As Americans look to save on travel costs and gasoline prices hold fairly steady, more people are turning to their own cars to get them where they want to go. But few sounds drown out the joy of a summer road trip faster than a backseat chorus of “Are we there yet?”

Fortunately for the chauffeurs of the vocal and impatient, gadget makers have released new devices designed to make car trips easier for passengers, not to mention drivers. Among the possibilities: tuning into live TV while idling in traffic, getting enough battery power from your computer to play the entire "Harry Potter" DVD lineup back-to-back, and turning your cellphone into a radar detector.

SmartMoney.com talked to auto and electronics experts, as well as drivers, to find car-worthy gadgets. Here are four ways to stay in touch on the road:

1) Live TV

New satellite services ensure that a lengthy road trip doesn’t mean the family misses the latest episodes of hit summer series like “Burn Notice,” or popular kids’ shows, such as “Hannah Montana.” “This would be a lifesaver,” says Lisa Tyler, a spokeswoman for social networking site MomsLikeMe.com. She routinely sets up the car’s DVD player with videos for her four-and-a-half year-old twin boys but says it’s tough to keep their interest with the same shows on the family’s annual 14-hour summer roadtrip from Virginia to Florida. “With TV, you get the variety of programming,” Tyler says.

Systems can be installed in most vehicles, as long as you have an FM radio and a monitor. The technology is still in early adoption, so expect to pay steep fees for equipment. A few systems on the market:

• AT&T (T) CruiseCast. Browse the lineup of 42 satellite TV and radio channels, including Disney (DIS) XD, Discovery Kids, Animal Planet and Accuweather. The antenna/receiver combo costs $1,300, and a monthly subscription is $28.
• DirecTV (DTV) Total Choice Mobile. Watch any of the satellite service’s 185 channels, including the major networks and niche offerings like The History Channel and Spike. The service requires a subscription to the satellite provider (packages start at $30 per month) and an unobtrusive receiver (roughly $2,000) to be installed on your vehicle’s roof.
• Sirius (SIRI) Backseat TV. Programming is currently limited to three kid-friendly channels: Nickelodeon, Disney Channel and Cartoon Network. To set up the service you’ll need an audio/video tuner ($300), as well as a monthly subscription ($7, in addition to regular satellite radio subscription fees, which start at $7 a month).

2) Power converter

Forgot the car charger for your favorite electronic device? No sweat. Inexpensive power converters enable you to power any device that uses a standard plug, including your cellphone, your laptop or a blender for smoothies near the beach. This coffee-cup-shaped version ($30, from ThinkGeek) plugs into the cigarette lighter in your vehicle. It can power up to three devices at the same time, and fits into the car’s drink holder for easy storage and access.

3) Your smartphone

Whether he’s driving the family car or his motorcycle, debt counselor Steve Rhode of GetOutofDebt.org always brings his Apple (AAPL) iPhone along for the trip. “It’s my travel essential,” he says. “I rely on it.” In addition to music and games, Rhode has loaded his phone with apps to make his trips easier, including weather monitor RadarScope ($9.99 on iTunes) and “AroundMe” (free), which locates the nearest restaurants and other amenities. “I can make a more informed decision about where I get off the highway,” Rhode says. A few other useful apps for the road:

• Trapster. Avoid speeding tickets with this free app for the BlackBerry, iPhone, Android device or other phone operating system. It uses GPS to alert you when you’re approaching known speed traps, red-light cameras and speed cameras.
• SitorSquat. This free app for BlackBerry and the iPhone uses GPS to find nearby restrooms. An active user community rates each from zero to five stars for cleanliness.

4) GPS

New standalone and dashboard models on the market do more than direct you from Point A to Point B. Some alert you to congested roadways and offer alternate routes to cut your travel time. Voice activation commands let you keep your eyes on the road and your hands on the wheel. A handful — like the Garmin (GRMN) nüvi 265WT (on sale at Best Buy for $220, a 33% discount) — include Bluetooth technology, which allows you to reroute cellphone calls through the device’s built-in speakers and microphone. “We’re all in favor of anything that prevents distraction in a vehicle,” says Fran Clader, a spokeswoman for the California Highway Patrol, which has issued more than 100,000 citations to drivers using handheld cellphones on the road. And in New Jersey, hands-free might soon be the only legal way to operate your GPS.)

Many GPS models also include programs that can play your MP3 collection, point you to the nearest bookstore or amusement park and locate the cheapest gas around.

SMARTMONEY ® Layout and look and feel of SmartMoney.com are trademarks of SmartMoney, a joint venture between Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and Hearst SM Partnership. © 1995 - 2009 SmartMoney. All Rights Reserved.

QUESTION: I like the yields on GNMA bonds. What are the risks?
—Frank Summers, Santa Ana, Calif.

Anyone tracking bonds backed by “Ginnie Mae” mortgages (from the Government National Mortgage Association) is likely wondering, “What mortgage meltdown?”

Ginnie Mae creates mortgage-backed securities consisting primarily of loans guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration, which typically backs loans to folks with shaky credit and small down payments. These bonds have had an impressive run: The Barclays Capital U.S. MBS Fixed Rate GNMA index has an 8.6 percent one-year total return, compared with 8 percent for the intermediate Treasury bond index.

Despite their government backing, Ginnie Mae bonds carry slightly more risk than Treasurys. When a mortgage is paid back early (because the homeowner has moved, refinanced or was foreclosed upon), for instance, you’ll get your money back but miss out on future interest payments. You could then buy a new GNMA bond, but if mortgage rates have fallen, you’re stuck with a lower yield. “That’s a heightened risk right now,” says Ronald Reardon, a principal in Vanguard’s fixed-income department, noting that the Obama administration wants to keep mortgage rates low. If you decide to go this route, consider a low-fee mutual fund. And beware that the recent Ginnie Mae rally may be on the verge of downsizing.

QUESTION: My son, who graduated in 2005, has $60,000 in private student loans. Can he consolidate them?
—Bill Lee, Iola, Kan.

Yes, though it’s not as easy as it used to be. Private student loans can be consolidated only through private student-loan providers that specifically offer the service—and now, thanks to the credit crunch, that’s just four firms, says Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of FinAid.org, which offers a list of providers on its Web site.

Interest rates on private loans are variable and tied to another rate, like the three-month London Interbank Offering Rate (currently 0.66 percent), plus an additional 4 to 14 percent. It takes a 100-point improvement in a borrower’s credit score to garner better terms, though. Also, private loans can’t be consolidated with Federal student loans, which carry lower fixed rates.

QUESTION: How do you choose a financial planner? I don’t know where to start.
—Tania Giordani, Chicago

Start with a recommendation from someone in a similar financial situation, then tackle the due diligence. Believe it or not, anyone can call himself a financial planner or adviser, though he’ll need certain credentials for some tasks. Almost anyone offering to buy and sell securities for your account, for instance, needs to be a registered investment adviser with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Some planners work for insurance firms, which means they’re beholden to state insurance laws. Certified financial planners have met certain work requirements, passed an exam and agreed to follow the CFP Board of Standards’s ethics code.

Cost is also a consideration. Some planners charge a fee (either a flat fee or a percentage of assets), others are paid by commission, and some use a combo approach. “Obviously, if you want advice, you should expect to pay for it,” says Barbara Roper, director of investor protections for the Consumer Federation of America. “Just make sure the advice benefits you, not the salesperson.”

Finally, a preliminary meeting is usually free of charge. Ultimately, it comes down to chemistry. If it feels like a fit, you’ve found your planner.

SMARTMONEY ® Layout and look and feel of SmartMoney.com are trademarks of SmartMoney, a joint venture between Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and Hearst SM Partnership. © 1995 - 2009 SmartMoney. All Rights Reserved.

