Shares of BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. (Nasdaq: RIMM) plummeted in after hours trading yesterday (Thursday) after the company missed Wall Street’s earnings and sales expectations.

As traditional print media continues its steep declines in advertising sales and circulation, publishers are struggling to come up with new and creative ways to generate revenue.

A longtime investment adage holds that “As goes Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), so goes the rest of the semiconductor industry.”

Several key second-quarter earnings reports could either validate or undercut assertions that the U.S. economy is poised for recovery.

Oil Rises on China Demand, Slowing U.S. Recession; Homebuilder Shares Surge After Order Increase; Natural Gas ETF to Suspend New Share Offers; Microsoft to Bring Office to Nokia Smartphones; J.D. Power: Auto Sales to Surge Next Year; WTO: China Violated Trade Rules on Books and Movies; Despite Shrinking Sales, Macy’s Beats the Street

There’s a lot of figures in the news being tossed around about the smartphone market, and while it may be difficult to make sense of it all, one thing is clear: The market is growing at a rapid pace, and will soon take over conventional mobile phones as the device of choice among consumers and corporate users alike.

In my column last week, I showed you how to use straddle options to take advantage of market/stock volatility when the direction is uncertain. This week, we hop over the fence to the straddle’s sister strategy – the strangle options play.

At this point, it is good to look for the defensive plays that have been neglected in this upturn and for safe havens for investors taking profits from the recent run.  After looking long and hard, I came to General Mills Inc. (NYSE: GIS).