The United States is already in a recession and it will be longer as well as deeper than many people expect, U.S. investment guru Warren Buffett said in an interview published Saturday in the German magazine Der Spiegel.

With earnings season starting to wind down, investors are not anticipating many new surprises.

52-Week T-Bill is Back; Sweet-Smelling Deal for FTD; First Family of Oil Calls for Environmental Focus; Garmin Losing Track; PepsiCo. Stocking up on Water; Bovespa Hits Record on S&P Rating; Kraft Profit Tumbles 13%; Kellogg Profit Sheds 2%.

Take two leading candy companies, mix in $23 billion, and add in a pinch of investing guru Warren Buffett and what do you get? How about one of the largest candy companies on the planet…

In the world of investing, sometimes the separate parts are worth more than the whole. Those parts are called “corporate spin-offs,” and as far as investment plays go, they can be one of the safest and most-profitable hands that investors can play – especially against a market backdrop as uncertain as the one we face now.

The Investment U e-Letter: Issue #783
Monday, April 7, 2008

A Contrarian Strategy: Why Clear Channel Is Today’s Top Stock Pick
by Floyd G. Brown, Advisory Panelist, Investment U

One of the most profitable investments I have made came after a magazine headline hailed the coming bankruptcy of Philip Morris. It took nerves of steel to buy the lowly MO in those days. It was after the largest legal settlement in U.S. history disgorged Morris and other tobacco stocks of profits to pay the healthcare bills of the 50 different United States. Attorney General Janet Reno attacked the company in the newspapers as merchants of death.

But in the eight years since I first bought Philip Morris, at around $19 a share, I have been paid a…

The conglomerate sector was down 8.85% for the first quarter of 2008. That might not seem like an argument in favor of conglomerate investing, but when you consider that the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was down 10.05% for the same period it seems a bit better.