Most of us are recovering from a hefty array of Thanksgiving dinner portions this morning, and some brazen and brave souls are probably standing in the cold (and have been for hours) waiting for the doors to open early today. Retailers across the country will be opening at 5am or 6am this morning to recruit as many bargain shoppers as possible.

This way, each one can make the inventory dials spin like mad and move as much product off the shelf as any one day can allow. As usual, the bulk of the sales items at some of the largest retailers in the U.S. are centered around home electronics and electronic gadgets. There's some toys on sale too, of course!

With all that said, if you're one of the patient folks who didn't get up in darkness to slog down to a customer line at your favorite retailer, I'll do some of the entertaining work for you today. Like this writer, many of you reading this probably traveled from home for Thanksgiving. I'm updating you from the warm confines of a mountain lodge in Missouri. With a hot cup of coffee, a laptop and high-speed internet connection, I've collected some bargains for you. As such, you may want to call your spouse if he or she is in line at some retailer and snatch up some of the below.

First of all, visit the below websites if you really want a primer on all the Black Friday sales this morning:

• www.bfads.net
• www.gottadeal.com
• www.fatwallet.com

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) said this week that it would heavily publicize its website for this Friday's Black Friday sales event and would kick off the 'official' start to holiday sales on Thanksgiving Day. It will launch several web-only sales tomorrow and will accept orders as well on turkey day. Then, come Friday morning, stores will unleash into pandemonium most likely, along with other retailers nationwide.

Some of the deals that will be visible on www.walmart.com tomorrow have already been officially announced by the retailer. Examples: the Microsoft Zune 30 gigabyte MP3 video player for $98.87, and the Garmin Nuvi 650 Portable global positioning system for $298.87. In the case of the Zune, it's last year's model that is already selling for under $100 at many web retailers, so that's not a surprise.

In addition to "visible" sales that will launch on the Wal-Mart website tomorrow, the retailer will have a special "secret" deals area on its website to allude to deals that will be available in stores first thing Friday morning. That is, Black Friday morning.

Those "secret" deals won't be advertised in its circulars, which are the most common ways customers find Black Friday sales information. I said last week that Wal-Mart needs to become a little more creative in its Black Friday marketing efforts. This isn't a huge start, but it's a start.

Once again, one of the hotter items during the holiday season will be computer products. Specifically, laptop computers will probably make the mark as one of the most popular gift items this season, right along with HDTVs and gaming consoles. Consumers continue to replace clunky desktop computer systems with portable and light laptops, and retailers are more than happy to oblige with loss-leader priced laptops to lure shoppers into stores.

Big box giants Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY), Circuit City Stores, Inc. (NYSE: CC) and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) are expected to join the fray, and these retailers will most likely spill the beans today and tomorrow (Thanksgiving Day) to whet the appetites of computer bargain hunters come this Friday morning -- also known, of course, as Black Friday.

Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY) will be rocking and rolling this coming Friday, as millions of bargain-seeking shoppers hit the early morning streets of American to seize on those Black Friday prices everywhere.

It's almost like a TV sitcom, mind-numbingly predictable: retailers open up early, shoppers get up early, TV news crews film them, everyone shops 'til they drop then go home for turkey sandwiches while retailers count up the numbers and hope for the best. Every year the same plot.

Well, the largest consumer electronics retailer in the U.S. has already rehearsed for this coming Friday, as it engaged recently in tests to ensure the surge of traffic this Friday doesn't clog store openings, checkout lines or shopping aisles. Best Buy, in other words, is preparing some preventive maintenance in anticipation for the chaotic rush at the end of this week.

It appears that national retailers Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) and Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY) are tired of having all those special, once-a-year Black Friday deals be spoiled on several websites weeks or months before the actual day arrives. Black Friday, to those who may be uninitiated, is the shopping day after Thanksgiving. Traditionally, it's the single-largest shopping day of the year.

But, these two retailers are striking back in a sense. Instead of places flyers in all those national newspapers on Thanksgiving Day (along with website updates), the two are planning a preemptive strike this year. What this means is that the nation will probably see Black Friday ads from Wal-Mart and Best Buy (and others) early next week before the holiday.