The recent market weakness might be making some investors nervous, but it also affords them an opportunity to pick up investments in cyclical sectors at more attractive prices, the brokerages say.

Who's Talking: Marc Zabicki, senior market strategist, Ameriprise Financial

The Gist: The market's "extraordinary" rally that started in early March cooled off in the last two weeks of June, but that's no cause for alarm, Zabicki says. In his view, the correction is overdue and, he says, it should be modest in nature.

"We believe the February and early March trading represented extraordinarily irrational expectations that have since been corrected by a sensible assessment of the business cycle," the strategist says. "We believe market sentiment and renewed realization of fundamentals will keep the current bout of equity weakness relatively contained."

With the market looking to be range-bound in the near term, investors would do well to take advantage of the lower stock prices and adjust their portfolios to reflect a more balanced allocation between cyclical and defensive sectors.

In fact, Zabicki upgraded early cycle sectors like industrials (to Overweight from Equal Weight) and energy (to Equal Weight from Underweight) while downgrading more defensive sectors such as consumer staples (to Equal Weight from Overweight) and utilities (to Underweight from Equal Weight).

"In our view, these shifts bring our U.S. equity allocations more balance, with no bias toward cyclical or defensive exposure," Zabicki says.

Here's how Ameriprise now weights the 10 sectors of the S&P 500:

Sector	Weight
Consumer Discretionary	Underweight
Consumer Staples	Equal Weight
Energy	Equal Weight
Financials	Overweight
Health Care	Overweight
Industrials	Overweight
Information Technology	Equal Weight
Materials	Underweight
Telecom	Equal Weight
Utilities	Underweight

Who's Talking: Brad Sorensen, director of market and sector analysis, Charles Schwab Center for Financial Research

The Gist: Like Zabicki, Sorensen sees the recent market weakness as an opportunity to "play the pullback" and increase exposure to more cyclical stocks at cheaper prices.

"The impressive overall market rally from the March lows has stalled, while the cyclical areas that had benefitted from hopes of an economic recovery have pulled back," says Sorensen. "However, in every situation lies an opportunity: Investors looking to make some shorter-term moves could benefit from buying stocks and funds at lower prices."

However, in contrast to Zabicki, Sorensen takes a slightly less balanced, more pro-cyclical view when it comes to sector allocation. Schwab continues to believe that global reflationary policies, combined with the possibility of a continued weakening of the dollar, will benefit the more cyclical technology, industrials and materials sectors. In contrast, they believe defensive-oriented consumer staples, telecommunication, and utilities sectors will underperform.

The differences between Ameriprise's more balanced weighting and Schwab's more aggressive outlook can be seen in their respective views of some key sectors. For example, where Ameriprise advocates overweighting financials, Schwab calls the sector at Market Perform (Ameriprise's equivalent of Equal Weight.) Schwab is also more bullish on Materials, which it puts at Outperform, vs. Ameriprise's Underweight.

Here is Schwab's recommended allocation to the 10 sectors of the S&P 500:

Sector	Weight
Consumer Discretionary	Market Perform
Consumer Staples	Underperform
Energy	Market Perform
Financials	Market Perform
Health Care	Market Perform
Industrials	Outperform
Information Technology	Outperform
Materials	Outperform
Telecom	Underperform
Utilities	Underperform

SMARTMONEY ® Layout and look and feel of SmartMoney.com are trademarks of SmartMoney, a joint venture between Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and Hearst SM Partnership. © 1995 - 2009 SmartMoney. All Rights Reserved.

Companies don't seem interested in buying rivals at the moment, despite the comparatively low prices they could pay for them. That bodes poorly for stocks in general, but investors can still use the math of takeover pros to find bargains.

U.S. shares are 27% cheaper than a year ago, even after climbing 15% in the second quarter. During the first half, though, the value of announced acquisitions in the U.S. fell 45% from a year earlier, according to data provider Dealogic. TrimTabs, an investment research group, calls the second quarter the most bearish it has seen since it started tracking data in 1995, in terms of companies' zeal for selling new shares to the public and their reluctance to spend cash to buy either their shares or entire companies.

Investors should read that as a sign of stock-market pessimism among company managers, which signals poor market returns to come, according to TrimTabs. Perhaps that makes now a good time to raise cash, or at least trade pricey stocks for cheap ones. To the latter end, I've listed five companies below that corporate suitors might think are good deals right now, if they weren't so reluctant to spend. Some of the traits that can make a company a potential takeover target can also make it a promising stock. Chief among them is a modest price.

The companies have, in the parlance of merger and acquisition pros, low EV/Ebitda ratios. EV is enterprise value, which is what an investor would pay to buy a company in its entirety and repay all of its debt. Ebitda stands for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. It's a measure of underlying profit potential that allows for tidy comparisons of companies. A low EV/Ebitda ratio, then, means a company had a modest takeover price relative to its earnings potential. The companies on my list also generate free cash, something acquiring firms like to see.

BJ's Wholesale Club (BJ) shares have climbed 31% over the past five years, vs. an 18% decline for the S&P 500. They now sell for 13 times forward earnings, vs. more than 16 times earnings for the index. Sales and profits for BJ's are rising at the moment, as consumers forsake full-price shops for discount clubs. The company has low profit margins relative to peers like Costco (COST), but also increasing margins, which together suggest both improvement and room for more of it.

Dell (DELL) has suffered sharp sales declines of late, but it has reduced corporate expenses and still produces impressive returns on equity, the mark of an efficient company. In the absence of a global economic recovery, the chief appeal of the stock for investors is a low price. Subtracting the company's sizable cash balance from its stock price, shares go for about 10 times forward earnings.

Listed below are details on these two companies and three others.

Screen Survivors

Company	Ticker	Industry	Curr. Price	EV/Ebitda	Return on Equity (%)	Dividend Yield (%)
Data as of July 1, 2009
Dell	DELL	Personal Computers	13.73	5.60	46.9	n/a
Sherwin-Williams	SHW	Chemicals	53.75	6.86	32.0	2.64
Eastman Chemical	EMN	Chemicals	37.90	5.63	14.1	4.64
BJ's Wholesale Club	BJ	Discount Stores	32.23	5.99	14.8	n/a
Weis Markets	WMK	Grocery Stores	33.52	5.93	8.2	3.46

SMARTMONEY ® Layout and look and feel of SmartMoney.com are trademarks of SmartMoney, a joint venture between Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and Hearst SM Partnership. © 1995 - 2009 SmartMoney. All Rights Reserved.

News at a Glance

• Labor Update: Economy lost 467k jobs in June.
• Equities Fall: Investors disappointed by jobs report.
• Demand Rises: Factory orders top May consensus.
• Long Day: Trading extended by 15 min. to fix glitches.

The Lowdown

A short week on Wall Street came to a bleak ending.

Stocks took an steep fall Thursday, as traders recoiled after a disappointing June employment report. Each of the major indexes finished the day down more than 2.6%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 223 points to 8281. The Nasdaq gave up 49 at 1797, and the S&P 500 slipped 27 to 896.

All 30 of the Dow's components ended the day in the red. Alcoa (AA), JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Travelers Companies (TRV) were hit particularly hard.

The energy sector was also pummeled. Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) and ExxonMobil (XOM) each fell by more than 2.9% as oil prices fell on concern over demand. By 5 p.m., crude traded down $2.89 on the day at $66.42 a barrel.

The jobs report was a heavy weight on the broader market. Payrolls fell more than forecast in June, and the unemployment rate rose slightly, according to the Labor Department. Employers cut 467,000 jobs in June, compared to a decline of 345,000 in May. The unemployment rate hit 9.5%, up from 9.4% in May. Analysts had forecast payroll declines of 365,000 jobs and an unemployment rate of 9.6%.

