Investments

The stock market doesn't have much to hang its hat on. With the stream of corporate earnings reports waning and President Obama preparing to sign the $787-billion stimulus package, investors this week will be looking for fresh clues about the economy. Wall Street has been busy focusing on companies' quarterly numbers and the developments in Washington. Now, investors are faced with finding less obvious answers to the question "What's next?"

Juggling glasses of white wine and baggies filled with baubles, dozens of women descended on a well-appointed Orange County home this week to trade in their old golden treasures for hefty checks. There were earrings from ex-boyfriends, ring settings with missing stones and chain bracelets from sorority sisters. One woman brought in her husband's wedding ring -- from a previous marriage.

Lionsgate has a new Tyler Perry film opening this weekend. But that's not what Hollywood and Wall Street are buzzing about when it comes to the movie and TV industry's biggest independent studio. One of the investment community's most feared corporate raiders -- Carl Icahn -- has taken center stage as he continues to snap up shares in the company behind the Tyler Perry and "Saw" movies and the cable shows "Mad Men" and "Weeds."

Until last year, many Americans may have figured they had a good idea of what constituted a truly risky investment or financial strategy. Then came the collapse of housing prices, the hemorrhaging of the global banking system and the worst stock market crash since the 1930s. We thought we knew something about risk. We didn't know nearly enough. We thought we knew the difference between investing and speculating. Now, every money decision just feels like a spin of the roulette wheel.

The U.S. stock market Monday slumped to its lowest level in more than a decade as investors despaired over the troubles afflicting the financial system and the government's inability thus far to prescribe a cure. Wall Street's losses punctuated a decline that has gripped the market in the opening weeks of this year and extended one of the worst-ever bear markets to 16 months -- raising fears that stocks could be heading for an even more precipitous drop.

Los Angeles retailer American Apparel Inc. said Friday that it would get an $80-million infusion from a British investment firm to pay off a problem debt. Under the agreement, London-based Lion Capital will receive two seats on American Apparel's board of directors and the right to buy an 18% stake in the company.

Showing China's growing economic muscle, the nation's premier Friday expressed concerns about the stability of U.S. government bonds in Chinese hands and urged Washington to provide assurances to its largest foreign creditor. "To be honest, we are a little bit worried," Wen Jiabao said at the closing news conference of China's annual legislative session. "We have loaned huge amounts of money to the United States, so of course, we have to be concerned.

During Thursday night's verbal drawing and quartering of CNBC's Jim Cramer by Comedy Central's Jon Stewart, the inevitable conclusion emerged: Long-term investing in the stock market is a sick joke. Stewart: "My mother is 75. And she bought into the idea that long-term investing is the way to go. And guess what?" Cramer: "It didn't work." Distill the last 16 months of financial hell down to one thought, and that would be it for millions of Americans. The U.S.

Apollo Management, the buyout firm run by Leon Black, is in talks to take a stake in Charter Communications Inc. as part of the cable company's bankruptcy reorganization, a person familiar with the matter said Friday. Apollo would convert its bonds into equity as part of Charter's debt restructuring, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. Billionaire Paul Allen, Charter's chairman and co-founder of Microsoft Corp., would retain voting control.

Home builder Lennar Corp., which sold a controlling interest in the the massive Newhall Ranch project to the California Public Employees' Retirement System, now wants to buy back some or all of its stake. Lennar had sold 68% of LandSource Communities Development to CalPERS for nearly $1 billion at the top of the real estate bubble. It now has a tentative agreement to buy back an undisclosed amount -- presumably at vastly discounted rates.