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By Michael Vodicka

Steve Jobs once famously commented that simplicity is genius.

That attitude helped Apple Inc. (AAPL) redefine the personal electronics space and create an entire new ecosystem surrounding its products and services.

But now, a few years after Jobs passing, it looks like the financial services industry is taking a few pointers from the late and great founder of Apple.

One of the mutual fund industry's simplest product offerings is gaining popularity with investors. The growing trend has been fueled by the Pension Protection Act of 2006, which approved their use as a default option for 401(k) plan sponsors, who are allowed to automatically select them for participants who have not selected on their own. 

Vale (VALE) has announced a 30% reduction in its 2013 target for coal exports out of its Moatize mine in Mozambique. The target has been reduced from 4.9 million tonnes planned earlier to 3.4 million tonnes. The revision follows incidents of labor disruptions and heavy flooding, which rendered its railway line temporarily unusable.

Infrastructural limitations in Mozambique continue to pose a challenge to Vale, hampering its ability to get the coal produced from pit to port.

The reduction in export volumes, combined with falling coking coal prices in the international market, will impact revenues negatively. However, since the coal division constitutes just 2% to 2.5% of the company's total gross operating revenues, the overall impact is expected to be muted. On the other hand, the news exposes the fragility of Vale's Mozambican business and the significant challenges it faces to diversify away from its iron ore business.

 

By Ilan Moscovitz and John Reeves

JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon began his most recent letter to shareholders on a triumphant note. He proudly reported a record $21.3 billion in net income for 2012, which he said marked the third consecutive year of record profits.

Dimon also pointed to the solid performance of the company's stock over the past eight and a half years, and said that the company is optimistic about the future.

Despite this commendable performance by JPMorgan, we strongly believe that investors should pass on buying its stock. 

 

By Antoine Gara

 

Kudos to Apple (AAPL) for figuring how to legally shuffle $44 billion in profits to non-tax jurisdictions.

 

Unfortunately, while the iPhone designer may have broken new ground in tax avoidance -- according to a Senate Subcommittee on Investigations -- the company would be better off not holding the most swollen bank account among non-financial companies in the history of Corporate America.

 

Currently, Apple is sitting on about $137 billion in relatively interest free cash. The company even recently raised $17 billion in debt financing to boost its dividend and increase share buybacks, while leaving its cash untouched.

 

By Suzanne McGee

Call it a triumph of practicality over idealism.

Jamie Dimon not only survived a nonbinding vote to unseat him from his role as chairman of JPMorgan Chase (JPM), but the proposal to split the roles of CEO and chairman got less support from shareholders than it received last year.  

Information provided by Theflyonthewall.com

Wednesday's noteworthy upgrades include:

• Bristol-Myers (BMY) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup
• Roche (RHHBY) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup
• Volcano (VOLC) upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at First Analysis
• Cree (CREE) upgraded at Sterne Agee from Neutral to Buy
• Chesapeake (CHK) upgraded to Positive from Neutral at Susquehanna

 

By John Dobosz, Forbes Dividend Investor

Oil is bubbling higher again over the past month, with both West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude prices up 10%, since hitting short-term bottoms in mid-April.

Shares of U.S. oil majors Exxon Mobil (XOM) and Chevron (CVX) are modestly higher by about 4% in that time, but several European majors, like previously recommended Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) and Total (TOT), have rallied 7% and higher.

Lean valuations and fat yields in the group prompt me to add another global energy giant to our list of recommendations -- Britain's BP (BP). The company is one of the largest integrated oil and gas companies in the world, with upstream (exploration and production), midstream (transportation and storage), and downstream (refining and marketing) operations.

 

By Johnson Research Group 

By Jim Powell, Global Changes & Opportunities Report

The government's biggest stimulus target is now the housing industry. More than any other industry in which we can invest, housing has a mandate to be successful. Without a housing rebound, the economy has little chance of becoming self-supporting again.

Besides the long term capital gains we can expect, housing also offers a good way to convert paper and electronic "wealth" into real, tangible wealth. In addition, real estate is usually a great inflation hedge. If you put all the attractions of the housing sector together, you get what I believe is a compelling case for making an investment.

A housing recovery is already underway, but it's still in its early stages. I think prices will start to move much higher this summer. The big question is, how much higher are prices likely to go from this point?

 

By Jim Probasco

Until last week, only 15% of the corn crop in Iowa (the leading corn growing state in the nation) had been planted.

Then came a week of good weather. Iowa farmers responded by launching an invasion of farm machinery into their fertile fields. As of Sunday, 71% of the corn crop had been planted according to The Associated Press.

The same scene played out in all of the key grain states to the extent that the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in its weekly crop progress update that 71% of the corn crop had been sown in those states as well. This figure isn't far off from the 79% average farmers planted by this time over the past five years.

 

 

Younger people hate the food chain. It's like Ronald Reagan with Russian missiles. He was willing to trust them, but he wanted to verify. The millennials, who will be about 30% of this country in a half-dozen years, want their food vetted and verified.

 

That's exactly what Whole Foods (WFM) does. What it stands for. The millennials believe Whole Foods wouldn't sell something unless it were as good as it can be for them. I say "good as it can be" because, even if it is made or sold at Whole Foods, it can still be fattening. It can still be "bad for you," so to speak. But you need Whole Foods to protect you from a world of mass production the way you needed Upton Sinclair's The Jungle as a way to expose the wretched unsanitary conditions of the meatpacking industry at the turn of the century.

 

Quick take  

Everything went right for Home Depot (HD) in the last quarter. Not only did the home-repair retailer report better-than-expected​ earnings on Tuesday, but it also said results in the current quarter would be better than analysts had expected. Shares of Home Depot, which operates 2,257 retail stores in all 50 states, not surprisingly rose on the news.  

By Kyle Woodley

Stick to sandwiches, Subway.

The "House That Jared Built" recently went on the offensive against McDonald's (MCD) and the rest of the fast-food gang by unleashing the results of a survey gauging customer "shame."

The results were both entirely predictable and mostly useless. Reports Business Insider: