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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,

 

By Jeanine, Poggi, TheStreet

Blockbuster (BBI) is putting its European stores up for sale, according to a report.

The movie rental company plans to shed its 650 British stores and locations in Denmark, Italy and Ireland, in an effort to raise cash, according to the UK’s Sunday Times. The newspaper said Blockbuster hired Winchester Capital to find a buyer. Blockbuster values the European arm at $76 million, the Sunday Times said.

Plans to sell European stores shouldn't come as much of a surprise, as the company has been in negotiations to shed the unit since the second quarter last year, Blockbuster spokesperson Michelle Metzger said. The company employs more than 5,000 workers in Europe.

 

By Seth Fiegerman, MainStreet

In some states, it seems like millionaires are a dime a dozen. In others, they’re an endangered species.

It turns out that some states are better breeding grounds for millionaires than others, according to data from Phoenix Marketing International.

No one knows this better than Mississippi, which has fewer millionaires as a percentage of the population than any state in America. Barely 3% of the state’s total population (or about 30,000 households) are millionaires. The median household income is less than $40,000 a year.

 

Morningstar has come up with a list of the top 10 stocks for new money -- a task that seems nearly impossible in this crazy market.

The idea was to find stocks where Morningstar managers have put new money to work. As it turns out, the firm's managers continue to overweight financials. One manager liked Citigroup (C) so much that he plowed 6% of his fund in the stock.

In fact, Citigroup leads the list of top new money purchases at Morningstar, although the firm admits that the stock's fair value uncertainty is "very high."

Here are the rest of Morningstar's top 10: 

Barron's favorite online broker may be one you've never heard of: thinkorswim.

The brokerage was bought out by TD Ameritrade last year, but it still operates as a separate broker-dealer, Barron's reports. Barron's likes all the firm's cool features, including streaming historical data that lets you practice trading strategies.

Brokerages across the board are beefing up features, realizing that investors will go elsewhere to find new tools they want. Now, Webinars and live events are becoming common, and social networking is practically required.

Here are the rest of Barron's top 5 picks: 

Invest in Imax (IMAX)? Before you spit out that coffee you're drinking, consider that the beleaguered stock is gaining some credibility.

The Canadian company is riding the coattails of "Avatar" to its first annual profit in four years, reports The Los Angeles Times. The highest-grossing movie in history has generated $150 million in box office revenue for Imax.

And Imax has broadened its focus to include more than just films about cavorting dolphins. The company is increasingly moving to Hollywood blockbusters, recognizing that there nothing like watching guns blaze and stuff explode on an Imax screen. 

Here's something a little obvious to everyone: Companies are sitting on their cash and cutting back dividends. And it was easy for them to justify doing that over the past two years.

But now that the credit markets are easing up and the economy is improving, maybe it's time to part with some cash?

The number of companies paying dividends has dwindled. Now, half the dividend money in the S&P 500 index comes from only 25 companies. That's down from 35 companies a decade ago, according to The Wall Street Journal.