As the current advertising campaign from Staples Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS) makes clear, the nation's largest office supply store operator is hoping for what so many retailers (aside perhaps from those participating in the cash for clunkers program) are hoping for: a boost from back-to-school sales. Unfortunately, any such sales won't affect the second quarter results that Staples is scheduled to report tomorrow morning before the market opens. Those results will include July, though, when retail sales were disappointing all around.

Staples is scheduled to discuss its second quarter 2009 results tomorrow morning in a conference call at 8:00 AM ET. You can catch the live webcast of the call on the company's website.

America's second-largest retailer, Target (NYSE: TGT), announced second-quarter earnings this morning.

The discount retailer saw second-quarter earnings drop 6.4%, which was less than what the Street expected. For the quarter, Target earned 79 cents per share; down three cents from a year earlier but far better than the expected 66 cents per share.

Target was hurt by wary consumers who were less than willing to part with money on apparel and other "nonessential items." Target's CEO attributed the strong results to "very strong operating margin in our retail segment, and credit card segment performance in line with expectations."

Retail giant Kohl's (NYSE: KSS) reported second-quarter earnings this morning, saying they fell 3% due to higher expenses. Despite the drop, KSS managed to top expectations with the latest results.

KSS pulled in 75 cents per share for the quarter, a penny better than what the Street expected. Quarterly sales increased 2% in the quarter, rising to $3.81 billion and beating expectations of $3.79 billion in sales, but unfortunately, same-store sales dropped 2.3%. Looking ahead, KSS forecast full-year earnings of $2.59 to $2.70 per share, up a great deal from its earlier forecast of $2.19 to $2.42 per share. Still, the upper end of the new forecast range is still eight cents shy of the Street's expectations.

According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), the back-to-school shopping period isn't expected to be strong enough to help retailers. During the past five years, this shopping period has increased; but the NRF has forecast a drop of 7.5% to $47.5 billion this year.

This isn't just a slight drop, a 7.5% drop in sales is rather staggering. In fact, roughly half of the shoppers questioned plan on spending less this year when searching for goodies to take back to school. Ken Perkins of Retail Metrics notes that this isn't just a problem for retailers during the upcoming shopping season, weak back-to-school sales is "likely a harbinger of another difficult holiday shopping season."

While vultures continue to circle around the body of consumer electronics retailer Circuit City Stores, Inc. (NYSE: CC), the company is at least trying to look alive even though much of the world has left it for dead. Circuit City's latest travail is offering "back to school tips" to concerned parents, who, after reading Circuit City's tips-as-a-marketing-press-release, must think the retailer is on its last leg.

Apparently, many retailers believe the majority of the American public are seasonal procrastinators. The "rush to back to school" is not really a rush more than a shopping highlight for many retailers from apparel to computers to shoes to notebooks (the paper kind).

Circuit City's latest effort states some statistics as a lead-in for customers to come into their local Circuit City and shop for PCs and all the related garb that goes with them. As in, printers and ink and thumb drives ... oh my.

Circuit City's parting shot in its "back to school" montage was the mentioning of a gift card. In fact, you can email a gift card from your PC to your college student! Wow, how 2001-ish! I'm just confused on why Circuit City even participated in a "duh" survey like this to drum up a rather lackluster press release from a company that couldn't manage itself out of a shoebox.

When I think back to high school, and all the odors that bothered me, perfumes and cologne are pretty low on the list. The kid who had trouble paying attention in English class after lunch, and had that thick herbal smell? That was annoying. The disheveled Latin teacher whose breath was so bad I had to turn away when he talked? Or how about the kid who only smelled decent the day of his monthly shower?

No, according to The Wall Street Journal (subscription required), some people insist that the real culprit is perfume. I'm serious. As designers roll-out new scents with colorful packaging to attract the back-to-school crowd, some schools are fighting back. They charge that excessive-cologne/perfume is an "air-quality issue." One principal interviewed feels, "Kids don't shower the way they used to." He complains that students are spraying Axe, a potent bodyspray, in lieu of showering after gym. But isn't that better than the alternative of spraying nothing?

