"Ya'll oughta try some of this here fried chicken; you ain't gonna believe it!" "Xie-Xie!" (pronounced "she-she") That is Chinese for thank you. From the hills of Kentucky, the Colonial Sanders secret recipe has made a splash in China. While it is well known a lot of the stuff you buy at Walmart (WMT) is made in China; what you may not know is that China is crazy for KFC.

You may not think anything of going out for Chinese with your friends and practice eating with chopsticks; when the Chinese go out with their friends to practice eating with a fork; KFC seems to be a popular option.

"Investing in conservative stocks to build or rebuild the core of your portfolio makes sense right now; investors should buy companies that have a long history of steady earnings and dividend growth, through good times and tough times," says J. Royden Ward.

The editor of the specialty newsletter, Cabot Benjamin Graham Value Letter, explains, "The obvious benefit of adhering to a disciplined system of value investing like ours is that you build long-term profits and, ideally, financial independence.

Walmart (WMT) seems to have the big-box retail format cornered. It is growing sales faster than the competition, is expanding internationally with success and seems to be able to do no wrong (albeit with a few small sidesteps).

Shares haven't really done much in recent years, closing yesterday right above $50 after sitting in $40 land for much of the past three years. About this time last year, shares were on a trajectory to hit $60 -- which they made before declining again.

"The stock market is now below the midpoint of fair valuation, a fact that leads us to believe there is further upside for the market ahead," says J. Royden Ward, who specializes in uncovering value-oriented investments.

The editor of Cabot Benjamin Graham Value Letter explains, "Our goal is to identify value and one such value, in our view, is Wal-Mart Stores (WMT), the world's largest retailer, employing more than two million workers in more than 7,500 stores.

Former Target Corporation (TGT) merchandising chief and current Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (WMT) merchandising chief John Fleming will be leaving the world's largest retailer come August. The retailing veteran succumbed to four straight quarters of declining same-store sales, and made the personal decision to leave the company. In all fairness, would any merchandising chief had fared any better through the recent economic recession, even as Walmart fared well among all retailers?

Are you one of the millions of Americans out of work and not able find a good job locally? If you have an adventurous spirit and native English accent, you can teach overseas and it is more doable than you may think.

Maybe you hate your current job and need a change before you go crazy? Maybe you are unemployed tired of beating the street around town and always wanted to see the other cultures. There is an entire world of opportunity out there in teaching English in foreign countries. Teaching experience, a college degree, or 1 month TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) certification are pluses, but none of them are required and depending on the program you may not even need to know much grammar.

Talbots (TLB) was enjoying a nice uptrend for much of the past year. Then, economic troubles appeared in Europe, and the bears came clawing their way to Wall Street to ruin the rally. Like many other stocks, Talbots got hit. And on Tuesday, it closed down 9.5% to $12.20. The 52-week high on the shares is $17.79.

During the fourth quarter, the retailer beat estimates by a wide margin. This time around, it's more of the same. According to Reuters, adjusted profit from continuing operations calculated out to 38 cents per share, much higher than the call of 16 cents per share (and much better than the adjusted loss of 23 cents per share from continuing operations in the year-ago period).

Walmart (WMT) is a big-cap, blue-chip business in retail, one that competes with Sears Holdings (SHLD) and Target (TGT), among others. It's generally considered one of the safer, although considerably more boring, names in the universe of equities. However, could it be a defensive play in this economy?

Difficult to say for certain. As I've said before, I don't care what stock you hold in your portfolio, it'll go down if the markets become very choppy, defensive reputation or not. And Walmart isn't necessarily the first idea you think of when you think defensive. Usually, you might come up with a Coca-Cola (KO) or a Kraft (KFT) ... something with food involved, something that sells products consumers use and need every single day and can buy at multiple locations, not just at one single shopping source.