Profits dropped but overall sales and optimism are growing at Kellogg, which announced its second-quarter results yesterday. The integration of the Pringles chips business is "going well," says president and CEO John Bryant. The recent acquisition from Procter & Gamble is leading the company's full-tilt charge into the snacks aisle and opening opportunities overseas.

The headlines offer little sunshine for Detroit this morning -- combined U.S. market share for the Big Three slipped 4.5 percentage points to 43.1% -- but they come heavily asterisked, including the fact that (Fiat-controlled) Chrysler's sales were up 13% and, as a "Wall Street Journal" story put it a couple of days ago, now "is propping up its majority owner."

The fact that Pfizer has cut costs has been exciting Wall Street for the past year, with the share price rising 25% during that time. The fact that it has some promising new products in the pipeline and is dedicating itself to "reinventing" its research and development, as Bloomberg News puts it, should excite Madison Ave. and Broadcasters Row, such as they remain.

Supervalu may have "abruptly" axed CEO Craig Herkert yesterday, as the "Minneapolis Star Tribune"'s Mike Hughlett reports, but the analysts he and other journalists cite pretty much say they saw it coming. The company operates Albertsons, Jewel-Osco and other supermarkets that have been hit hard by competition from the likes of Wal-Mart, Target, Costco, dollars stores and even drugstores that are expanding their grocery aisles.

Supervalu may have "abruptly" axed CEO Craig Herkert yesterday, as the "Minneapolis Star Tribune"'s Mike Hughlett reports, but the analysts he and other journalists cite pretty much say they saw it coming. The company operates Albertsons, Jewel-Osco and other supermarkets that have been hit hard by competition from the likes of Wal-Mart, Target, Costco, dollars stores and even drugstores that are expanding their grocery aisles.

General Motors' Joel Ewanick, who was recently praised by his boss for his willingness "to challenge the status quo of the corporation," evidently pushed it too far. He "elected to resign immediately" as global CMO, according to a statement released yesterday. The reason, a spokesman tells the "Detroit News"' David Shepardson, is "because he failed to meet the company's expectations of an employee of the company."

"Built Ford Green" doesn't seem to have the same USP ummmph as "Built Ford Tough" but the Wall Street Journal's Michael Ramsey is reporting that the automaker "is working on one of the biggest gambles in its 108-year history: a pickup truck with a largely aluminum body."

How sweet is this tweet from Marie Claire fashion director and "Project Runway" judge Nina Garcia: "'I'm @jcpenney's HQ. Thank you Ron Johson (sic) for the walk through of JCP's prototype. Get ready to shop! Its going to be a game changer!"

If you've got a hammer, they say, everything looks like a nail; if you make soup, everyday's a soup day, even if the weather suggests iced tea. And so it was in Camden, N.J., yesterday, where Campbell Soup Co. Investor Relations vp Jennifer Driscoll opened a newsy 2012 Analyst Day session by quipping that the looming 90-degree temperature was "good soup-eating weather," as Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Mike Armstrong reports.

When the going gets rough, the marketing gets cranking, McDonald's new CEO, Don Thomson, told analysts during a conference call yesterday. And things are rough all over. "This is a time for us to focus on guest-count growth and market-share gain. And so we really go at this very hard in times like these, even though it means an investment," according to Thompson.