The article also points out that a lot of teens are shelling out $50 for a bottle of designer stuff, in an effort to gain some affectation of a brand they can't really afford -- Marc Jacobs perfume instead of a Marc Jacobs bag. That's just silly. I have several bottles of knock-off designer cologne that I got at the Dollar Tree (NASDAQ: DLTR) -- 66% off, for 33 cents per bottle. I get compliments on it constantly.

Ann Taylor Stores (NYSE: ANN) implied volatility Increases to 50 into EPS. ANN is expected to report EPS on 8/24. BUCK says "we continue to project a recovery in the back half of the year." ANN September option implied volatility of 50 is above its 26-week average of 33 according to Track Data, indicating larger risk.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) volatility of 49 above 26-week average of 33 into EPS. ANF is recently up $2.18 to $74.92. ANF is expected to report EPS of .87 cents on August 22nd according to Thomson First Call. ANF has a market cap of $6.6 billion. Freidman Billings say's "Upgrading to Outperform; High-Quality name to weather Turbulent Times." ANF September option implied volatility of 49 is above its 26-week average of 33 according to Track Data, suggesting larger risk.

Volatility Index S&P 500 Options down .84 to 29.99.

Daily options Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

"The third quarter of the year has historically been the roughest on the stock market," notes advisor Kelley Wright, a specialist in dividend paying stocks.

In his IQ Trends newsletter, he notes, "One could argue that a correction and consolidation would be healthy and is long overdue." That being said, he adds, "The opportunity currently exists to acquire high-quality companies with long-term rising dividend trends."

Within this framework, he sees opportunity in two favorite blue chip retailers -- Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE: WMT) and TJX Companies (NYSE: TJX).

He says, "It seems like every summer we hear analysts agonize over weak retail sales from May and June. I've often wondered if any of these folks have heard of the phenomenon known as 'vacation.'"

He continues, "After a long school year with the seemingly never ending number of trips to pick up the dozens of items that the kids absolutely have to have, I know that my wife doesn't want to go anywhere near a store unless it is a medical necessity."

Says Wright, "The calendar cannot be ignored so I suspect that when Uniform Day (as they call it at my kids' school) rolls around in mid-August, parents across the fruited plain will be descending en mass to pick up clothes, shoes and the requisite supplies for another school year. And, he states, "I believe both Wal Mart and TJX Companies will be potential beneficiaries of this impending spending spree."

Wright explains, "Both companies are ranked A+ by S&P for their earnings and dividend quality. In addition, both stock have excellent dividend histories. It is a fortunate circumstance when quality and value intersect with opportunity."

Each day, Steven Halpern's TheStockAdvisors.com features the latest investment ideas and market commentary from the financial newsletter community.

Just in time for back to school, at least two backpack manufacturers are bringing to market "smart packs" that come with cord ports for MP3 players, CD players and the ever-present iPods. JanSport Inc. has created a line of technologically savvy backpacks for students utilizing technology originaly designed for military use. In its LiveWire line of backpacks, wearers can connect iPod earbuds into one of the straps on the backpack and put the iPod itself in another pocket. This prevents the cords from becoming entangled in other pieces of clothing or crushed by other stuff in the pack.

Advanced LiveWire backpack models have iPod controls on the backpack straps. There is also a model that alows for a cell phone to be answered using strap controls. Price estimates for these models are $70.

Less concerned with making a fashion statement and more concerned with environmentally sound practices, Voltaic Systems Inc. has designed a backpack that includes solar panels capable of powering MP3 players and cellphones. The panels connect to a lithium ion battery embedded in the backpack. Technophiles as well as emergency response workers working in locations off the grid are finding this backpack very helpful. The $239 price tag seems a bit much for school hallways, but not for first-on -the-ground disaster relief workers.

