High prices have finally contributed to curing high prices in the world’s crude oil market. The gloomy economic forecasts for the second half of 2011 have combined with $120/barrel prices for Brent…
Yesterday’s crashing market sent crude oil to its lowest close in eight months. WTI crude fell even further this morning, to below $76/barrel before turning around to rise above $82/barrel at mid-morning.…
Although stock buybacks have never been among our most preferred methods of returning capital to investors, stock repurchase plans can indicate to investors that a company’s management believes the ship is not…
As the markets swoon today from Friday night’s downgrade of US debt, Standard & Poor’s is making other changes to its debt ratings. One sector that is unchanged is oil and gas,…
The price for WTI crude oil fell below $83/barrel momentarily today as the market takes another shellacking, down around 200 points just before noon. Both crude and the wider market are making…
When Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT) announced its deal to acquire Britain’s Cadbury in May 2010, investor Warren Buffett proclaimed it a “dumb” deal and promptly cut his holdings in Kraft stock…
Analysts at a number of investment banks suggest that BP plc (NYSE: BP) follow the lead of ConocoPhillips Corp. (NYSE: COP) and Marathon Oil Corp. (NYSE: MRO) in splitting off the company’s…
Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) has been hurt by high commodities prices. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) damaged by drop in PC sales worldwide. The Flame Index started as a research tool…
Earnings season is in full throttle and many major companies are due to report in the week ahead. Some of the key reports we are featuring for detailed earnings previews are the…
Another day, another energy acquisition by a Chinese firm. This time its Cnooc Ltd. (NYSE: CEO) putting out about $2.1 billion for Toronto-traded Canadian oil sands developer Opti Canada. In addition to…
Less than five years ago, natural gas was selling for as much as $13/thousand cubic feet. It sells for about a third of that today, and some of the high-dollar projects that…
Jon OggThese are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls this Friday morning. AEGON N.V. (NYSE: AEG) maintained “Buy” but removed from Conviction Buy…
TSMC may replace Samsung as the maker of chips for the Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPad (Reuters) Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) earnings surpassed Wall St. expectations and shares surged (Reuters) S&P warned the U.S.…
Today’s announcement by ConocoPhillips Corp. (NYSE: COP) that it would spin off its refining and marketing business has pushed the company’s share price up nearly 8% at the opening bell. Refining crude…
The balance between a potential downgrade of US debt and strong bank results left the market without conviction. That leaves open the issue of whether the American debt cap and the flood…