Best Buy has committed to releasing its ads on Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving. Although Wal-Mart has not been specific on when it will release its Black Friday ads, you can bet it will probably be Wednesday as well. Last week, the world's largest retailer threatened to sue any website that posted information on its Black Friday sales before that day, which has worked this year -- no leaks on official Black Friday deals from Wal-Mart have yet emerged, though rumors and rumblings abound.

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) plans on cleaning up the third-party "Amazon Marketplace" due to many product duplications that are most likely getting on the nerves of many regular Amazon shoppers (the writer included). This new "clean sweep" inventory strategy only deals with the bookselling section of Amazon's online offerings, but it comes years too late.

ASINs, which are Amazon's unique numbers that are assigned to each individual product name or title (like a UPC code), are duplicated all over the e-tailer's website where it lets booksellers sell used and new books directly to Amazon customers for a small commission. The problem is that the largely unregulated Amazon Marketplace is littered with confusion due to so many ASIN duplications and such that the bargain shopper can become a tad frustrated when shopping for that immensely popular $3.95 used book.

But then again, Amazon's third-party sellers are (correctly) stating that the timing of the inventory cleanup is not really good, with the holiday shopping season in full swing and all. Could such drastic changes on this area of Amazon's website cause unknown glitches at a time when sales are everything?

With Black Friday coming up a week from tomorrow, many sellers probably don't want any changes at all to the way Amazon Marketplace operates -- something that makes perfect commerce sense. But past this holiday season, the inventory management of third-party goods needs to be a priority for the e-tailer. The way it presents many book items from outside sellers is anything from world class right at this moment.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) is cracking down this holiday season when it comes to the famous "Black Friday" sales that happens the day after Thanksgiving. Black Friday is widely considered to be the busiest shopping day of the entire year and it's when many retailers go into the black for the year -- in other words, they become profitable on that day.

In recent years, newspaper ads from Wal-Mart and other large retailers have found there way onto the internet weeks before the ads are supposed to be available, enabling people to find out about these Black Friday sales quite a bit before the retailers want to announce them. Last year alone, I found scanned newspaper ads all over the place on the web, with large collections found at consumer forums like FatWallet.com, bfads.net and GottaDeal.com.

This year may be a bit different as Wal-Mart's legal team takes a more proactive approach. Their message to websites and forums which are considering displaying Wal-Mart's Black Friday ads before Thanksgiving: don't do it. The retailer's legal team is rounding up the usual suspects early this year, telling them that displaying the retailer's ads before their official November 19 release date violates copyright laws (among other things). Will threats curb the amount of Black Friday newspaper ads we'll all see come Thanksgiving? I suspect that it may cut down on their availability, but I doubt it will eradicate them entirely from the internet.

The stock market had its biggest drop today in a month as investors absorbed a plethora of earnings disappointments, cuts in profit outlooks and pessimistic comments about the economy.

The statistics speak for themselves. The Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 340 points. Bloomberg News notes that, "Ten industry groups in the S&P 500 decreased today, with 458 of the index's members posting declines. Thirteen stocks dropped for every one that gained on the New York Stock Exchange."

Bad news was so plentiful today that it's tough to single out one reason for the market's sell-off.
Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) reported disappointing results and lowered its earnings forecast. Honeywell Inc. (NYSE: HON) spooked investors with talk of slowing growth. Shares of Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB) fell after the oil field services company said it drilling projects would be delayed. Even shares of 3M Co. (NYSE: MMM), which reported better-than-expected results, got sucked into the downward spiral as investors were concerned about a planned price cut for its optical films.

Then there's the continued worry about consumer spending that hurt companies ranging from Harley-Davidson Inc. (NYSE: HOG) to Domino's Pizza Inc. (NYSE: DPZ) to Hershey Co. (NYSE: HSY) this week. Financial shares continue to get pummeled on concerns about the subprime mortgage meltdown. Wachovia Corp. (NYSE: WB) reported ugly earnings earlier today. About the only sector that seems to be holding on is tech, thanks to yet another blowout quarter from Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG).