And then there are the kids who are so cool they no longer care about being cool. According to Ylan Mui of The Washington Post, Lands' End has created an anti-tech pack. It's a plain canvas backpack. Nice to know retro -- and technology-free -- is the new cool.

Apple ended the day up at $52.90, up just over a percent, though still at a low point when compared to a month ago. The small bounce comes with only about 24 hours left to go before Apple announces earnings. Could the stock have bottomed out already? Unless some very negative news comes out tomorrow, there is a strong indication this long slide might be ending. Apple will be heading into areas historically good for it, out of the summer doldrums and into the back-to-school season of August and September where new product announcements and buzz bring it back up. As a result, at the low $50s, the stock is still very attractively priced.

Meanwhile, the backdated stock options scandal is starting to spread out to companies other than Apple in the media spotlight, which means this negative scandal will fade from interest aimed particularly at Apple.

[Disclosure: I own Apple stock at the date of this post]

One reason Apple's stock price has been hammered lately is that a Wall Street analyst predicted that Apple would be unable to get a new generation of iPod out in time for back-to-school sales. Apple's stock price of late is tied very closely to performance of iPod sales.

Investors and consumers alike will be pretty psyched to see that ThinkSecret, one of the more prestigious Apple rumor sites, is reporting that a new iPod Nano will likely debut at next month's World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC).

The new iPod is expected to have a slightly larger capacity for songs, be in a metal alloy case to solve the scratching issues the Nanos have been dogged with, and be available in a series of colors.

In some ways the update doesn't sound like that much. Yet don't underestimate the importance of the scratch issue for Apple customers. Having a $150 device that is purchased for its stylish good looks start looking like a two-year-old scratched up piece of junk after it has been in a purse or pocket for a few weeks is not what Apple fans expect.

It's only halfway through the day, and Apple stock is up almost 64 cents, a 1.22 percent increase.

[Disclosure: I own Apple stock at the date of this post]

[Pic credit: Dan Taylor]

Back in 2002 Apple came out with the eMac. Short for 'education mac,' it used a CRT screen to save money and bring the price of the eMac for students and education purchases into a magic $999 figure. A cheap mac.

When the $599 Mac Mini came out it seemed the venerable eMac would no longer be continued. Apple obviously had a budget computer, the Mini or the $1000 iBook meant a student could easily afford a good Apple with which to head back to school.

But Apple just quietly released an educationally configured iMac. It isn't labeled an eMac anymore, it's just a slightly more stripped-down iMac (smaller hard drive, 80 gig instead of 160, a combo drive instead of DVD burning superdrive, and a slightly slower video card) that can be snagged by back-to-schoolers for the price of $899, $100 cheaper than the original eMac launched almost exactly four years ago.

Will it help goose Apple's back-to-school purchases? Hard to tell, the eMac was certainly a hit, but that was because it was one of the first sub-$1000 Apples, a magic number to break. But if you look at the price of a 17-inch flat panel monitor, your own keyboard and mouse and add that onto a Mac Mini, it only works out cheaper if you're particular about those accessories. For $899 you get a 17-inch all-in-one flat panel computer, no mucking about.

[Disclosure: I own Apple stock at the date of this post]

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster thinks Apple is going to have a heck of a fourth quarter this year. While iPods got a bump this Spring as graduation as gifts, and MacBook Pros sold somewhat better, Gene thinks this September is going to start out a heck of a sales season for Apple due to a number of reasons that will all line up at the end of summer.

The first is the back to school season. The second is the availability of two lines of MacBook laptops that analysts think are very attractive. Third is the effect of Apple's Boot Camp software which allows Windows to be run on a Mac. Last is the iPod 'halo effect,' which posits that people using iPods consider switching over after developing Apple brand loyalty.

With most of Apple's cheaper lines of machines on Intel chips, the lineup this summer is actually very strong for consumers. Plus, there are more Apple stores across the country every month. When I first used to study Apple as a stock, analysts were throwing out predictions of Apple's death and demise. Now they're talking about market share growth and 'breakouts.'

[Disclosure: I own Apple stock at the date of this post]