Lost decade? Only if you aren’t looking?
By Andrew Snyder, TodaysFinancialNews.com
Baltimore — (TFN): You don’t believe all the hype do you? As we close out another year and another decade, the pundits are busy rehashing the action of the past ten years.
The political types are discussing the rise and fall of the Bush administration, a couple of wars and the nation’s first black president. The Hollywood folks are talking about the end of the sitcom, the death of an icon and the phenomenon that is American Idol.
And, of course, the financial types are talking about the decade that never happened. You know, the fact that at the start of the decade, the Dow was actually worth more than it is today.
Sure, if you happened to be…
The Future of America’s Natural Gas
Natural gas prices have plummeted. Natural gas storage is at a maximum. Producible gas reserves are up 35% in the United States. Demand for natural gas is down because of the economy.
Then suddenly a new-found U.S. natural gas producible reserve is suggesting that the U.S. in fact will be self-sufficient or close to it as soon as 2030.
Why are all of these things happening?
A bit of it, of course, is due to the drop in the overall economy, but it has a lot to do with the concept of gas shale, and that’s really what we are going to focus on today.
Natural Gas Industry Braces for Impact
If the news today is an indication of things to come, the next few months are not going to be pretty. If the big boys are preparing for the worst, imagine the fear from the debt-ridden little guys.
And so it begins. Just yesterday, we here at the TFN offices got into a late-day discussion about the fate of the nation’s natural gas markets.
With prices remaining low and entirely removed from the recent commodities bonanza, the nation’s expanding natural gas drilling industry is headed for trouble.
Today we got the news that proves our theory.
ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP), the third largest of the nation’s Big Oil players, announced it is cutting its capital spending budget by nearly 10% and is selling some $10 billion…
Natural Gas’ Triple Could Give Us a 416% Gain by Year-End
The past 18 months have taken a serious toll on normal supply and demand in many industries. But no industry was impacted more than energy…
Oil peaked at $147 per barrel in July 2008 — right before the house of cards came crashing down on the global economy. Once banks started to fail and credit dried up, other businesses slowed production and laid off workers. This created a massive trickle effect on the overall economy.
Big corporations and individual consumers alike were using less energy. That meant the prices of every energy-related commodity plummeted.
This spring, things started to turn around… The unemployment rate quit falling at such a rapid rate. Inventories were too low in many industries, creating a ramp up in…
Put These Four Stocks on Your Watch List
Pennsylvania is in a desperate financial situation. While politicians figure out how to dig themselves out of this hole, a handful of companies will prosper. Here’s your chance to get in on the action.
There is only one state in the country that has yet to finalize its annual budget. The political situation in Pennsylvania is getting desperate. Without a spending plan in place, dozens of organizations are not getting the funding they need to survive. Across the state, angry citizens are sharpening their proverbial pitchforks.
While the desperation in Harrisburg will slow the state’s economy, the fiasco is creating a profit opportunity for a handful of companies, most notably natural gas drillers and gambling operators.
The power of a strong lobby
Buried…
3 growth stocks for September
Don’t be afraid of the big bad wolf called the month of September. While it’s true that historically stocks don’t do well during this month, the more important factor is where we are in the business cycle.
After a recession, analyst estimates tend to b…
Taking a Big Bet on Natural Gas
Natural gas prices are dropping like a rock today, but the bearishness is not preventing a few bulls from taking million-dollar stands. As winter approaches, things are going to get very interesting.
The gap between the crude and natural gas markets continues to expand. The world is concerned with having too little of the former and too much of the latter.
As I write, front-month natural gas futures are selling at a level we have not seen since August of 2002 (when the equities market was claiming a low of its own), just $2.93 per million BTUs.
The contract price has fallen by more than 6% during today’s session.
It is certainly not good news for domestic companies that worked overtime to expand…
Rising stars: 5 nearly great stocks
This post comes from Rich Duprey at partner site The Motley Fool.
Some companies are obviously great investments — in hindsight. Yet for every stock screaming “Buy me!” others simply give us a nudge and a nod.
How can we isolate tomorrow’s great inves…