Reuters reports that Starbucks (SBUX) cut its outlook due to the housing crisis.

Reuters writes that Amazon’s (AMZN) pricing drove lower margins.

Reuters reports that Credit Suiss (CS) posted a loss.

The Wall Street Journal writes the Microsoft (MSFT) may withdraw its bid for Yahoo! (YHOO).

The Wall Street Journal writes that Wendy’s (WEN) will announce a deal in which it is sold to Nelson Peltz.

The Wall Street Journal writes that Samsung may knock Motorola (MOT) from its No.1 spot in US handset sales.

The Wall Street Journal writes that Qualcomm (QCOM) posted higher profits.

The Wall Street Journal writes that, after failing to draw customers with fashionable clothing, Wal-Mart (WMT) will try again.

The Wall Street Journal writes that Wall St. is concerned about the growing use of credit default swaps.

The Wall Street Journal writes that Delta (DAL) and Northwest (NWA) posted huge losses.

The Wall Street Journal reports that CostCo (COST) and Wal-Mart (WMT) are rationing rice sales due to huge demand.

The Wall Street Journal writes that Toyota (TM) passed GM (GM) in global sales in Q1.

The New York Times writes that China now has as many web users as the US.

The FT writes that fears of big bank failures are receding based on trading in the credit default markets.

Bloomberg reports that the price of rice rose above $25 for the first time.

China Exporting Wealth & Dropping Investor Tax from 24/7 WallSt.
There were two things that happened in China, both of which should be loved by U.S. and most country investors.

First and foremost, China saw a rally in Shanghai by more than 9% on the local markets after the Chinese lowered a stock trading tax from 0.3% down to 0.1%. MarketWatch noted that this was meant to take some air out of its market last year after major surges had been seen. After the Shanghai market had fallen by 50% from highs, they probably decided to keep confidence from eroding further and declare “mission accomplished.”

The second issue is that China’s sovereign wealth fund, The China Investment Corporation, has kicked up the amount it can invest in entities and assets abroad. According to a report out of the FT (and elsewhere), China’s $200 Billion sovereign wealth fund now has about $90 Billion to purchase assets and entities. Initially it had about $66 Billion, but the government decided it would need less to restructure its Agricultural Bank of China, its China Development Bank and its other struggling state-owned financial institutions.

It looks like the funds will mostly be given to external managers for foreign equities, fixed-income, and in alternative investments that pertain to private equity funds, hedge funds and possibly commodities.

The ordinaries market in Shanghai rallied some 9% today. The extra sovereign wealth funds will be good for whichever country those funds end up in, while the U.S. and other countries might want to note what taking out “transaction costs” can do for investor confidence.

New Solar ETF Outperforms Main US Components So Far (TAN, FSLR, STP, WFR, SPWR) from 24/7 Wallst
On April 15, the Claymore/MAC Global Solar Energy Index ETF (NYSE: TAN) was launched on ETF leader, the NYSE Arca. Under the ticker “TAN,” the ETF tracks 25 solar power industry companies globally for a total market cap of $5.8 billion.

The majority of the businesses are tied to solar in the ETF and are in the U.S., China, and Germany. The active stocks that trade in the U.S. on NYSE or NASDAQ are First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR), MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. (NYSE: WFR), and Suntech Power Holdings (NYSE: STP).

Claymore believes that recent “green” trends, favorable government policy, increasing volumes of venture capital investments, and improving technology industry will drive growth and returns for the fund.

It was launched at $25.84 on April 15 and shares closed at $26.90 today. The fund has reached as high as $27.50 (also today) and hasn’t closed below the initial launching price. That puts the solar ETF up 4.1% since the lauch, aven after a drop of 0.7% today.