By Douglas J. Elliott

Newspapers have been reporting the possible misuse by hedge funds of confidential information about proposed government actions. Whatever the truth of these particular allegations, it is a sign of the intense interest that much of the “smart money” displays in the specifics of government policy.

This runs counter to the misconception, still held by many investors, that we will eventually return to the “good old days” when they can focus again on businesses and ignore governments. They believe that the current need to actively scrutinize the likely actions of the U.S. and other governments is a fluke resulting from the financial crisis and the ensuing severe recession. This seems very unlikely. Governments should always matter a great deal to investors: they establish the framework of laws and regulations that rule business transactions, set taxes, establish monetary policies, decide government spending levels, choose among infrastructure projects, etc.

A return to

Editors Note: The list of top stocks is derived from the quote pages that received the most views on Yahoo! Finance by examining data for the current week. It is not, however, a list of the most searched-for tickers or company names on our site.

1. Apple (AAPL)

It was another rough week for former tech darling Apple. According to regulatory filings, some of Wall Street’s biggest names in the hedge fund arena continued to bail out of the stock.

David Tepper’s Appaloosa Management reduced its stake by some 40% during the first quarter. Tiger Management, helmed by Julian Robertson, dumped its entire remaining stake of more than 42,000 shares.

The latest Bloomberg Global Poll also found this week that investors overwhelmingly believe Apple has lost its standing as a tech innovator. According to the poll, 71% of respondents said the company “has lost its cachet as an industry innovator.”

JMP Securities analyst Alex Gauna told Big Data Download that he believes the recent rally in Apple