Wall Street isn't just worried about the future, it's nearly petrified waiting for the next shoe to drop from the flow of earnings reports coming over the next few weeks. Pundits, such as David Joy of RIverSource Investments, weren't expecting things to get better anytime soon.``When you have earnings expectations that are negative going into the third-quarter reporting season and you start to get some disappointments on top of that after five years of double-digit earnings growth, this market's going to struggle,'' Joy told Bloomberg News.

It can be interesting to take a quick look at the most active put options in a down market. What are investors buying insurance on?

Stock options are fancy financial instruments for controlling risk. They are like the options CEO's get but they are traded over the counter like stocks. That means that you as a common investor can buy an option if you think a stock like Apple Inc.(NASDAQ: AAPL) is going to shoot up or fall.

There are two types of options calls and puts. "Calls" let you buy a stock. (call it away). "Puts" let you sell a stock (put it to someone else). In a down market investors will buy puts as an insurance policy against the stock falling.

For each stock there are about 100 options between several different month and strike combination. Looking at a screen from yesterday, just before the close shows some of the more active puts.

Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI)'s acquisition -- no merger here -- of XM Satellite Radio Inc. (NASDAQ:XMSR) has taken quite a drubbing by my fellow bloggers. I still have a sliver of optimism for satellite radio.

I agree that these aren't the most thriving enterprises and that combining two weak companies won't necessarily create one strong one. Getting anti trust clearance will also be a challenge, but as long as the Republicans control the White House, it's not an impossibility. The technological hurdles that have held back satellite radio can also be overcome.

The satellite radio companies made many mistakes building their businesses. They overpaid for high-priced talent and didn't develop enough unique content to attract subscribers. But if the companies combine, this problem can be fixed by eliminating duplicate channels and combining budgets to create new shows and improve existing ones.

If satellite radio survives, it will be because of music. Fans who have grown tired of homogenized claptrap on free radio should get Sirius or XM. Fans of less popular genres like bluegrass or jazz will especially like it. Not having commercials is fantastic.

There is an audience for satellite radio that's not just truckers. People are increasingly driving for out-of-town business meetings because of the hassles of airport security. Commutes are getting long and longer. Families also hit the road when they are going on vacations.

No one just listens to the hum of the engine on the highway.

For years now, I've done much of my holiday shopping on the web, taking advantage of free shopping options at many online retailers and the absence of state sales taxes on many purchases. Add this to the ease of shopping from the couch with a few mouse clicks, and shopping online offers immense rewards, especially during the frenetic holiday season.

Soon, however, this luxury may be coming to an end. Many states are tired of their citizens not reporting online purchases -- and states are still owed sales tax even for online purchases. With combined city and town tax rates at nearly 7.5% in some cases, it seems like everything we do these days is taxed. The online purchasing option is one way for many consumers to escape the tax man.

Some states such as Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon don't impose sales taxes, but all other states do. The Supreme Court has ruled a state can't constitutionally require a merchant to collect the tax unless the merchant has some physical connection to that state -- and most online retailers don't have a physical connection to most U.S. states, much to the delight of online shoppers.

Retailers like Best Buy (NYSE:BBY), Circuit City (NYSE:CC) and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) collect sales tax on online purchases since those store chains have physical presences in most states. But Amazon.com doesn't, and as a result it is the preferred shopping place for many people. The Supreme Court noted, however, that there is nothing to stop Congress from authorizing states to require collection by out-of-state sellers.

With the U.S.Congress coming under the control of Democrats -- who are traditionally tax-hungry to fund everything and anything -- are we in for sales taxes from online purchases soon? Expect this one to be a billion-dollar fight.

When shopping for clothes last week -- if you were brave enough to fight Black Friday crowds -- did you notice all the security tags on just about any piece of clothing you picked up? Those slender, semi-yellow tags have been affixed to store garments for years as a way to thwart shoplifting. The tags can cause a sensor to alarm if not deactivated or removed during the checkout process. The device has probably saved clothing retailers millions of dollar per year in prevented theft.

But, what if you walked out of the store with the security tags still present on your garments only to not have the alarms go off? Since there are many types of theft-prevention tags in use, some tags are left on but deactivated at the register once you check out (like Sensormatic or RFID tags). Other tags are never deactivated, simply removed and then re-used on other items.

