Renewed fears that the global economic recovery is faltering shook investors across Asia, sending stock markets in the region sharply lower Thursday.  The Nikkei fell below the 10,000 mark for the first time in three weeks.  Dollar and yen rose as hedge funds sold off risky positions and traders trimmed their appetite for risk. 

The Nikkei 225 stock average fell 1.8% to 9,891.10 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index plunged 2.3% to 21,264.99 points. In Mainland China, the Shanghai Composite Index dropped 2.3% to close at 2,960.47.  All other major indices in the region ended in the red.   

On Wednesday, US stocks tumbled after a weaker-than-anticipated new home sales report aggravated concerns that the seven-month old rally has gone ahead of any economic recovery.  To add to the bearish sentiment Goldman Sachs lowered its projection for the third-quarter gross domestic product.  The government's report on third-quarter GDP is due

...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 28, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: BP plc (BP), ExxonMobil (XOM), Chevron (CVX), U.S. Steel Corp. (X) and POSCO (PKX).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5513

Here are highlights from Tuesday’s AnalystBlog:

BP Tops on Better Cost Control

BP plc (BP) reported its third quarter 2009 results of $1.71 per ADS (American Depositary Share), beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.14 on the back of stronger cost controls and increased upstream volumes. However, in comparison with the year-earlier results, earnings fell approximately

...

BP plc (BP) reported its third quarter 2009 results of $1.71 per ADS (American Depositary Share), beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.14 on the back of stronger cost controls and increased upstream volumes. However, in comparison with the year-earlier results, earnings fell approximately 34% on lower oil prices. BP’s strong performance sets the stage for earnings releases by ExxonMobil (XOM) and Chevron (CVX), which are scheduled to report their results on Thursday and Friday this week, respectively. BP expects its capex budget to be $20 billion for the year. The company’s attractive dividend (currently yielding around 6%) remains unchanged from the year-ago level. We believe that BP’s dividend is safe with the recent uptrend in oil prices. Net cash provided by operating activities for the quarter was $8.1 billion compared with $14.9 billion a year ago. Net debt at the end of ...

ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) Has the Eye of the Tiger

Tony Daltorio, Investment U Research

ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) is one of those companies people love to hate.

The firm racks up billions in profits each year, yet it’s been sluggish to develop green technologies (although that’s slowly changing now), despite a $600 million investment into an algae-based biofuels project.

Some critics, including major shareholders, also criticize the company’s overly conservative management. They say that Exxon has a poor strategy for future growth and is too slow to replace its reserves.

With limited investment into finding new sources of oil and gas, ExxonMobil has instead spent $109 million to buy back shares and increase dividends by 58% over the past five years.

Last year alone, Exxon returned $40.1 billion to shareholders through buybacks and dividends, amounting to 154% of its capital

...

Norway-based Integrated StatoilHydro ASA (STO) intends to start production at the Peregrino heavy-oilfield in Brazil in early 2011. The company will start drilling wells in the first half of 2010 for this purpose.  The field is situated 85 kilometers off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state near Cabo Frio and has an estimated 460 million barrels of recoverable oil. The company expects peak production to reach 100,000 barrels per day in 2012.  Until 1997, foreign companies were barred from the oil blocks of Brazil. Now the scenario has changed and many international integrateds are increasing production at their Brazilian blocks. This includes Chevron (CVX), Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) and ExxonMobil (XOM).  Given the maturity of the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) region, where StatoilHydro has significant upstream focus, the company is looking for development of various international assets. The production from the ...

U.S. stocks stayed above the threshold reached yesterday as a late-session buying helped offset weakness in banking and technology shares.  Financials dragged on stocks through the early afternoon even as Goldman Sachs and Citigroup reported better-than-expected profit reports.   However, the final fifteen minutes witnessed much of the activity as higher oil prices sent energy stocks higher and, in turn, helped the broader market.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed above the 10,000 level for the second-successive day, edging up 47 points, or 0.5%.  The S&P 500 index edged up 4 points, or 0.4% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite ended the day virtually flat.  The gains in the Dow average were led by Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) whose shares jumped 2.9%.  The Windows 7 is slated for release on October 22.

Among energy stocks, Chevron (NYSE:CVX) and ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) shares climbed 1.6% and 1.5%, respectively, as crude prices jumped to their highest

...

Although investors appeared hesitant and positioned themselves ahead of corporate earnings reports, the Dow Jones industrial average inched closer to the 10,000-level before some afternoon weariness saw indexes sinking sharply.  At the end of the session that was characterized by slow trading, the Dow managed to notch up some gains to remain in contention for the 10,000 mark – a level it last breached nearly a fortnight after Lehman’s fateful collapse in September 2008. 

The Dow Jones industrial average, which rose as high as 9931.82 points in the morning, gained 20 points to close at 9885.80.  The broad S&P 500 index rose 4.70 points, or 0.44%, to close at 1,076.19 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq ended the day little changed.  Bond markets were closed for the Columbus Day holiday.  On the New York Stock Exchange, 16 stocks were higher in price for every 14 that fell.

Eight of the ten

...

Following ExxonMobil’s (XOM) agreement last week to buy Kosmos Energy’s stake in oil blocks of the Jubilee oil field -- offshore of the West African country of Ghana -- for approximately $4 billion, China National Offshore Oil Corporation, or CNOOC (CEO), now makes a rival bid. CNOOC is in advanced talks with the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, or GNPC. Earlier, many oil majors had shown interest in this deal, including Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) and BP plc (BP). While the Chinese government is keen to secure access to more of the world's oil, the Ghanaian government wants to be a larger participant in Jubilee. The Jubilee region is emerging as a major new oil region, and Ghana is expected to be an oil exporter by the end of next year. The Jubilee field, discovered in 2007 off the coast of Ghana, could potentially ...

The challenges for private oil companies to increase oil production are pretty daunting.

ExxonMobil (XOM) has been producing a little over 2.4 million barrels of oil a day for the last year and a half, its lowest rate of production over the last decade. The dark blue line in the figure below shows the company's production each year since 1999. Four years ago, Stuart Staniford noted that ExxonMobil's 2001 annual report predicted 3% annual growth in production between 2001 and 2007. That projection appears as the red line in the graph below; didn't quite come out as planned. Stuart's theory was that the company correctly predicted the contribution of its new discoveries, but underestimated the declining production rates from mature fields.

ExxonMobil again predicted in 2006 that it could achieve 3% annual growth over 2006-2011. I've shown that forecast as the lighter blue line

...

The Dow Jones industrial average moved up 132 points on Tuesday and all major indicators rose more than 1% as the Australian central bank’s decision to raise interest rates boosted optimism about the world economy.   Investors' show of confidence ahead of a flood of corporate earnings reports came as Australia became the first major country to raise interest rates since the onset of the financial crisis last year.  The move signals that policymakers see that country's economy as strong enough to withstand higher borrowing costs. That touched off hopes that other economies might also be growing.

Australia's decision dented demand for the U.S. dollar, which, in turn, raised commodities prices.  US energy and materials stocks moved up, oil also rose, and gold reached a record high.  Stock investors cheered the drop in the dollar because it boosts corporate profits by making U.S. goods cheaper for overseas buyers.

...