If you're feeling good about the market, you're not alone. Take my hand as we go over some of this week's more uplifting headlines.
1. Apple 2,000,000, Skeptics 0
Apple
Apple was assisted by iPad's rollout in a few markets abroad this past weekend, but clearly the supersized iPod touch is resonating with consumers.
With 5,000 iPad-specific applications -- and an App Store brimming with more than 200,000 iPhone and iPod touch programs that mostly work with the iPad -- Apple has another hit on its hands.
2. Them bones
Amgen
Amgen is no stranger to blockbusters. It went from fledgling biotech to a major pharmaceuticals player with the success of its Neupogen and Epogen drugs. However, approved drugs do come with a ticking clock that counts down the days until they go off patent, opening up the gates to generic knockoffs. Amgen needed its pipeline to come through, and it appears to have done just that with Prolia.
3. Reel good news
The big screen continues to widen for IMAX
This is a pretty important deal for IMAX, because it also validates the concept. Earlier this year, AMC opened an enhanced screen in Florida. With the arrival of AMC ETX, it was easy to wonder if AMC was straying from the original joint-venture arrangement with IMAX.
AMC ETX may not necessarily be kicking the popcorn bucket, but the new deal extends the partnership for an additional three years. If AMC was set to go it alone, it wouldn't have beefed up its alliance with IMAX.
4. The dormant social network with 280 million unsuspecting snoozers
Yahoo!
Yahoo! has seen the privacy missteps at Facebook and Google's
The odds are long for Yahoo! to make a dent in social networking, but it's certainly attacking the opportunity from a position of strength. Yahoo! watches over more email accounts than Microsoft's
However, Yahoo!'s email service is the only one of the three to decline in usage over the past year, according to Internet traffic tracker comScore. In other words, it may as well strike while the iron is hotter than it's likely to be in the future.
5. Boeing places
Boeing
Sure, having three desperate companies vying to sell aircraft is likely to translate into a better deal for the buyer than the seller. However, given the iffy state of many carriers, any fleet-expanding order is a welcome one.