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Get ready for earnings season to officially begin this week. For the markets it will be an anxious week as there needs to be some good news in face of surging oil prices and interest rate concerns. After a relatively good but not overpowering, Q4, the market is…
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There is one thing you don't want to do going forward, and that is forget about oil. Once again, it's back over $60 a barrel, and OPEC is now saying that it won't increase production over the near term. This means that prices will be staying high well…
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It would seem that the only way to beat higher gas prices is to own stock in a large, integrated oil and gas producer. If you owned shares in Exxon Mobil (NYSE/XOM) over the last few years, you no doubt would be very happy. Spot oil prices have…
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A lot of bad news is already priced into the oil market. Many futures participants contend that there is, approximately, a $10 per barrel premium factored into current oil prices because of hedge funds' large speculative positions. I don't doubt this. It is hard to imagine, however, just…
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"This has the potential to be a real powerful storm, and after the damage cause by Katrina nobody's taking any chances." The above quote comes from Justin Fohsz, a Starsupply Petroleum Inc. broker. He, like everyone else in the oil and gas industry, is focused intently today on…
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Did you notice the slip in oil prices last week from over $66 a barrel for spot oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange to just above $63 last Thursday? So what gives? On the surface, it is clear that the market is still trying to adjust to…
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The stock market is holding up so well! I can't get over it. The second quarter really was impressive from my perspective. As I've mentioned before, the earnings success really is, in my opinion, a testament to the strength and health of this economy. It's funny how things…
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Oh, what a sight it was on Monday when trading on the basis August light sweet crude futures contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) broke the psychological $60.00 resistance level to $60.02. Think back... It was only a few weeks ago that the August contract was…
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I'm not sure about you, but the high gas prices are making me think hard about driving my gas guzzling SUV! The view high up is great, but I'm constantly going to the pumps and it hurts when I fill up and shell out the cash. And if…
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Auto sales for August came out yesterday, and the news was not good. In the U.S., Ford's sales dropped 13% in August 2004 compared to August 2003. GM's sales were down 14%, and DaimlerChrysler's sales were down 5.7%. Most surprising, for the first time in 16 months, sales…
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While I'm a big believer that the price of consumer goods will decline in the short term (deflation), I also recognize that some commodities are rising in price. In particular, I've been very bullish on both gold and sliver, and they have both risen nicely in value over…
