"According to the Spectrem Group, which recently polled the country's wealthiest people, they're the most optimistic they've been in months," says Marc Lichtenfeld.

The contributing editor to Investment U explains, "Let's take a look at 3 stocks that millionaires (and aspiring ones) should pay attention to: Apple (AAPL), Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) and Varian Medical Systems (VAR).

"And according to Fidelity, 83% of millionaires surveyed said the financial crisis did not shake their confidence in investing. And of those who said they'll invest more money in the stock market, nearly 60% of them plan to buy technology stocks. And just under half expect to acquire pharmaceutical and healthcare stocks.

This post is part of Japan: A Special Report for Investors.

"Japan's tsunami has struck worldwide," says Richard Moroney, the editor of Dow Theory Forecasts, which has maintained a model portfolio of blue chip stocks for over 50 years.

Here, he reviews a number of the top buy recommendations in the newsletter's portfolios to determine the potential risk posed by the recent tragic developments in Japan.

Stocks cited as "Focus List Buys" are are those issues that the service expect to significantly outperform the market over the next 12 months.

Analyst Upgrades

• Cree (CREE) and Rubicon Technology (RBCN) to buy from neutral at Merriman.
• Children's Place (PLCE) to outperform from market perform at BMO Capital.
• Lockheed Martin (LMT) to neutral from underperform at BofA/Merrill.
• Copano Energy (CPNO) to outperform from market perform at Morgan Keegan.
• Motorola Mobility (MMI) to neutral from reduce at Nomura.
• Parker-Hannifin (PH) to buy from hold at KeyBanc.
• Akamai (AKAM), ShoreTel (SHOR), AMB Property (AMB) and ProLogis (PLD) to buy from hold at Stifel Nicolaus.

Apple, Inc. (AAPL) was down at the time of this writing. The shares were off by 3.7% to $332.77. Volume was heavy.

The 52-week low for the stock is $199.25; the 52-week high is $364.90. The one-year chart still looks pretty good, but obviously anything can happen at this point. There's no real way to predict how deep the overall sell-off will get.

Analyst Upgrades

• BB&T (BBT) and Aflac (AFL) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• Kodiak Oil & Gas (KOG) to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.
• Zhongpin (HOGS) to neutral from reduce at Global Hunter.
• Marathon Oil (MRO), Noble Energy (NBL) and Manulife Financial (MFC) to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Carrizo Oil & Gas (CRZO) to buy from hold at Canaccord.
• Comerica (CMA) to buy from neutral at Rochdale.

Would you buy a used Apple (AAPL) iPad? It seems that the market for used electronics is booming. Much of it is resold to developing countries. But even here in the U.S. consumers are dumping their old iPads and buying the new iPad2, the Financial Times reports.

That sets up a huge secondary market. The big beneficiaries are eBay (EBAY) and the Apple Store. On eBay, for example, sales jumped from 3,300 to 7,700 in a week with prices dropping from $531 to $484 in just one week. If buyers had done some research they could have bought the same unit from the Apple Store for $399, according to the FT.

With today's launch of the Apple (AAPL) iPad 2, it is important to peer back on some of the highs and lows of the company's first tablet.

Notable highs include Apple's milestone of selling over a million iPad units before reaching the first month of its release. Apple's holiday season was also impressive, with over seven million units sold in Q4 2010.

Intel (INTC) competes with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Nvidia (NVDA) in the PC microprocessor and graphics businesses. We estimate that notebook microprocessors are the most important product segment for Intel, generating roughly 39% of its equity value.

Google's (GOOG) mobile operating system, Android, is an example of how acquisitions have made a big difference. This technology came from a deal struck in 2005. Then, after lots of internal development, Google launched Android in 2007. Since then, the growth has been sizzling.

In fact, according to the most recent report from comScore, Android's market share hit 31.2%. Yes, it is now the number one mobile operating system.

Apple Inc. (AAPL), known for its ability to bring innovative products to market, recently unveiled the newest member of its tablet family: the iPad 2. iPad 2 has a few superior features over its predecessor, including a faster A5 processor as well as front and rear facing cameras. The new product is also lighter and thinner than the original.

Apple has established itself as the dominant player in the tablet market, but 2011 could bring more meaningful competition to Apple with players like Research In Motion Limited (RIMM), Motorola Mobility (MMI), Samsung, Dell, Inc. (DELL) and LG jumping onto the tablet bandwagon.

Verizon (VZ) primarily competes with Sprint Nextel (S) and AT&T (T) in the mobile subscription plan business. The average monthly fee that Verizon's postpaid wireless subscribers pay for wireless service, excluding data service, has been consistently declining over the past few years. The decline in pricing is mainly attributable to nearing saturation of the U.S. cellular market, creating fierce competition among telecom players to maintain and increase their market share.

A successful Verizon-iPhone (AAPL) deal and rising data revenues from smart phone penetration could, however, offset declines in average mobile plan prices.

Fortune has released its list of the world's 50 most respected companies and once again Apple Inc. (AAPL) tops the list.

This is the fourth year in a row that the Cupertino based company has grabbed the top slot. Apple's respect comes mainly due to the company's ability to release new products at an amazingly quick pace, often updating its main product lines at least once a year.