Has your broker repeatedly sold you on the "safe" investment vehicle, the mutual fund? Investing in a wide variety of prominent companies, with solid, long-term track records, mutual funds have been an easy-to-understand and popular investment choice for decades.

Mutual funds are hugely diversified, holding large stakes in recognizable names such as Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Citigroup (NYSE: C), Walmart (NYSE: WMT), Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX), General Electric (NYSE: GE), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), and Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM).

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts' (NYSE: KKD) stock has had a nice run of late. It's doubled so far on the year-to-date frame. Is there something to this story? Before, there was nothing. Krispy Kreme has been a very troubled business, and it would be very difficult to convince me otherwise. But, have things changed?

Well, net income did drop in Q1. Krispy Kreme said it made t $0.03 per share. Last year at this time, the doughnut guru earned $0.06 per share. Although the profit decline isn't attractive, I liked the comps. Same-store sales at company locations increased over 2%.

If it's Wednesday, that means another change at Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX), right? Reuters is reporting that SBUX is "reworking 90 percent of its baked goods." The latest move by the caffeine king is to start selling baked goods without high-fructose corn syrup or artificial flavors and dyes. The company will also introduce salads and other items -- nothing like a coffee and some salad, right?

According to Michelle Gass, SBUX's executive vice president of marketing, "Food has been the Achilles' heel of the company. [...] That statement will be long buried after we launch this program." The new campaign from SBUX will be promoted as "Real Food. Simply Delicious." and is an extension of last year's healthy campaign.

I have ridiculed Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) in the past, but I actually have to give them some props for trying something new. Of course, this newest move is a double-edged sword, but we'll deal with that in a moment.

According to The New York Times, SBUX will display new advertising posters in six major cities and will try "to harness the power of online social networking sites by challenging people to hunt for the posters on Tuesday and be the first to post a photo of one using Twitter."

It has been a while since I have had the pleasure of discussing Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) and its business issues. That changes today, as Moody's Investors Service downgraded Starbucks' $550 million senior unsecured notes to 'Baa3' from Baa2.'

The move takes into account what the ratings house sees as challenges lying ahead for the coffee company. In addition, Moody's cut Starbucks' short-term commercial paper rating.

An analyst with Moody's stated that the "downgrade reflects Starbucks challenge of refocusing the business without significantly damaging its brand, as well as weaker than anticipated operating performance" over the intermediate term. The biggest problem facing Starbucks is seen as weakness in consumer spending and increased competitive pressures.

Feel like a nice cup of decaf right about now? Don't plan on getting it at Starbucks. Popular blogger (and newspaper doomsayer) Jeff Jarvis is complaining about a new but not well publicized Starbucks policy to stop brewing fresh decaf coffee after the morning rush.

Starbucks, were the company to own up to the history of coffee, owes its origins -- not to the cafes of Italy where Howard Schultz drank the future -- but the coffeehouse culture of Central Europe. It wasn't as glamorous in the 80s and 90s to admit it, perhaps, and certainly there was no culture, coffeeshop or otherwise, to be had until McDonald's opened in Warsaw in the early 1990s.

Ironically, then, the Polish youth are embracing the newly-opened Starbucks cafes. Washington Post op-ed columnist Anne Applebaum is in Warsaw, and says that the new Starbucks there are met with open wallets and customers eager to buy the expensive brew and flaunt it, with "the famous green label facing outward."

On the back page of my Sunday New York Times I found a full-page four-color ad from Starbucks Corporation (NYS: SBUX). The big, bold type at the top of the ad said "They Want You To Think Coffee is Coffee. Well, It's Not Just Coffee. It's Starbucks." No, actually its just coffee. Really, really expensive coffee that was perfect for the frothy past three decades but far less so now. And when these types of pathetic bleats for help issue forth from massive lifestyle corporations, its best to start the Doomsday Clock.

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) reported better-than-expected Q1 earnings as revenues surged in the quarter.
• Burger King Holdings Inc. (NYSE: BKC) just beat Q3 expectations despite weak same-store sales growth.
• Corn Products International Inc. (NYSE: CPO) Q1 results were dragged down by higher corn costs.
• Dow Chemical Co. (NYSE: DOW) Q1 earnings sank on falling sales, job cuts and acquisition costs.
• Eastman Kodak Co. (NYSE: EK) reported a deeper-than-expected Q1 loss and suspended its dividend.
• Energizer Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ENR) posted better-than-expected Q2 earnings but revenue declined.

Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) reported earnings after the bell on Wednesday. Today, shares are up almost 10% on active volume in early afternoon trading as I write this. What does the market see in the numbers that is making it so happy?

Well, it's difficult to say precisely. As we all know, Starbucks has been having its problems, and data in Q2 indicate that the status quo essentially remains. Sales: down almost 8%. Operating income: down 77%. Adjusted earnings per share: down two pennies to $0.16. Cash from operations: down 6%. Same-store sales: down 8%. See what I mean? I hate using the word "down" so many times.

Earnings season continues to move right along, and Wednesday following the market close coffee giant Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX) will get its chance to impress Wall Street.

The last time that the company reported earnings was back on January 28 when it failed to meet analyst expectations by posting 15 cents per share versus analyst estimates for 17 cents a share. This time around, analysts are looking for the company to show 15 cents a share for its fiscal second quarter.

The sages say to sell the news and have started calling the market grossly overbought on the near-term, yet stock enthusiasm is at the exact opposite of how negative things were 6 weeks ago. We have 6 million on the jobless claims now, although this week showed a real decline in new claims. The rally came on late in the day after the market was down triple-digits at one point. Here are the unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 8,125.43 +95.81 (1.19%)
S&P 500 865.29 +13.23 (1.55%)
Nasdaq 1,670.44 +43.64 (2.68%)

Top Analyst Calls

Today's late-day rally had a common theme throughout the day: less-bad economic data. This went from better housing data and CPI not showing any deflation fears. The Beige Book was also showing that some of the 12 Fed regions are seeing a decline in the slowdown. Here are today's unofficial closing levels, which were essentially around the highs of the day:

Dow 8,029.62 +109.44 (1.38%)
S&P 500 852.06 +10.56 (1.25%)
Nasdaq 1,626.80 +1.08 (0.07%)

Top 10 Analyst Calls

This is the second post in Fast Food Wars, a look at the players in this unhealthy business that has traditionally garnered healthy returns in down times as Americans tank up on fries and burgers slathered with secret sauce.

Last week we looked at Burger King (NYSE: BKC), today we turn to Mickey D's, the grand-daddy of them all. McDonald's Corporation (NYSE: MCD ) boasts over 35,000 locations (franchised and company owned) in 100 countries.

Since shares of Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) have dropped so sharply over the last year, the company keeps coming up with ways to convince its investors that it has a handle on things and can run the coffee retailer well in a harsh environment. It will make another attempt at getting its arguments across at its annual meeting Wednesday.

According to The Wall Street Journal, "executives are expected to outline a plan to weather the recession that includes an effort to make Starbucks products seem more affordable, and reassure investors that the company is on track to cut $500 million of costs by the fall."