For many traders, the session seemed as if it might never end. It wasn't all in their heads. Trading was extended by 15 extra minutes to clear up some technological glitches.

World markets were broadly lower. In Europe, stocks fell Thursday after the European Central Bank held the Euro Zone's benchmark interest rate at its record low of 1%. In Asia, stocks closed down on concern that the U.S. stimulus package isn't doing enough to curb job losses.

Corporate News

• General Motors (GM) could file for an initial public offering in 2010, said Harry Wilson, an auto task force advisor who testified in U.S. bankruptcy court Wednesday. The company was in court to get approval to sell about 60% of its assets to the Treasury. The remainder will be owned by the Canadian government and a union reitree trust fund. GM could exit bankruptcy as soon as this month.
• Lear (LEA) plans to file for bankruptcy after reaching an agreement with secured lenders and bondholders, the company said Wednesday in a statement. The auto supplier is responding to a slowdown in sales brought on by a decline in production on the assembly lines of its major customers.
• Exelon (EXC) raised its hostile takeover bid for NRG Energy (NRG) by 12% to $7.45 billion after a drop in its share price reduced the premium it had offered. The revised bid is 7.9% higher than NRG's closing price Wednesday.

The Economy

• Payrolls fell more than expected in June, declining by 467,000, compared to a decline of 345,000 in May, according to the Labor Department. The unemployment rate is now 9.5%, up from 9.4% in May. Unemployment was expected to reach 9.6%. Hourly earnings held steady at $18.53 after an increase of 0.1% in May. The average workweek fell by 0.1 to 33 hours. It was expected to hold steady at 33.1 hours. REPORT
• Weekly jobless claims fell to 614,000 in the week ending June 27, down from 627,000 the previous week, the Labor Department said. Forecasters had expected the number to come in at 615,000. REPORT
• Factory orders rose 1.2% in May, up from a revised April increase of 0.5%, the Commerce Department said. Factory orders, which reflect demand for durable and non-durable goods, had been expected to rise 0.9%. REPORT

SMARTMONEY ® Layout and look and feel of SmartMoney.com are trademarks of SmartMoney, a joint venture between Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and Hearst SM Partnership. © 1995 - 2009 SmartMoney. All Rights Reserved.

Every time then-President Bush talked about ethanol back in 2005, fashionable stocks like Pacific Ethanol (PEIX), Aventine Renewable Energy Holdings (AVR) and VeraSun Energy would gap higher. Despite the fact that corn-based ethanol was inefficient and not economical, it thrived for a while on the basis of subsidies and political largess. The more Bush plugged ethanol, the higher the stocks zoomed. Then the reality of corn-based ethanol set in. Now most of the companies have either filed for bankruptcy or come darn close.

In similar fashion, it is quite possible that the government’s efforts to “fix” health care might, at least for a while, actually benefit many of the more dominant companies as contracts and businesses are doled out to established players. Catching my eye and nipping up against overhead resistance near $20 a share is PowerShares Dynamic Healthcare Sector Portfolio (PTH), an ETF featuring holdings such as Hospira (HSP), Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY) and Becton Dickinson (BDX). Unlike many existing health-care ETFs, which tend to be top-heavy in names like Merck (MRK) and Pfizer (PFE), PTH holds an unusually large amount — almost 45% — of smaller companies.

A Healthy Helping

PowerShares Dynamic Healthcare Sector Portfolio (PTH)—YTD

If the fix is anything like previous marketplace interventions, politically connected firms can expect a windfall of benefits for a period of time. This lightly-traded fund is a top choice for investor searching for health-care exposure in a sector whose future will be determined not in a laboratory, but on Capitol Hill.

Higher Taxes or Free Gas?

A few months ago we highlighted ways in which private industry was creating value for consumers even as the economy cratered. Many more continue to do so, even those not benefiting from the government’s billion-dollar bailouts.

A truly remarkable program from a major retailer sets a new standard for corporate generosity. The Sears (SHLD) Buyers Protection Program covers any appliance valued more than $399 put on a Sears card before Aug. 1. If a customer loses their job, the company will credit one-twelfth the cost of the item to them every month they remain out of work. If the individual is still jobless a year after purchase, they get the remainder of the balance put on their account and get to keep the appliance for free.

Another offer comes from car maker Hyundai, whose new incentive program allows car buyers to lock in the price of gas at a set rate, now $1.49, for a year if they buy a car before September. Immediately saving buyers approximately $1 a gallon on gas, the company estimates it knocks $1,000 off the price of a car, far from chump change with most of its line selling for under $20,000 as it is.

The most defining characteristic about capitalism is that it is based on mutually beneficial trade. Profitable businesses succeed by offering a value, not demanding a sacrifice. Once again we see scores of companies dealing with economic adversity through innovation and wealth creation, for both their customers and themselves. A free dishwasher? $1,000 of gas? These are tangible values that mean a great deal, especially to a struggling family.

They’ve helped the companies as well: Hyundai’s earlier effort, the “Assurance Plan” that allows buyers to return their cars if they lose their job, has resulted in the company’s market share jumping from 2.9% to 4.2%.

How do Washington’s efforts compare? According to the to the Ethisphere TARP Index, first covered in this space last March, each taxpaying household has lost $1,233 on their “investment” in the government’s TARP program thus far.

A free dishwasher or a $1,233 bill for bailing out AIG (AIG) and Citigroup (C)? Which type of stimulus do you prefer?

SMARTMONEY ® Layout and look and feel of SmartMoney.com are trademarks of SmartMoney, a joint venture between Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and Hearst SM Partnership. © 1995 - 2009 SmartMoney. All Rights Reserved.

The first half of 2009 has been a whirlwind of events: Unprecedented government efforts to rescue a financial system on the brink, skyrocketing unemployment, dismal corporate earnings and a housing market plagued by defaults and foreclosures. Oh, and then there was that whole $50 billion Ponzi scheme.

Yet, even as all those detrimental factors played out, in March, the market quietly started staging a comeback. According to Lipper, the average S&P 500 index fund gained 15.7% during the second quarter and has now increased 3% year to date. Meanwhile, the average domestic equity fund has climbed 6.5% over the last six months and the average world equity fund has jumped 14.7%. That still doesn’t make up for a dismal 2008, but the performance does seem to indicate that investors are putting some of the bad news in the rearview mirror and are once again comfortable investing in stocks.

“It was a wild six months to try to lump together,” says Stacey Schreft, director of investment strategy at The Mutual Fund Store, headquartered in Overland Park, Kan. “As dramatic as things fell they turned around.”

Adds Ron Rowland, president of Capital Cities Asset Management in Austin, Texas: “Year to date, it looks like nothing ever happened.”

This week, the SmartMoney.com fund screen takes a break from its normal routine to focus on overall fund performance during the first half of 2009. Instead of looking at individual funds with good track records in their respective categories and low fees, we simply list the six-month performance of 24 key fund groups tracked by Lipper. Consider it a first-half report card for your portfolio. We do this screen for an important reason: By staying aware of fund returns, investors can hopefully spot burgeoning trends.

Indeed, one of the emerging themes of the first half of 2009 was the thumping growth funds gave their value counterparts. As you can see from the table below, growth funds easily outpaced value funds up and down the market capitalization spectrum. That trend had been playing out before the market took a nosedive last year — at that point, value briefly trumped growth — but now the gap is widening and many market experts think it will continue to do so since growth stocks historically tend to lead the market out of its doldrums.

