Score one for the bulls. When I recommended shares of Couer D’Alene Mines Corp. (NYSE: CDE) back in late January, there was a raging debate about whether silver prices would rally to new highs or finally come back to earth. I thought the bulls had a stronger case,… Read More

Gold is one of the most malleable and least reactive elements known to man. It’s used for both practical and symbolic purposes. Historically, gold has been one of the most common forms of monetary exchange throughout human history. Its secondary place to paper currency did not come about until the 20th century. And after continuously rising to new highs even after a multi-year bull market, one other thing can be said about gold: It can also make traders a lot of money… With gold rallying to… Read More

Gold is one of the most malleable and least reactive elements known to man. It’s used for both practical and symbolic purposes. Historically, gold has been one of the most common forms of monetary exchange throughout human history. Its secondary place to paper currency did not come about until the 20th century. And after continuously rising to new highs even after a multi-year bull market, one other thing can be said about gold: It can also make traders a lot of money… With gold rallying to record highs almost daily, it’s seen increasingly as a way to protect oneself against worldwide currency inflation. Inflationary worries were prominent news this trading week. China’s central bank raised its interest rates — for the fourth time since mid-October — to head-off price increases running at nearly 5% a year. The European Central Bank also raised rates for the first time in nearly two years, in order to curtail rising food and energy costs. In the United States, rising interest rates may… Read More

“Beat and Raise.” The pattern of beating estimates and raising forward guidance has been the key theme in each earnings season of the past two years. This time will be different. The “beat” part will likely hold as companies and the analysts that follow them continue to play the game of low expectations that then get exceeded. The “raise” part? That just got much trickier. Companies raise guidance when they have a lot of certainty about what the coming months will bring. Right now, few can say with certainty about how… Read More

“Beat and Raise.” The pattern of beating estimates and raising forward guidance has been the key theme in each earnings season of the past two years. This time will be different. The “beat” part will likely hold as companies and the analysts that follow them continue to play the game of low expectations that then get exceeded. The “raise” part? That just got much trickier. Companies raise guidance when they have a lot of certainty about what the coming months will bring. Right now, few can say with certainty about how the wide range of domestic and global events will play out. Here’s a checklist of the issues these companies face. Later on, I’ll look at the potential impact on specific sectors.   Oil prices bring caution. Expect a number of companies, especially those that are focused on consumers or have high transportation costs, to express real concern about surging oil. Stressed consumers are in no mood to help shoulder the burden. For example, airlines had successfully pushed through six fare hikes since the start of the year. On the seventh try, consumers appear to have balked and airlines had… Read More

While most energy-driven headlines today deal with $100-plus oil, dirty coal, dangerous nukes or solar dreams, one cheap, plentiful and clean fuel is usually left off stage out of the spotlight — natural gas. That’s odd, because Americans use about 62.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day, with some 2.1 quadrillion cubic feet in reserve. (One quadrillion is a thousand trillion.) It supplies 65 million households, 5.3 million commercial users and nearly 200,000 industrial-scale customers. Natural gas is critical to electrical power production and its importance in this area is growing dramatically. Read More

While most energy-driven headlines today deal with $100-plus oil, dirty coal, dangerous nukes or solar dreams, one cheap, plentiful and clean fuel is usually left off stage out of the spotlight — natural gas. That’s odd, because Americans use about 62.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day, with some 2.1 quadrillion cubic feet in reserve. (One quadrillion is a thousand trillion.) It supplies 65 million households, 5.3 million commercial users and nearly 200,000 industrial-scale customers. Natural gas is critical to electrical power production and its importance in this area is growing dramatically. In the past 15 years, the amount of U.S. electricity provided by natural gas has grown from 13.2% to 23.2%. The total number of kilowatt hours attributable to natural gas is up 102.3%. And there are two reasons this trend is going to accelerate in coming years. First, gas is super efficient; it can approach 60% efficiency, nearly twice that of coal, which makes it an easier and more cost-effective way to generate power. Second, natural gas is far less polluting than coal, which is similarly cheap and abundant, and is… Read More

For the past five months, I’ve grown increasingly concerned about the steady surge in oil prices. Back in November,I noted that several sectors could be affected if oil moved past $100 a barrel. With oil now approaching $110 a barrel, you can forget that qualified statement. Oil will affect various swaths in the economy. Here’s why…   Some market watchers suggest oil has only temporarily moved onto a higher plane and that prices will eventually come back down. Then again, they’ve been saying that for the past six… Read More

For the past five months, I’ve grown increasingly concerned about the steady surge in oil prices. Back in November,I noted that several sectors could be affected if oil moved past $100 a barrel. With oil now approaching $110 a barrel, you can forget that qualified statement. Oil will affect various swaths in the economy. Here’s why…   Some market watchers suggest oil has only temporarily moved onto a higher plane and that prices will eventually come back down. Then again, they’ve been saying that for the past six months. It’s increasingly hard to see why oil prices will suddenly pull back. “The turmoil in the Middle East is unlikely to be resolved quickly or easily, meaning that oil market volatility is likely to remain high,” analysts at Merrill Lynch say. At this point, the only major catalyst to bring oil prices back down (besides a sudden resolution to all of the Middle East’s troubles) would be a slump in demand. And demand would only fall because oil prices rose so high that they choked off economic activity. Read More

It’s going to touch everything. It will make a difference in what we eat, where we travel, how we heat and cool our homes, even how much we save and spend. Actually, these sorts of changes are already taking place. But over the next… Read More

In my recent article The Perfect Way to Short Nuclear Power Stocks, I describe how the nuclear crisis in Japan is negatively impacting nuclear power companies worldwide, providing potentially profitable trading opportunities. However, another way to profit from the ongoing nuclear crisis is to invest in… Read More

You’ve no doubt heard plenty as to why commodities are going through the roof. Yes, turmoil in the Middle East plays a part. As does a weakening U.S. dollar. But perhaps the underlying catalyst in the commodities pits is China. The… Read More

A private think tank with an all-but unlimited budget… A maverick genius with a history of world-rattling results… A secret Pentagon “skunk works” defense project… And a fuel technology that could not only reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil, but also reverse global warming. Read More

About 20% of the world’s energy supply comes from 440 nuclear power plants, located in 25 countries around the world. About 12% of these nuclear reactors are in Japan. As the headlines describe, the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on March 11 triggered a series of explosions, leading to the partial meltdown of a nuclear plant, located 150 miles outside of Tokyo. The impact of the meltdown has spread far beyond Japan, affecting nuclear-power companies worldwide. Observers suspected plans for many of the world’s 60 new nuclear plants could be stopped, or at the very least halted, for… Read More

About 20% of the world’s energy supply comes from 440 nuclear power plants, located in 25 countries around the world. About 12% of these nuclear reactors are in Japan. As the headlines describe, the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on March 11 triggered a series of explosions, leading to the partial meltdown of a nuclear plant, located 150 miles outside of Tokyo. The impact of the meltdown has spread far beyond Japan, affecting nuclear-power companies worldwide. Observers suspected plans for many of the world’s 60 new nuclear plants could be stopped, or at the very least halted, for some time to come. This week, the Swiss government announced the suspension of approvals for new nuclear plants. The German government followed suit. Furthermore, Germany’s seven nuclear facilities, built prior to 1980, will be shut down until at least May. This step leaves the country with only 10 operating nuclear facilities. In France — where 80% of the country’s electricity comes from nuclear power — the Green Party has called for a referendum on the future of nuclear power. And even China, which has had big ambitions for nuclear power-expansion, announced Wednesday, March 16, that it was… Read More