With the hustle and bustle of this past weekend's shopping frenzy, did you notice that any tags left on your purchased clothes remained on the garments after you left the store? Perhaps some clerks were just overworked and neglected to remove every tag. Or maybe some stores just turned off security measures knowing the futility of trying to keep up with legions of shoppers. Nah, that can't be it.

The deals and general craziness of Black Friday have already been well-covered in this space, so I thought it might be interesting to turn your attention to the actual stock reactions. My intentions were simple enough (but aren't they always?): grab a list of retail stocks and calculate the returns from the close on Wednesday, November 22, through this morning. Sorting the list would give a quick (but early) overview of how the Street was reacting to the "day."

I have ample data manipulation tools at my disposal, so I figured this to be an easy task. What I didn't count on was not being able to find what I considered to be a satisfactory list of retail stocks. The lists I found were either too broad or too narrow. I wanted the usual suspects like Best Buy (NYSE:BBY), Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT), and Gap (NYSE:GPS), while also picking up some of the smaller players like Bebe Stores (NASDAQ:BEBE) and Chico's FAS (NYSE:CHS). Additionally I wanted to capture some of the brands like Crocs (NASDAQ:CROX) and dELiA*s (NASDAQ:DLIA), while excluding consumer goods producers and fast food restaurants.

Unable to find a list that suited my (admittedly arbitrary) desires, I began to handpick names and compile a list of 72 stocks. The graph below shows the top and bottom performing stocks through noon today.



Blue Nile (NASDAQ:NILE), Pier One (NYSE:PIR), and Coldwater Creek (NASDAQ:CWTR) are the weakest stocks, while Lowe's (NYSE:LOW), American Eagle Outfitters (NASDAQ:AEOS), and Jo-Ann Stores (NYSE:JAS) are the strongest.

As you can infer from the graph, the bulk of the returns are flat to lower as two of the "best performing" stocks, Aeropostale (NYSE:ARO) and Limited Brands (NYSE:LTD), show a loss. In other words, buying just ahead of Black Friday doesn't seem like it would have been a good short-term trading strategy. Going forward though, I would expect to see some stocks distinguish themselves and separate from the pack. With my list now created (and saved!) it should be much easier to track. If there is interest in this, I can post periodic updates.

Nick Perry is an analyst with Schaeffer's Investment Research.

Had enough of the malls already? Today is the recently anointed retail landmark known as Cyber Monday. It is the first Monday after Thanksgiving and the day that shoppers, in theory already weary of the extreme shopping experience offered on Black Friday, are ready to shop from the comfort of their office chairs.

The day got its name from trade group Shop.Org just last year and doesn't represent the biggest online shopping day -- just one of the biggest, according to an article in the The New York Times (registration required). The headline predicts, "E-Looking But Little E-Buying," and the article pokes fun at the alleged phenomenon, quoting a retail analyst saying the day is "more hype than reality."

Perhaps this year that record will change as more stores offer special online deals. Barnes & Noble, The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD), and Petco.com are mentioned in The Times as having special offers today. GottaDeal.com has a special CyberMonday forum listing online offers from Staples, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPLS), Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) and Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY).

According to Loren Baker of Search Engine Journal, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.'s (NYSE:WMT) website, Walmart.com, crashed earlier this morning. The site had a "scheduled-for-maintenance" page.

I agree with SEL and doubt Wal-Mart has really chosen today of all days for scheduled maintenance (especially since Wal-Mart advertised the site as well). Indeed, Wal-Mart may have substantially greater sales in its physical stores, but I don't think the retailer would willingly forgo the online portion of its retail business on one of the busiest shopping days of the year. Yes, despite Black Friday not being Cyber Monday, it still ranks among the top ten busiest online shopping days.

No, it seems more likely that Wal-Mart servers have crashed under the load, further proving that this is a busy day for online shopping, not just mall and stores raiding. Wal-Mart may have also underestimated its own advertising power, suggesting to shoppers to try Wal-Mart's website.

I've tried the Wal-Mart's site and it is now running, but SEL reports the site has been up and down all morning long. I trust/hope Wal-Mart will fix this soon, and if not, be better prepared for Monday or at least for next year. For now, this is a major glitch.