“I have been in favor of growth since the middle of ‘07” says Rowland, who hung onto his growth fund holdings even as investors fled to safety.

Now, there were some fund categories that didn't do all that well. Financial services funds gained 27.4% during the second quarter after most big banks passed the government's "stress tests" and were able to raise capital to repay federal loans. However, the category is still down 3.4% in 2009. Real estate funds dropped 9.5% the last six months and equity income offerings, the funds that focus on dividend-paying stocks, managed to eke out a mere 1.2% gain.

But at the same time there were also some eye-popping returns. Technology funds soared 24.6% thanks to some M&A deals and opportunistic buying after tech stocks got hammered in 2008. Investors also became more willing to take on risk after fleeing to safe havens last year. The average emerging markets fund gained 34.2%. Latin America offerings, a subset of emerging markets, increased 44.5%. That was the single biggest increase in the first half of any of the 68 equity categories tracked by Lipper.

Investors shouldn't get overly excited about those rosy returns. “We clearly see people chasing returns,” says Schreft. And many market watchers think another event — rising unemployment, a failed bank, inflation — could cause the rally to quickly cool off. “I think it’s probably safe to say the complete meltdown and disruption of big financial institutions that was scaring everybody months ago is not going to happen,” says Rowland. “The worst case scenario is now off the table. However, the next worst case is still a possibility.”

SMARTMONEY ® Layout and look and feel of SmartMoney.com are trademarks of SmartMoney, a joint venture between Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and Hearst SM Partnership. © 1995 - 2009 SmartMoney. All Rights Reserved.

Market Wrap-Up

Worse-than-expected job loss numbers ended a grim week ahead of the long Fourth of July weekend. Trading was extended until 4:15 p.m. on Thursday to clear up some technological glitches, but the four-session week ended roughly for stocks. The Labor Department reported that nonfarm payrolls shed 467,000 jobs in June, a much greater decline than the earlier estimate of 350,000. Crude oil dropped below $67 a barrel amid a wide selloff. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 218 to close at 8286. For a complete rundown on Thursday’s trading session see our market story.

Winners

Contrary, heavily leveraged short-term bets were the best move for traders during a disappointing week. The Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3X Shares fund (FAZ) rose 10.8%. Signs of an Asian recovery put the iShares MSCI Taiwan Index fund (EWT) among the best unleveraged, heavily traded ETFs, boosting shares 1.4% for the week.

Losers

The widespread dips in energy prices took the United States Natural Gas fund (UNG) down 9.4% for the week, and pushed back shares of the Oil Service HOLDRS Trust fund (OIH) by 8.0%. The broad selloff in stocks had the financial-services sector at its epicenter once again, knocking the SPDR KBW Regional Banking fund (KRE) 5.8% lower.

This Week’s Industry News

Launching Pad
ProShares Advisors launched a pair of leveraged exchange-traded funds Thursday. The ProShares Ultra Russell3000 (UWC) and ProShares UltraShort Russell3000 (TWQ) began trading on the New York Stock Exchange. They seek to replicate by 200% and -200%, respectively, the daily return of the Russell 3000 Index. The company said they are designed primarily for short-term trading strategies. The new funds charge 0.95% in annual expenses.

The Javelin Dow Jones Islamic Market International Index Fund (JVS) started trading Wednesday. It is advertised as the first ETF using an investing style tied to the tenets of Islam. Its portfolio now includes 23 companies representing 18 different currencies. The fund, which charges 0.6% a year, will not invest in companies involved in alcohol, gaming, weapons production, pork products and certain types of entertainment such as casinos, gambling and pornography.

The Securities and Exchange Commission approved the launch of the MacroShares Major Metro Up (UMM) and the MacroShares Major Metro Down (DMM) funds, which started trading Tuesday. The funds are designed to deliver 300% and -300% of the return of the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price 10 Index, the leading benchmark of U.S. residential home prices.

Next Week’s Notebook

Earnings and Conference Calls

Monday
Vimicro International

Tuesday
A. Schulman, Aeon, Greenbrier, International Speedway, Ruby Tuesday

Wednesday
Alcoa, Family Dollar, Nu Horizons Electronic, Pepsi Bottling Group, Rodman & Renshaw, WD-40

Thursday
3Com, Chevron, Franklin Covey, Helen of Troy, Shaw Group, Value Line

Friday
Infosys Technologies, PriceSmart, Progressive

Economic Data

Monday
10:00 a.m. June ISM Non-Manufacturing Index

Tuesday
7:45 a.m. ICSC Chain Store Sales Index for July 4
8:55 a.m. Redbook Retail Sales Index for July 4
5:00 p.m. ABC/Wash Post Consumer Conf for July 4

Wednesday
3:00 p.m. May Consumer Credit

Thursday
8:30 a.m. Initial Jobless Claims for July 4 Week
10:00 a.m. May Wholesale Trade
10:00 a.m. DJ-BTMU Business Barometer for June 26
June Chain-Store Sales

Friday
10:00 a.m. May Trade Balance
10:00 a.m. June Import Prices
10:00 a.m. Mid-July Reuters/U. Michigan Sentiment Index

Quick Take

A look at how the industry's most popular ETFs did on Thursday.

10 Largest ETFs

Symbol	Net Assets	Price	52 Week High	52 Week Low	Volume
SPY	63,692	89.81	130.7	68.13	206,298,931
EFA	30,201	45.23	69.06	32.16	20,731,046
EEM	30,793	31.92	45.21	19.12	59,899,585
GLD	NA	91.25	97.24	70.14	7,354,752
IVV	17,692	90.07	130.92	68.24	2,731,112
QQQQ	13,357	35.6	48.32	25.51	110,693,833
IWF	9,442	40.21	55.45	30.49	2,606,710
SHY	7,059	83.77	85	82.52	542,824
VTI	10,157	45.32	65.56	33.75	1,812,598
IWD	7,122	45.88	70.64	34.22	2,829,932

SMARTMONEY ® Layout and look and feel of SmartMoney.com are trademarks of SmartMoney, a joint venture between Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and Hearst SM Partnership. © 1995 - 2009 SmartMoney. All Rights Reserved.

So much for the second half of the year getting off to a strong start. The market plunged 2.5% in one trading session just two days into the third quarter. Blame the selloff on the Labor Department, which reported Thursday that the economy shed another 467,000 jobs last month. Earlier estimates pegged the losses at 365,000.

All is not lost, however. May factory orders came in better than economists' forecast, housing prices edged down at a much slower rate in April and oil fell back well below $70 a barrel. Indeed, these so-called "green shoots" of economic recovery (as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke would say) may still be a bit wilted and patchy, but it's becoming clearer that the freefalls in earnings, GDP, unemployment and housing have been arrested. To be sure, lots of critical indicators are still in decline, but at least the rate of decline has slowed.

"Factory orders have been better the last couple of months and home sales look like they are starting to stabilize," says Richard Moody, chief economist at investment and research firm Forward Capital. "But any improvement — or any slower rate of deterioration — is really put at risk by what is going on in the labor market. That puts a downside risk on any outlook for the second half of the year."

Investors have an obstacle course of data and projections to contend with as they poise their portfolios for what promises to be a bumpy second half. Here, then, is a look at five critical areas — and what they portend for the next six months.

Corporate Earnings: Baby Steps Toward Recovery, but Don't Get Too Excited

The second-quarter earnings season is almost upon us and it's shaping up to look a lot like the first quarter: bad — but getting better. In the aggregate, S&P 500 second-quarter earnings are forecast to drop 35% year over year, according to Thomson Financial. However, not only is that projected drop a slight improvement over first-quarter results, but analysts' average forecast actually trended up in June, something that hasn't happened since 2007.

