Before the bell 3-12-07: AAPL, INTC, TWX, YHOO ...

Main market news here.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) troubles in Europe over its iTunes practices are far from over if the European Union consumer chief Meglena Kuneva has a say in the matter. The chief talked about the iPod/iTunes bundling issues arguing it limits consumer free use of purchased songs.

The Wall Street Journal reported that top two executives at Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC) have not complied with a company directive to retain e-mail relevant to antitrust litigation against the company from rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE:AMD).

300 Spartans made Time Warner Inc.'s (NYSE:TWX) Warner Bros. $70 million this weekend. "300" - the movie about the 300 Spartans who had fought off a much larger Persian force in an epic battle brought in more crowd than the top ten movies combined. Next was "Wild Hogs" from the Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS) Disney studios that made $28 million for a total of $77.4 million.

After sinking more than 5% on Friday Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) shares are up 0.45% in pre-market trading. The sell-off was triggered by fears following unconfirmed report in The Wall Street Journal about a setback in a lucrative partnership with AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) that could undercut Yahoo!'s gains.

I wonder whether the publicity Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ:SBUX) is getting right now in China is a good one even though some say all publicity is good publicity. A Chinese parliament member added his voice to the campaign, demanding that a Starbucks coffee shop set up inside Beijing's Forbidden City be closed. Starbucks removed its logo but didn't close the store after the campaign was launched two months ago.

Dollar General Corp. (NYSE:DG) has agreed to be acquired by private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P. in a deal valued at $7.3 billion, including approximately $380 million of debt. Dollar General competes with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT).

JC Penney (NYSE:JCP) and Kohl's Corp. (NYSE:KSS) were upgraded at UBS from Neutral to Buy.
Nokia Corp. (NYSE:NOK) was upgraded by Oppenheimer from Neutral to Buy.
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) was downgraded by Thomas Weisel from Overweight to Market Weight.