Thankfully, the financial markets are never boring. Here's a closer look at some of the news that made Wall Street look both ways before crossing this week.

Bad news? You're soaking in it
It's hard to smile if you're a Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) investor these days. Then again, it's hard to smile when the market's kicking your teeth in. The toothpaste specialist is trading at a multiyear low after warning that it would miss its next two quarterly targets. With rival Procter & Gamble scoring well in the growing teeth-whitening market and Colgate ramping up its marketing budget to compete, it seems as though there may be a cavity or two in Colgate's plan to keep its streak of growing earnings for 33 consecutive quarters alive.

Sony gets bony
You just knew that if Sony (NYSE:SNE) could hold back on those fatty carbs, it would produce a slim and sleek PlayStation 2. Granted, the new video game console that the Japanese consumer electronics titan will roll out for the critical holiday selling season is slimming down more out of necessity than for mere cosmetic purposes. The new models will be cheaper for Sony to make, and that means less of a hit on the hardware side as system makers Sony, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), and Nintendo rely on royalties from game developing software publishers to make the venture profitable.

Gaming machines have gone through various price cuts over the past year, and that's great news for companies such as Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:ERTS) and Activision (NASDAQ:ATVI) because a wider market means that the fixed title development costs are spread out over a larger base of die-hard gamers. Oh, what do you care? You just want to know whether the new Sims game rocks, right?

So where's the cream filling?
Holy Twinkies! Interstate Bakeries (NYSE:IBC) has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The maker of Wonder Bread and all of those decadent Hostess treats that Sony hasn't been eating will try to get back on its feet, but it won't be easy. The filing may shield the cash-poor and debt-rich baked goods specialist from its angry creditors and unlucky shareholders, but there are no guarantees that it will recover from the sluggish sales and operating struggles that doomed it this time around. Buy, sell, or Ho-Hos? I think you would have to be a Ding Dong to buy into the company until it proves itself. In other words, when you hear that the Hostess will seat you, believe it.

Be my little eBay
Capping off the past few days of watching Dick Cheney and John Edwards spar over the merits of eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) and its role in the economy, I had little choice but to ask the ultimate question -- Is eBay Killing America? I guess it's just that time of year when political rhetoric will throw out the eBay with the bathwater, but one has to wonder why Cheney thinks that eBay's economic impact isn't being measured or Edwards would compare the world's leading auction site to a neighborhood lemonade stand.

Let's get the numbers straight. eBay has facilitated handshakes resulting in buyers and sellers getting together for nearly $30 billion in transactions over the past year. It's such a well-oiled machine that it will ultimately hand over $300 million in income taxes thanks to its magnetism and knack for gargantuan profitability. So while our new Rule Breakers newsletter is seeking out to find the next eBay while still early in its growth cycle, one has to wonder why two opposing politicos can be equally uneducated when it comes to the girth and wingspan of this critter we call eBay.

See you next week!

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz actually hasn't played Sims 2. Sometimes he finds coping with the real world challenging enough. He doesn't own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this article.