Sometimes the market drops the ball. That’s when value investors strike. In this case, investors should look into one area the market left behind in the rally: Utilities. Many of these companies were beat up during the selloff, but because of plummeting natural-gas prices, they didn’t participate in the rally. Read More

When the market hit new lows in March, it was understandably hard for investors to pull the trigger. They knew they’d be buying into an investment landscape rife with risk. Hindsight is 20/20. Just six months later, investors can see the returns they might have captured had they taken the… Read More

First GM needed a bailout. Then AIG. Then the banks. Now, the country that sits atop the world’s largest oil field says it needs one, too. Saudi Arabia says it will lose $19 billion a year in oil revenue beginning in 2012. OPEC stands by the claim. Oil ministers fear… Read More

Gold — at more than $1,050 an ounce — appears to be more expensive than ever. But it isn’t. While it’s true that it costs more dollars to buy gold than ever before, the value of the dollar isn’t fixed. The dollar of decades before is not the same dollar… Read More

As the world trained its eyes on Copenhagen last Friday to learn the location of the 2016 Olympic Games, I sat in a bar in Washington, D.C., with an old friend. We were waiting for the results of a different contest. The race we were interested in has far larger… Read More

Natural gas is trading near historical lows and could explode upward in the next few months, especially as cooler temperatures begin to remind traders in New York that winter is on the way. Investors can buy futures or exchange-traded funds… Read More

Crude oil has risen above $72 a barrel, but cheap oil just got a little cheaper. Recently, I looked at the value of the world’s leading will double its crude reserves, and yet its stock has only risen about +8%. #-ad_banner-#Now, admittedly, Anadarko will have to spend some money to… Read More

Investors don’t have a crystal ball that can predict the market, but they can study its past performance. History tells us that bull markets follow bear markets and that printing money causes… Read More

The Baltic Dry Index (BDI), which measures the price it costs to ship raw materials by sea, is falling again — and fast. #-ad_banner-#The BDI isn’t a regular stock index like the S&P 500. It’s a composite… Read More

Several hundred thousand crude oil contracts trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) on a typical day. Look closely at the details of the session’s activity and you’ll see prices like $68.08, the closing price for October crude on Sept. 1. You’ll probably notice that December 2010 crude settled… Read More