Investors have been pricing stocks for this "less bad is good" earnings environment throughout the rally that started in March, possibly setting themselves up for disappointment. "The market expectation is that earnings are going to be better in the second quarter than in the first," says Don Humphreys, president of Voyager Wealth Management. "If they don’t come out better, then the market is going to have to pull back."

On a positive note, the ratio of negative to positive second-quarter earnings pre-announcements for the S&P 500 is below the long-term average, according to Thomson Reuters. That helps bolster the case that analysts' estimates are on the mark and that the second quarter, as bad as it may prove to be, will indeed come in better than the first.

Energy Prices: Oil Prices Apt to Stay at Current Levels

"Oil prices are the wild card here, the big unknown," says Robert Brusca, chief economist at Fact and Opinion Economics. A weak economy doesn't bode well for energy demand, however, and the U.S economic recovery isn't exactly getting off to the races, he says. Indeed, GDP is forecast to grow just 0.6% in the third quarter, according to The Wall Street Journal Economic Forecasting Survey, and only 1.9% in the fourth. The European recovery looks to be weak as well, Brusca says. That argues against oil prices going much higher.

Of course, traditional theories of supply and demand don't always apply in the case of oil prices, says Brusca. "I wouldn't be surprised if oil prices stay where they are, move a little bit higher or even fall 10 or 20 bucks a barrel," the economist says. But one thing is for certain: The last thing cash-strapped consumers need is $4-a-gallon gas again.

Jobs: The Worst Won't Exactly Be Over

Employment numbers tend to lag behind other indicators in any recovery, and the current recession is no exception. "The bad news is that unemployment, which is watched very carefully by many Americans because it does affect us directly, will keep growing," says Dan Seiver, a finance professor at San Diego State University. "It’s quite conceivable we could hit 11% before unemployment actually peaks out," he says. Unfortunately, that peak may not happen before the end of the year, he says.

Even worse, the average American will keep an eye on the job market – and will likely not start spending freely until it shows some signs of improving. A tight job market, combined with essentially flat hourly wages, “bodes very poorly for consumer spending,” says Forward Capital's Moody.

"A lot of people are arguing that the stimulus is going to kick in over the second half of the year and that will provide some support," he says. "But with consumer spending remaining weak, business spending might remain weak."

Housing: Signs of Stability Ahead

The housing market got us into this mess, so investors and analysts seeking signs of a recovery are jumping on any housing data the second it comes out. That may prove to be a waste of energy during the second half of the year, however.

Recent numbers show a slowing rate of decline in housing prices and suggest that some regions could be bottoming out over the next few months. Those are promising signs, but unfortunately a stabilizing housing market won’t drive the recovery.

"When the jobs situation stabilizes, the housing situation will stabilize," says Fact and Opinion Economic's Brusca. "Housing isn't really a threat anymore. It could still decline. But we are not in a situation where housing is a key. The economy is key to housing, not the other way around."

Interest Rates: Short- and Long-Term Rates Should Stay Low

The next meeting of the Fed on Aug. 12 will offer a chance to see where short-term interest rates are heading – and how optimistic the Fed is about the overall health of the economy. For now, though, the Fed will likely continue to pursue a near zero-interest-rate policy in order to jumpstart the economy. However, the agency needs to be watchful of any sign of inflation. "Their big thing is to make sure to pull back on the liquidity in time, so as not to get a ‘double-dip recession," says Don Humphreys of Voyager Wealth Management.

Humphreys says he doesn’t expect inflation to be an issue for quite a while — at least until some real economic growth kicks in. That should also help to keep a lid on long-term rates and tame the so-called bond vigilantes, who sell bonds in the belief that the Fed will have to raise short-term rates to stifle inflation, causing bond prices to fall, says Brusca. (When interest rates rise, bond prices fall.) The recent selloff in long-dated Treasurys pushed longer-term interest rates higher — a situation that, if it continues, would eventually threaten any hopes for recovery.

But after coming very close to the psychologically significant 4%-yield mark, 10-year Treasurys are back at 3.5% "The bond vigilantes recognized that if you're not going to have a strong recovery, you don't have to be a vigilante about the interest rates going up," Brusca says.

SMARTMONEY ® Layout and look and feel of SmartMoney.com are trademarks of SmartMoney, a joint venture between Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and Hearst SM Partnership. © 1995 - 2009 SmartMoney. All Rights Reserved.

Market Wrap-Up

Stocks posted moderate gains Wednesday as investors took comfort in improved home sales data and slowing contraction in manufacturing activity. Investors pushed the Dow Jones Industrial Average up more than 100 points in early trading, as the Institute for Supply Manufacturing reported its index of manufacturing activity was in line with economists' estimates. Private sector layoffs hit an eight-month low of 473,000 for June, according to a report from ADP. The Dow closed 57 points higher at 8504. For a complete rundown of Wednesday's trading session, see our market story.

Winners

The iShares MSCI South Korea Index fund (EWY) rose 3.2% after the release of better-than-expected trade data. Gold prices jumped above $941 an ounce Wednesday, pushing Market Vectors Gold Miners fund (GDX) up 4.2%.

Losers

Among unleveraged funds, the United States Gasoline fund (UGF) slid 2.4% Wednesday as gas futures dropped four cents a gallon. Declining natural gas prices again put the United States Natural Gas fund (UNG) among the decliners, dropping 1.5%.

Wednesday’s Industry Headlines

Launching Pad
The Javelin Dow Jones Islamic Market International Index Fund (JVS) began trading Wednesday as the first exchange-traded fund using an investing style tied to the tenets of Islam. It tracks an index of 100 companies, and its portfolio now includes 23 companies representing 18 different currencies. The fund, which charges 0.6% a year, will not invest in companies involved in alcohol, gaming, weapons production, pork products and certain types of entertainment such as casinos, gambling and pornography, which are forbidden by the Koran, Islam's holy text.

Thursday’s Notebook

Earnings and Conference Calls
Acuity Brands, Methode Electronics, MSC Industrial Direct

Economic Data
8:30 a.m. June 27 Weekly Jobless Claims
8:30 a.m. June Non-Farm Payrolls
8:30 a.m. June Unemployment Rate
10:00 a.m. June 20 DJ-BTMU Economic Barometer
10:00 a.m. May Factory Orders
10:30 a.m. June 19 EIA Natural Gas Inventories
4:30 p.m. June 22 Money Supply

Quick Take

A look at how the industry's most popular ETFs did on Wednesday.

10 Largest ETFs

Symbol	Net Assets	Price	52 Week High	52 Week Low	Volume
SPY	63,692	92.33	130.7	68.13	171,593,988
EFA	30,201	46.57	69.06	32.16	20,142,702
EEM	30,793	32.82	45.21	19.12	83,421,505
GLD	NA	92.39	97.24	70.14	10,741,016
IVV	17,692	92.63	130.92	68.24	7,699,709
QQQQ	13,357	36.4	48.32	25.51	85,775,378
IWF	9,442	41.28	55.45	30.49	3,143,974
SHY	7,059	83.68	85	82.52	1,202,186
VTI	10,157	46.54	65.56	33.75	2,159,452
IWD	7,122	47.74	70.64	34.22	2,560,618

SMARTMONEY ® Layout and look and feel of SmartMoney.com are trademarks of SmartMoney, a joint venture between Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and Hearst SM Partnership. © 1995 - 2009 SmartMoney. All Rights Reserved.

A small pay increase or cut for a worker can make an extreme difference in the amount of pocket money left each month after the bills are paid. For much the same reason, moderate changes in corporate sales can lead to huge swings in earnings. Last quarter, companies in the S&P 500 index reported a 16.5% decline in sales vs. a year earlier. Earnings plunged 39%.

