Costco (COST) customers looking for "the real thing" now have to look elsewhere: The warehouse retailer said on Monday that it's no longer buying Coca-Cola (KO) products. Once stores run out of their dwindling supplies, they won't be restocking.

Costco is playing hardball; negotiations between the two companies to reach a recession-ready wholesale price have apparently broken down. Costco acknowledges this problem on its Web site: "Costco is committed to carrying name brand merchandise at the best possible prices. At this time, Coca-Cola has not provided Costco with competitive pricing so that we may pass along the value our members deserve."

Does it seem like the holidays arrived early this year? Maybe you noticed Costco (COST) stocking up on wrapping paper in September, or holiday television ads blaring during the weeks leading up to Halloween. Well, it's not your imagination, according to TNS Media Intelligence. Retailers this year started their national television holiday ad campaigns as much as four weeks before the traditional start of the holiday season, the media researcher says.

"Typically, retailer advertising is concentrated in the eight weeks before Christmas," said Jon Swallen, senior vice president of research at TNS. "What we saw was a backing up of the calendar by a full four weeks."

Manhattan just got its first Costco (COST). The store on E. 116th Street opened on Thursday, making it the first discount club to open in the borough. The experience isn't entirely new, however, as many club members already live in the city. Now, they'll be able to enjoy a shorter jaunt to the nearest Costco.

The store boasts more than 105,000 square feet of selling space and 3,500 products, according to the New York Post. There's an optical department (with doctor), pharmacy and enormous fresh foods area, along with a photo center and food court ... basically, the Manhattan Costco has everything, as the rest of the country already knows, and it comes in one size: huge.

Shoppers are coming out of hibernation, but that doesn't mean the holiday season won't be a bear. October retail sales were up around 2 percent -- a little better than analysts had expected, and with new pockets of growth. But the reports were wildly uneven. Tallies of comparable-store sales had almost as many winners as losers.

A wrapup from the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) showed every segment turned positive in October, except for the still-struggling department stores, where comparable-store sales (also called same-store sales, or sales for stores open a year or more) were down 1.1 percent. But even one part of that segment had an unexpected improvement: Luxury department stores sales were up 1.8% on a same-store basis last month.

Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) posted a stronger-than-expected profit for its fiscal first quarter and said business was recovering as customers are buying more network equipment again. Its revenue outlook for the current quarter also exceeded Wall Street expectations. Shares rose over 3.5 percent in premarket trade.

Toyota Motor Corp. (TM) posted a surprise profit last quarter -- its first after three losing quarters -- and trimmed its projected red ink for the year. Toyota said results were due to government measures around the world designed to boost sales of environmentally friendly cars and other vehicles. Shares were 2 percent higher ahead of the bell.

Toyota Motor Corp's (TM) surprise quarterly profit and halving of its annual loss forecast failed to convince investors the world's No.1 carmaker is back on track, as government subsidies peter out and a strong yen takes its toll.

Major Japanese automakers have raised their forecasts for the year to March 2010 as they squeeze out savings and government incentives from Germany to China, the U.S. and Japan prop demand through the worst economic crisis in generations.

Consumers, enticed by cooler weather, early holiday discounts and an improving economy, offered some relief to the retail industry in October.

As merchants announced their figures Thursday, the results showed that shoppers certainly were not splurging, restrained by tight credit and a weak job market. But the tone of the reports all pointed to improving sales momentum.

Costco Wholesale Corp.'s (COST) sales at stores open at least a year rose 5 percent. Gap Inc. (GPS) , helped by surging sales at its Old Navy chain, posted a 4 percent gain and upgraded its third-quarter profit outlook above Wall Street projections.

I've always been a big fan of the phrase "keep it simple, stupid," which apparently was created by a person who designed spy planes for a living. But keeping it simple is a lot easier to say than do when it comes to Securities & Exchange Commission filings. I know, because I've had to read plenty of them.

In a nutshell, 10Ks, 10Qs, and proxy statements are usually anything but simple. Instead, they're often dozens (or even hundreds) of pages written in some variation of English that I like to think of as accounting-speak mixed with lawyer-speak. So you can imagine my surprise -- no sheer delight -- when I recently came across the 10K filed by Costco (COST), the giant warehouse club.

