As the economy heads into recession, there is a lot of talk about what industries and companies will be able to withstand the downturn. Stephanie Grimmett says chocolate maker The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) is showing resilience to the stock market slump. HSY seems to have already bottomed out, and the company is sticking to its growth and dividend targets.

E.On (OTC:EONGY) took a bite out of Gazprom (OTC:OGZPY) today. Germany’s largest utility company just got nearly a quarter of Gazprom’s Yuzhno Russkoye natural gas field. And all it had to do was give back some of the Russian giant’s stock. Not bad.

The worldwide slump in stocks is dragging down all companies across the board, whether deserving or not.

This is great news for value investors.

Stephanie Grimmett says Tyco (NYSE:TYC) is a prime example of a company caught up in short-term market panic. But its dividend and fiscal outlook are relatively strong.

And its security business will remain stable — and perhaps even benefit — in a recession.

Fortis (FORB) just sold itself to three different European governments. The company lost its deal with China’s Ping An Insurance, and its sale to Deutsche Bank is being held captive by the Dutch Central Bank. But FORB is up 12% today. The hits just keep on coming, but the stock price is still rising.

Lonmin’s CEO shocked the world by stepping down three days before the Xstrata (XTA) deadline. But the exit of Brad Mill leaves investors wondering not whether Lonmin (LMI) will accept the offer but if Xstrata will back out before it can.

Pacific Ethanol (PEIX) is down 28% this morning on good news. The company has new plant open. But it’s stock fell. What’s going on?

Brazilian metals and mining company Vale (NYSE:RIO) has canceled its iron ore shipments to China until the country’s steelmakers cough up more dough. But China has other ideas. Vale may find its products aren’t as vital as it originally thought, says Stephanie Grimmett.

Earlier this year Bush and the boyz pumped $150 billion into the consumer economy by way of their much-hyped stimulus check package.

Despite Bush’s best efforts the National Retail Federation says US retailers will see their slowest holiday sales growth this year since 2002.

But it isn’t all doom and gloom in the retail world. Stephanie Grimmett says Japan’s Fast Retailing (PINK:FRCOF) has ambitious growth plans in fast-growing emerging markets. FRCOF’s share price is on a down trend. But it will likely bottom soon.

Stock prices for paper companies have been erroding for more than a year. But a recent bump upward could mean the mills might rise again.

The milk industry in China is in shambles because at least three of the country’s major producers have been watering down their products. That’s not very scandalous. In fact, we have a name for that milk in the U.S. It’s called skim. But these Chinese producers were using a toxic chemical to mask their watery dairy products.