IBM Corp

Dell shares opened sharply lower on Wednesday after the PC maker posting disappointing financial results. Sales are soft, margins are contracting, and the outlook is uninspiring.

What do IBM and the ACLU have against Siri? Because every time you use your iPhone's Siri or Dictation functions, what you say gets recorded -- and sent to Apple.

Given the sluggish recovery and a strapped consumer, you'd expect to see corporate America trudging along, not racing for glory. In fact, the Fortune 500 are thriving as a group.

This weekend marks the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting, often called "Woodstock for Capitalists." But what do the tens of thousands of investors making the pilgrimage to Omaha, Neb., get for their trouble?

There are plenty of Peyton Manning stocks -- mature companies that investors avoid -- even though they're still strong.

Leap Day is essentially an astronomical cheat used to keep the Gregorian calendar synced up with the Earth's orbit. Yet while it's only a quarter as common as the other days of the year, it has had its fair share of financially significant events.

There's a lot of overlap among the holdings of Morningstar's 26 highly rated funds, and these 10 stocks top the list. So if you want to follow the pros, consider these -- all of them mega-cap stocks and ultra-conservative buys.

On the 2012 Interbrand list of the world's most valuable brands, the top seven are the same as in 2011, with Coca-Cola leading the way. Then we get to No. 8. That spot used to be held by wireless phone giant Nokia, but Apple has knocked it down -- way down.

There's never a dull moment on Wall Street, especially now that we're hitting 2012's first earnings season. What will help shape the week that lies ahead? Earnings and answers from banks, Google, eBay and IBM, and a big education related announcement from Apple.

Warren Buffett is arguably the best investor of our time, so it pays to watch the stocks that he's buying and selling. Here are five of Berkshire Hathaway's new investments.