Call it a sign of the times -- or at least a sign of the lingering effects of the recession and ongoing unemployment. According to several media sources, Costco (COST), the big box discount retailer, will begin taking food stamps at some locations.

Nearly 36 million Americans use food stamps, but the Costco decision is odd. While Wal-Mart (WMT), which does accept food stamps, is considered a shopping center for relatively low-income consumers, Costco has maintained an image of catering to the fairly affluent. The number of high-end shoppers must have fallen enough that Costco wants to bring in a new category of customers.

Some of the companies making headlines today:

Amazon.com (AMZN) said Wednesday it is cutting the cost of its Kindle electronic reader to $259, a $40 price cut. The e-tailer also said it will soon begin selling a new version of the Kindle, priced at $279, in more than 100 countries.

Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) said Wednesday that its fiscal fourth-quarter profit fell 6 percent, partly on the stronger dollar and increased employee benefit costs, but results beat analyst estimates. The warehouse-style retailer reported it earned $374 million, or 85 cents a share, compared to $398 million, or 90 cents a share, during the same quarter a year ago. Analysts had expected Costco to earn 77 cents a share.

What goes up must come down, the saying goes. The stock market and the real estate market certainly did. But are we ready to swear off Red Bull and the other liquid uppers that helped fuel the hypertensive, party-never-stops mindset that got us into this mess? A growing number of beverage marketers are betting that we are.

Promising a "vacation in a bottle" or an "acupuncture session in every can," makers of anti-energy drinks, as they're known, say that after bailouts, foreclosures and Ponzi schemes, Americans nowadays would rather chill out than tweak out. To help us do so, they're spiking their new beverages with ingredients such as chamomile, melatonin, and valerian root -- all known for their supposed calming effects. Now in convenience-store display cases across America, drinks with names like Slow Cow, Ex Chill and Malava Relax are increasingly jockeying for space with their amped-up alter-egos like Jolt, Monster and Rockstar.

Some of the companies making headlines today:

CIT Group (CIT) is seeking to cut at least $5.7 billion of debt to help it avoid collapse and return to profitability after nine quarters of losses. CIT asked bondholders to exchange unsecured obligations for new secured debt maturing in four to eight years and preferred shares. Shares jumped over 12 percent at last pre-market trade (8:47 a.m.).

Apple Inc. (AAPL) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral by UBS on bright iPhone prospects. UBS upped its Apple target to $265 from $170.

You've probably heard the story about the Lexus in the Walmart (WMT) parking lot. Or the Costco (COST) shopper stuffing the 48-roll pack of toilet paper into the trunk of a Mercedes-Benz. Like an urban legend, the details differ, but the gist is the same: Even the rich have downsized their shopping.

Except this isn't a myth, according to most retailers. Wealthy shoppers are still shopping, but they're buying private-label clothes at department stores and designer goods at outlets. So stores that cater to them are downscaling the merchandise, offering more private labels and cutting prices on designer items.

Some of the companies making headlines today:

Kraft (KFT) has offered to buy Cadbury Schweppes (CBY) at a 31 percent premium to what mounts to $16.75 billion. Cadbury shares shot up more than the premium, indicating a sweetened bid is expected to come soon from Kraft or other players such as Hershey (HSY), Nestle (NSRGY) or PepsiCo (PEP). Some expect Cadbury to eventually fetch $21-22 billion. CBY shares jumped 40 percent in pre-market trading. KFT shares fell over 5 percent.

Smithfield Foods Inc. (SFD) reported a much larger quarterly loss on Tuesday, due to low hog prices, H1N1 flu and soft export demand for pork. Shares traded about 1 percent lower in pre-market action.

The job situation just refuses to right itself. New jobless claims didn't fall as much as expected last week, and the number of people receiving unemployment checks continued to climb. Though the "jobless recovery" notion has become pretty firmly implanted in the American consciousness, the pain associated with it isn't readily acknowledged, and flat incomes – thanks to a flimsy job market – will extend the agony.

At present, we're caught between economic phenomena and the realities of our personal situations. Most economists are ready to proclaim the recession over. Yet, companies aren't hiring yet. Jobless rates will continue to increase for the next year, and consumer spending consequently will remain under pressure. So, any signs of progress toward a turnaround will be small, requiring the height of optimism to notice.