For stock investors, the relative stability of sales makes the measure more reliable than earnings for purposes of deciding which companies are cheap. Run a search for low price/sales ratios and you’ll uncover promising stocks that a search for low price/earnings ratios might miss. Moreover, according to market researchers like James O’Shaughnessy, who conducted a study of the matter for his investment guide “What Works On Wall Street,” the P/S ratio is a better predictor of stock performance than the P/E.

The companies below have low P/S ratios, stable or growing sales, strong balance sheets and decent dividends.

Boeing (BA) last week announced another delay in the test flight of its fuel-efficient 787 jetliner, which is now two years behind schedule. Qantas, the Australian carrier, cancelled orders for 15 of them. The delays are embarrassing for Boeing, but not uncommon in the industry, and analysts see little danger of customers defecting to its European competitor, Airbus, which is years behind Boeing in development of its competing A350 (although some carriers, like Qantas, might use the delays as an opportunity to put off orders during the current travel downturn). Boeing’s sales are still expected to increase 11% this year, and profits are projected to rise 23%. I recommended the stock in early March as one of “9 Stocks That Could Double Your Money.” It’s up 42% since that column ran but still looks cheap and comes with a 4% dividend yield.

Nothing says “recession” quite like canned chili. While most casual dining chains are suffering sales declines this year, Hormel Foods (HRL) is on pace for a 2% improvement in sales and an 11% rise in profits. The stock has climbed 12% since I highlighted it at the end of 2008 in a search for insider buying, but its P/S ratio still stands at a discount of 25% to that of Kraft (KFT). The company has a pristine balance sheet and pays a 2.2% dividend. It has topped Wall Street’s earnings forecasts in recent quarters by double-digit percentages, suggesting operational momentum that’s catching investors by surprise.

Scott’s Miracle-Gro (SMG) had a painful urea problem when I recommended the stock in July 2008. The nitrogen-rich compound, discarded freely by humans but manufactured by chemical companies using ammonia and carbon dioxide, had soared to $800 a ton on agricultural markets, crimping profits for fertilizer sellers, including Scott’s. A ton of the stuff now costs closer to $250, just in time for Scott’s to lock in new supply contracts. Shares are up 81% since my recommendation, vs. a 27% decline for the S&P 500. Even now, they still look reasonably priced, and while the stock’s 1.4% dividend yield is puny, it’s also easily affordable relative to profits.

Have a look if you like at the table below, which has details on these three and two other companies my P/S search recently turned up.

Screen Survivors

Company	Ticker	Industry	Share Price	Price Change YTD (%)	Price / Sales	Yield (%)
Boeing	BA	Aerospace	$42.65	-0.05	0.5	3.9
Kroger	KR	Grocery Stores	22.23	-16	0.2	1.6
Ingersoll-Rand Cl A	IR	Diversified Machinery	21.2	22	0.5	3.4
Hormel Foods	HRL	Meat Products	34.82	12	0.7	2.2
Scotts Miracle-Gro	SMG	Agricultural Chemicals	35.45	19	0.8	1.4

SMARTMONEY ® Layout and look and feel of SmartMoney.com are trademarks of SmartMoney, a joint venture between Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and Hearst SM Partnership. © 1995 - 2009 SmartMoney. All Rights Reserved.

With more Americans putting their money away in savings accounts, it seems like a fitting time to remember that you don’t have to spend a lot to honor your country – even while on vacation.

Many hotels near patriotic sites have rolled back their prices to draw out tourists who might be setting aside less money for leisure in the midst of the recession. As the American wallet tightened, these businesses did not have much choice. Consumer confidence took a step back in June and remains at a level economists consider unhealthy -- and while Americans are spending, their dollars are not necessarily going toward travel. AAA predicts nearly 2% fewer Americans will travel over the July 4 weekend, and a Mintel survey of vacationers’ habits conducted earlier this month found that 60% of respondents chose to drive their own cars rather than fly during their last vacation.

6 Patriotic Summer Trips for Less

With cities desperate to attract tourists, patriotic-minded travelers can find a host of deals in cities with rich histories and notable attractions. Already-struggling hotels have incentive to pull in more travelers over the long weekend. Those deals, coupled with inexpensive historical sites, can add up to road trips that won’t break the bank, especially with gas prices down sharply from a year ago. Travelers can find deals at sites that stretch across the country, from the East Coast to the Rocky Mountains and from New England down to the Mid-Atlantic states.

SmartMoney.com talked to historians and travel experts to find deals on all-American attractions. Check out six historic -- and economical -- cities to visit this summer:

Philadelphia

Follow in the footsteps of the founding fathers and declare your financial independence with a visit to this historic city. Fourth of July hotel rates are down 19% from last year, says Genevieve Brown Shaw, a spokeswoman for Travelocity. For example, four-star Sofitel Philadelphia is offering a night free with a reservation of at least four nights this summer, pushing the daily rate (regularly $205 and up) to an average $154. Shaw’s must-visit sites for first-time visitors -- the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall and the Betsy Ross House -- are more economical. Admission to the first two is free, although you’ll need timed tickets to avoid the crowds. Entry to the Betsy Ross House runs $3 for adults and $2 for kids.

Washington, D.C.

Vacationers voted Washington the city with the best free attractions in a June survey by travel review site TripAdvisor.com. The list of patriotic freebies is exhaustive. The National Mall & Memorial Parks include the Lincoln Memorial, the National World War II Memorial and the FDR Memorial. Ford’s Theater distributes free tickets for timed tours of the historic theater where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated and plays are still performed. Lincoln fans can also check out exhibits this year at the Smithsonian Institute’s museums (free) celebrating the bicentennial of his birth. If you stay in nearby Arlington (site of the Arlington National Cemetery, another free attraction) at the Westin Arlington Gateway, you’ll save 35% on a room with a three-night stay. You’ll pay $123 a night, down from $189.

New York

An Independence Day trip to the Big Apple will offer a rare view of the Manhattan skyline this year. Starting July 4, visitors can once again climb the steps of the Statue of Liberty to its crown. The crown had been closed since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and will be closed again shortly after the holiday for a two-year renovation. You can also head to Ellis Island, where you can conduct a search for your ancestors. Both attractions are free, though you’ll pay $12 for adults and $5 per child for the ferry ride over, plus a $3 fee for a trip to the Statue’s crown. Get the full immigrant experience with a trip to the New York City Tenement Museum ($17 adults, $13 kids). “You have to go [there] to complete the story,” says Edward O’Donnell, associate professor of history at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. “Most immigrants spent decades in tenements and only a few hours on Ellis Island.” Expedia lists many deals on accommodations, too. Rates at the three-and-a-half-star Bentley hotel are now down as much as 30%. Sale prices start at $154 per night.

Keystone, S.D.

Hike the Presidential Trail to the base of Mt. Rushmore, and listen to a free talk about how the four presidential heads were carved into the mountain face using dynamite. Entry to the memorial is free, and parking is $10. Time your summer visit to coincide with one of the U.S. National Park Service’s free weekends on July 18-19 and Aug. 15-16, and you can camp out in nearby Badlands National Park, a fossil-rich park about two hours away by car. (If you stay another time, it’s still a bargain at $15 for a seven-day vehicle permit.)

Gettysburg, Pa.

You can easily spend an entire day exploring the Gettysburg National Military Park, site of the battle that turned the course of the Civil War, says Allison Lockwood, project manager of travel information for AAA, who devised a nine-hour driving tour of Civil War sites. Entry to the park is free, but trading up to a guided tour is affordable. A two-hour car tour for up to six people with one of the park’s battlefield guides costs $55, while admission to the museum starts at $6 for adults and $4 for kids. Even the drive to the park can be a draw for history buffs. “You’re on some of the roads the troops traveled on,” Lockwood says. If you plan to stay overnight, the nearby two-star Chambersburg Travelodge is offering 15% off a stay of two nights or more for Expedia customers, which lowers the $85 weekend rate to $72.

