The US House-Senate budget reduction committee, or the ‘super committee’, that is charged with recommending $1.5 trillion in budget cuts over the next 10 years has just another 10 days to deliver its recommendations…
China’s JinkoSolar Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: JKS) has from its beginnings been viewed as a low-cost provider of solar PV panels. Unfortunately, competition in the sector has brought every other solar maker down into…
The markets got off to a strong start this morning, and stayed that way throughout the day. The dollar weakened against the euro and yen as currency traders seem to believe that a solution…
In mid-October, we took a look at target prices and implied gains among 11 metals and materials stocks. The companies we examined were United States Steel Corp. (NYSE: X), Nucor Corp. (NYSE: NUE), Steel…
When I clicked on the link to Fuse Science, Inc. (OTC: DROP), the browser informed me that the page was in Russian and asked me if I wanted a translation. Since the language appeared…
In 2010, US refineries took delivery of about 5.4 billion barrels of crude oil. Of that total, more than 50%, 2.8 billion barrels, arrived at the refineries by pipeline. The US petroleum pipeline system…
The collapse of the US housing market has been among the most stubborn problems facing the US economy for the past four years. Construction jobs have vanished, home values have plummeted, and buyers are…
Markets opened higher today, and after some backsliding in the mid-morning, pulled ahead again by mid-afternoon. Crude oil closed up more than 2% at $97.78/barrel and gold was down by about -1.8%, at about…
The number and types of real estate investment trusts (REITs) is both large and varied, and, thus, better taken in smaller chunks. Our focus today hits those REITs that offer senior living centers, apartment…
On a visit to Taiway yesterday, Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) chairman Eric Schmidt told smartphone makers that the company will support its manufacturing partners “because we think the Apple thing is not correct.” The…
The retail jamboree known as Black Friday seems to start earlier every year. The door-buster sales used to begin in the wee hours of Friday morning, but several retailers have already announced that the…
The US Department of Commerce has begun its investigation of a trade complaint accusing Chinese makers of solar PV modules of dumping their goods on the US market at less than the cost of…
Pre-market signals were weak today, and once trading opened, the signals got stronger. The DJIA has traded down more than -200 points for most of the day, with financial and energy stocks the hardest…
About three weeks ago, we looked at target prices and implied share price gains in a number of auto sector stocks. The quarterly earnings season had just begun, and hopes were pretty high for…
How much computing power does a person need in a mobile device? Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) is betting that the answer is, “All you can get.” The company has announced today the release of…
There is no shortage of prognostication on the world’s oil supply out to somewhere around 2035. The major public forecasts come from the US Energy Information Administration, the International Energy Administration, and the Organization…
Equities started the day with a solid move up, but lost momentum after about half an hour. The downward move lasted into the late morning, at which time stocks started a fitful climb back…
The outlook for uranium miners and nuclear power plant builders has dimmed considerably following the disaster at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi power plant last spring. The Japanese government is considering building non-nuclear plants to replace…
Last Friday, the Chinese government announced a phase-out of incandescent light bulbs, beginning with eliminating 100-watt+ bulbs by the end of 2012 and 60-watt+ bulbs by 2014. The decision triggered a solid boost to…
Last Friday at the meeting of the G20 in Cannes, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) revealed a list of 29 global systemically important financial institutions (known as the G-Sifis). These institutions are deemed to…