The financial crisis interrupted an unmistakable trend. Worldwide demand for oil, which had been sharply on the rise in the past decade as a result of ever-increasing demand in China and India, plummeted in the past year. While worldwide oil consumption rose from 64.8… Read More

Thanks to the recent credit crisis, much of which was its own doing, the financial services industry has experienced one of the most volatile operating environments in its history. Fortunately, a heavy dose of government stimulus and calmer capital markets have brought the majority… Read More

When investors shift funds into a certain sector, they often go with the biggest, most liquid names in the group. These bigger firms offer direct exposure to the anticipated favorable trends without the volatility often found with smaller industry players. So it’s curious to… Read More

The iShares Dow Jones Transport Average ETF (NYSE: IYT) is flashing a big time buy signal in my propretiary systems. As such, I am selecting this ETF for my Trade of the Week. Keep in mind that I am… Read More

Large telecom providers have become some of the market’s strongest dividend-paying companies. Although they pay strong yields, most of the big U.S. telecoms don’t offer much in the way of growth. The problem is that fixed-line usage is slowly dying as more customers drop their wired phones… Read More

With a stroke of his pen — and after a hellacious fight with the Congress — President Obama brought massive change to the health-care industry. He’s doing the same with another industry today. The industry is different and he doesn’t need Congressional approval. And the plan has… Read More

There has been an increasing amount of distrust among investors about the clean energy sector in recent months, pushing share prices down across the board. This cynicism stems from an expectation that governments in Europe and the United States will reduce their clean energy subsidies in the face of rising… Read More

Commodities shape just about every aspect of our lives, from the cost of a tank of gas to the price of a gallon of milk. But instead of being subjected to the whims of volatile commodities, smart investors find a way to soften the blow. Let me explain… During the summer of 2008, when crude oil prices were near $150 a barrel, drivers felt a sting in their wallets. But while prices were high, companies like ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) raked in record profits. This example doesn’t just apply to oil, either. Many other commodities traded near record… Read More

Commodities shape just about every aspect of our lives, from the cost of a tank of gas to the price of a gallon of milk. But instead of being subjected to the whims of volatile commodities, smart investors find a way to soften the blow. Let me explain… During the summer of 2008, when crude oil prices were near $150 a barrel, drivers felt a sting in their wallets. But while prices were high, companies like ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) raked in record profits. This example doesn’t just apply to oil, either. Many other commodities traded near record highs during that time. Take corn. Thanks to ethanol subsidies, the price of corn flour in Mexico nearly quadrupled in a matter of months in the summer of 2007. And while that country’s poor rioted over the cost of corn tortillas, companies like Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE: ADM) made mounds of cash. During the subprime crisis in the United States, people began stripping abandoned homes of copper wiring, hoping to capitalize on high copper prices. And when metals prices were near their highs in 2008, stories began to pop up about some who even… Read More

It’s no secret that share price appreciation goes hand-in-hand with earnings growth. If only it were that simple. Screening for companies with the strongest outlooks will only get you so… Read More

The intensely debated health care legislation has become law. Traders now speculate on how the bill impacts the health care sector. Of the winners and losers, the pharmaceutical companies have come out near the top. Over several years, they will pay $90 billion to help offset the… Read More