Boston

"Boston's Freedom Trail is an easy way to see many of the city's historical sites, like the Paul Revere House, the Old North Church and Faneuil Hall,” Travelocity’s Shaw says. “There are 16 sites along the red-brick trail, but you can pick and choose the ones that interest you the most.” Most carry nominal admission fees -- for example, the Paul Revere House costs $3.50 for adults, $1 for kids -- so visitors who plan to explore them all might pick up a Go Boston card, which offers free access to more than 70 tours and attractions around the city. Prices for a one-day pass are $55 for adults and $38 for kids and scale up for additional days. Hotels rates for the July 4 weekend are down 7% from last year, according to Travelocity. The three-and-a-half-star Boston Park Plaza Hotel & Towers is knocking 20% off its rates, with sale prices starting at $164 per night.

SMARTMONEY ® Layout and look and feel of SmartMoney.com are trademarks of SmartMoney, a joint venture between Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and Hearst SM Partnership. © 1995 - 2009 SmartMoney. All Rights Reserved.

Can you, a newly minted entrepreneur, get a jump on the competition by self-publishing a book? Yes, you can! Or so claims Stacey Hanke, consultant and author of the self-published how-to book Yes You Can!

Last year Hanke was looking for a way to stand out from the mob of other consultants competing to serve as business communication advisers. So she spent nine months writing and a total of $3,000 to publish the 165-page book—and bought 500 copies so she could hand them out to potential clients. Hanke, 39, says the book “opened doors,” and boosted her business and requests for speeches by 20 percent. Today those speeches are ripe occasions for selling copies of Yes You Can! to other people, at $14 each. Try getting that kind of return with a copy of your résumé.

For growing numbers of professionals who want instant credibility, books are the new business cards. It’s part of a publishing surge that led the number of print-on-demand titles to rise 132 percent in 2008 over the previous year, according to Bowker’s Books in Print database. The entrepreneur with a book under her belt is no longer a schnook fighting for recognition; she’s a Published Author sharing her wisdom. “People figure you must be an expert—it’s kind of weird, but it works that way,” says Doug Wojcieszak, who self-published Sorry Works!, on how hospitals should treat families that bring malpractice cases.

The book-as-calling-card has been brought to us by advances in digital publishing, most notably the print-on-demand book. This business is an example of the “long tail” model, where online distribution enables sales of unique items (like your book) in tiny quantities (like 25 copies for your sales conference). New printing companies are eager to make the long tail happen. For $1,000, the company AuthorHouse proofread Sorry Works!—apparently, there’s no extra charge for exclamation points in the self-publishing world—helped Wojcieszak design a cover and got him the first copies of his $24.99 book within 30 days.

But note the word self. You’re basically on your own when it comes to marketing and distribution. Edward Zelinsky, a graphic designer in Falmouth, Maine, uses Lulu.com, another print-on-demand house, to publish books of his work. But he can’t recall someone hiring him for his design services via Lulu’s Web site, where his books are available for free viewing and downloading. “The Web sites are so deep and vast,” he says, “your book disappears into the maw.”

At least the publishers try to help authors cast a wider net. At Lulu.com you can pay an extra $49.95 to get the copyright and an ISBN (International Standard Book Number). That in turn will get it on the Books in Print list viewed by libraries and other publishers, making it possible for people to order it from retailers like Borders. For publishing packages starting at $500, AuthorHouse assigns its authors ISBNs and has them listed on sites like Amazon.com.

One great aspect of self-publishing, says Keith Ogorek, of AuthorHouse parent company Author Solutions, “is that the book doesn’t say it’s self-published, so nobody knows.” Just don’t count on these books as a way to get rich. Booksellers typically take 50 percent of the retail price, leaving authors 5 to 10 percent. An author should see self-publishing as a marketing tool, not a route to big bucks, says Hanke, who adds, “I’ll make millions on my next book.”

SMARTMONEY ® Layout and look and feel of SmartMoney.com are trademarks of SmartMoney, a joint venture between Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and Hearst SM Partnership. © 1995 - 2009 SmartMoney. All Rights Reserved.

America may be the great melting pot, but it hasn't always fully embraced the immigrants who have arrived on its shores and helped build its foundations. For years, there have been heated debates over everything from how many visas the government should issue to whether newcomers to America are stealing jobs and lowering wages for U.S. citizens.

Indeed, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum rose to national prominence partly on his support for building a barrier along the border with Mexico. On the other side of the debate, the Obama administration has pledged to make creating a path for illegal immigrants to become legal a top priority.

But no matter where people stand on the immigration issue there is one thing that isn't up for debate: Foreign-born entrepreneurs have founded some of the nation's biggest companies, and have been responsible for employing millions of Americans over the course of U.S. history.

See 10 companies that were started by immigrants

Nearly 30 years after coming to this country, Vivek Wadhwa, an Indian immigrant, two-time entrepreneur and visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley (he holds similar appointments at Harvard and Duke Universities) co-authored a study that found that, between 1995 and 2005, more than a quarter of the nation's tech startups had at least one founder who was foreign born. Perhaps more important, immigrant-founded tech companies generated more than $50 billion in annual sales and, in 2005, employed some 450,000 people. The numbers are even greater if you look beyond the tech sector, he says.

"America is the most desirable country in the world for a foreigner," says Wadhwa. "And it is also the most entrepreneurial society on earth. America encourages risk-taking. It's called the American Dream."

From the French-born founder of DuPont (DD) who started out selling gunpowder in the early 1800s to Hungarian-born Andy Grove, the co-founder of Intel (INTC), corporate America and Americans have long benefitted from such risk-taking immigrant entrepreneurs. With Independence Day upon us, SmartMoney surveyed the corporate landscape looking for major American companies that were founded by immigrants. From the bluest (and oldest) of blue chips to the biggest of upstart tech giants, here is a look at 10 companies that fulfill the promise of the American Dream -- and provide tens of thousands of Americans with jobs.

Carnival Corporation

Founder: Ted Arison
Born in Israel
U.S. employees: 36,500

Israeli-born Arison started Carnival Cruise Lines in 1972 with a single ship – The Mardi Gras. But the party got off to a slow start. By 1974, the fledgling cruise line was struggling so much that Arison was able to buy full ownership of the company for $1. Now 35 years later, Carnival Cruise Lines has morphed into Carnival Corporation (CCL), which operates 11 separate cruise lines, and has a market cap of over $26 billion. The swine flu outbreak and consumers cutting back on travel haven’t helped the company’s bottom line this year. Analysts on average are expecting sales to fall 11% from 2008 to $13 billion, according to data from Thomson Reuters. The consensus is that 2010 will offer some calmer seas, with sales expected to rise to around $14 billion.

The photos in this article were supplied by the companies, except for the following: Pierre Omidyar and Sergey Brin are from Getty Images; Ted Arison is from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts.

DuPont

Founder: Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours
Born in France
U.S. employees: 25,000

DuPont (DD), the world's second-largest chemicals company and a long-time component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, has given the world everything from nylon to Lycra to Teflon, but it started out as a humble gunpowder manufacturer in 1802. Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours, the son of a Paris watchmaker, came to the U.S. two years earlier to escape the violence of the French Revolution. By the mid-1800s, DuPont was the largest supplier of gunpowder to the U.S. military.

