always a bit of hype when Apple releases a new product, so how's this:

 

When Spider-Man and Iron Man need help, they call on Steve Jobs.

 

BusinessWeek reports today that comic powerhouse Marvel and a few smaller names are either out with or soon to release iPad applications that will make it easy to buy and read comics on the hot new device. DC Comics, home of Superman and Batman, is officially just looking for the moment.

 

• Six Top Stocks to buy now

 

The hope is that the big, bright screen on the iPad will make colorful panels more fun to look at, and might even reverse a long decline in comic sales.

 

By Jim Cramer, TheStreet

 

We fret too much. We fret about whether Apple's (AAPL) iPad is going to sell. We fret about every Treasury auction. We fret about Fed statements and discount rate moves. We fret about commercial real estate. We fret about housing. We fret about the weakness of the consumer. We fret about the impact of health care. We fret about the Chinese bubble. And we fret about earnings and earnings and earnings. We fret about unemployment.

 

Hey, it's good to fret. I used to fret all the time at my hedge fund. You aren't being critical and rigorous enough if you aren't fretting. It is a little ridiculous to believe that everything is going to work out just right.

 

However, action taken based on fretting has been, since the bottom, just plain wrong. Look at those insurers yesterday. They were all supposed to be dead meat.

 

Ah, if it were only iron ore.

The big three companies that dominate the world iron ore market -- Vale (VALE), Rio Tinto (RTP), and BHP Billiton (BHP) -- have won price increases of 80% to 100% from Asian steelmakers. 

Like it or not, European steelmakers will have to fall in line. (The United States is a special case because it is the only major steel-making country that also exports all the ingredients needed to make steel: Iron ore, coking coal, and scrap.)

That price increase for iron ore will increase steel prices by a third, say the world's steelmakers. And that will then turn into higher prices for everything from cars to washing machines to construction machinery to construction.

 

Hyundai (HYMTF) is pouncing on this week's iPad frenzy by announcing that it will include a free Apple (AAPL) iPad with every purchase of its new Equus luxury sedan.

It's a great move on the part of Hyundai, which said the iPad would be pre-loaded with a digital version of the car's owner's manual. At a starting price of $500, the iPad would be about one-one hundredth of the Equus' price tag.

Will it help Hyundai sell more cars? Absolutely. By taking a little piece of the iPad hype as its own, Hyundai calls attention to its upcoming release. It also helps pitch the Equus as a true luxury car, one that is so decadent you could keep an iPad in the glove compartment (not that anyone would, but whatever). 

Outdoor clothing and footwear manufacturer Deckers Outdoor (DECK) has been a standout among beleaguered retail stocks. Shares are up nearly 250% since the March 2009 lows with no sign of slowing down.

 

The secret to Deckers’ success are trendy and durable Ugg brand boots that account for 87% of the company’s revenue -- and consequently, the company’s rapidly growing bottom line. But is this over-reliance on a footwear fad risky for the company? The 2007 collapse of Crocs (CROX) showed all too well that when it comes to cashing in on fashion, tastes change overnight.

• Is CROX back on the right foot?

So are Uggs the new Crocs? And if they are, is that such a bad thing?