Based in Wilmington, Del., the company now operates in 70 countries and employs workers in nearly 30 U.S. states. As a basic materials company and early cycle stock, DuPont is well poised to benefit from an upturn in the global economy, especially when it comes to Chinese stimulus spending, says Laurence Alexander, an analyst at Jefferies & Co., who rates the company's shares at Outperform.

eBay

Founder: Pierre Omidyar
Born in France
U.S. employees: Approximately 10,000

French-born Pierre Omidyar's eBay (EBAY) not only employs roughly 10,000 Americans, but there are thousands more who have made a living off of the company he founded by auctioning items from their basements and attics. Born to Iranian-immigrant parents, Omidyar moved to the U.S. when he was 6. After graduating from Tufts with a degree in computer science he went to work at a subsidiary of Apple (AAPL), grinding out code by day -- and working on his entrepreneurial venture at night. Launched in 1997, eBay now claims the title of the world's largest online marketplace, but its outsize growth has cooled off due to competition from Amazon.com (AMZN) and other online retailers. Whether new Chief Executive John Donahoe, who succeeded Meg Whitman a year ago, can reinvigorate this growth story remains to be seen, says Benchmark analyst Frederick Moran, who rates shares at Hold.

Google

Founder: Sergey Brin
Born in Russia
U.S. employees: Approximately 13,000

Born in Moscow, Brin immigrated to the U.S. at age 6. After graduating from the University of Maryland, College Park, with a bachelor's degree in science (and with honors in mathematics and computer science), he enrolled at Stanford University's prestigious graduate school in computer science where he met Larry Page. The two founded Google (GOOG) in 1998 and Brin -- now President, Technology -- is part of the three-man team (including Page and Chairman and Chief Executive Eric Schmidt) that shares day-to-day responsibility for running the company. At one point Google's growth seemed unstoppable, but the recession has taken a toll on its share price. Regardless, the company continues to grab market share in the all-important search business, making the stock a Buy, according to Jefferies analyst Youssef Squali.

Intel

Co-founder: Andy Grove
Born in Hungary
U.S. employees: Approximately 44,000

A refugee of the Hungarian Revolution, Grove immigrated to the U.S. under cover of darkness in 1956. After earning a bachelor's degree from City College of New York and a Ph.D. from U.C., Berkeley in 1963, Grove worked in the semiconductor industry for the next few years until becoming the fourth employee of a start-up called Intel (INTC), which was launched in 1968. Grove transformed Intel from a maker of memory chips to a manufacturer of microprocessors. The rest, as they say, is history: Today this Dow component is the world's largest maker of central processing units, or CPUs -- the central brain in the majority of the world's PCs. As an early cycle stock that's very sensitive to an uptick in the global economy (and a major exporter that benefits from a weaker dollar), Intel's fortunes look bright as the economy recovers, or so the thinking goes in the market. Investors have pushed Intel's stock up 30% since the broader market bottomed in early March.

Nvidia

Founder: Jen-Hsun Huang
Born in Taiwan
U.S. employees: 3,300

From rising ping pong star to the co-founder of a $6 billion graphics chip maker, the career track of Taiwan-born Jen-Hsun Huang has been event-filled to say the least. As a teenager, Huang was a nationally-ranked table tennis player; he competed in his first national tournament at the age of 14 in Las Vegas. He earned a degree in electrical engineering at Oregon State University and a masters at Stanford University. In 1993, he co-founded Nvidia (NVDA) with Chris Malachowsky and immediately began serving as president and CEO. It took two years for the company’s first product to launch, but it’s been on a roll ever since. One of their crowning achievements? Graphics technology that makes the yellow first-down line appear on live football games. The stock took last fall’s crash particularly rough: It fell 76%. But so far this year it's risen 43%.

Pfizer

Founders: Charles Pfizer and Charles Erhart
Born in Germany
U.S. employees: 30,000

It sounds like something out of a bad sci-fi movie: Two German chemists, cousins in fact, move to America seeking opportunity and find it – battling parasitic worms. But that’s how this pharma giant got its start. Charles Pfizer and Charles Erhart came to the U.S. in 1849, with a $2,500 loan, and set up shop in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The cousins’ first pharma hit was Santonin, a drug used to fight tapeworms. Today, Pfizer (PFE) sells blockbuster drugs like the cholesterol-fighting Lipitor, which brings in $12 billion a year, more than a quarter of the company’s 2008 sales. Linda Bannister, a senior health care analyst at Edward Jones, is concerned that when Lipitor loses its patent protection in 2012, the company will be hard-pressed to replace those sales. But its pending acquisition of fellow drug maker Wyeth (WYE), which had $23 billion in sales last year, should help ease any withdrawal symptoms.

Procter & Gamble

Founders: William Procter and James Gamble
Born in England and Ireland, respectively
U.S. employees: Almost 40,000

Look around your home and you're likely to find P&G's (PG) products everywhere. From Tide detergent to Pampers diapers to Crest toothpaste, the nation's biggest consumer products company and Dow component is truly a red, white and blue chip. Less well-known is that it was founded in 1837 by an English candle maker named William Procter and a soap maker from Ireland named James Gamble. Another interesting piece of P&G trivia: In 1887, the company instituted a pioneering profit-sharing program that gave employees ownership stake in the company. Today P&G investors -- both those who are employed at the company and those who are not -- can scoff at the notion that the U.S. equity market is suffering from a lost decade. Instead, they can take comfort in the fact that this stalwart consumer staples stock outperformed the broader market by a full 50 percentage points over the last 10 years.

U.S. Steel

Founder: Andrew Carnegie
Born in Scotland
North American (figure includes Canada) employees: 28,680

Pittsburgh’s always been the home of the Steelers, but before there was Terry Bradshaw, Chuck Noll and the Steel Curtain defense, there was Andrew Carnegie and the Carnegie Steel Company. Carnegie, a Scottish immigrant, formed the company in the 1870s. In 1901, it was sold to Elbert H. Gary and J.P. Morgan, who already owned the Federal Steel Company. Together, the two steel manufacturers formed the nucleus of United States Steel Corporation (X), which today produces 31.7 million tons of raw steel annually. The past 18 months haven’t been kind to the steel giant -- sagging demand has sent the stock price down more than 65%, but the company’s been down this road before. Ten years ago, the steel industry hit a similar rough patch and U.S. Steel’s stock fell 64%, only to bounce back and gain 621% over the next six years.

Yahoo

Founder: Jerry Yang
Born in Taiwan
U.S. employees: 6,000

What started out as a directory of web sites eventually grew into one of the most trafficked sites on the internet, thanks in large part to its Taiwanese co-founder Jerry Yang. Yang, along with fellow Stanford University Ph.D. candidate, David Filo, began creating the web site that would later be named Yahoo (YHOO) in 1994. Two years later Yahoo went public, with just 46 employees. Now it employs 260 times that amount world-wide, and roughly 6,000 in the U.S. Yang traded in his title of Chief Yahoo to take the helm as CEO in 2007. But the role wasn't for him – Yahoo’s earnings fell 1% to $1.8 billion and its stock dropped 58% to $12 a share in less than two years. Yang handed over the CEO title to Carol Bartz in January and returned to his Chief Yahoo post. Analysts like Jefferies' Squali have high hopes that Bartz can reinvigorate Yahoo’s growth. Squali rates the company's shares a Buy.

SMARTMONEY ® Layout and look and feel of SmartMoney.com are trademarks of SmartMoney, a joint venture between Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and Hearst SM Partnership. © 1995 - 2009 SmartMoney. All Rights Reserved.

_{Copyright 2009 SmartMoney.com, joint venture of Dow Jones & Co. and Hearst Communications, Inc.}

_{Copyright 2009, by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.}