For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – November 19, 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: Ford (F), CarMax (KMX), AutoNation (AN), Apartment Investors (AIV) and Equity Residential (EQR).

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Here are highlights from Wednesday’s Analyst Blog:

CPI Up on Cars, Energy

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for October rose by 0.3%, a little bit hotter than the 0.2% that was expected. If one strips out volatile food and energy prices to get the core consumer price index, prices were up 0.2%, also one tick higher than the 0.1%

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The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for October rose by 0.3%, a little bit hotter than the 0.2% that was expected. If one strips out volatile food and energy prices to get the core consumer price index, prices were up 0.2%, also one tick higher than the 0.1% expected. A rise in energy prices was not unexpected. Heck, one only has to see what the price of crude oil and natural gas have done over the last month or so. For the month, the price of energy rose 1.5% overall. The rise was sharpest among energy commodities, like gasoline and heating oil, which rose by 1.9%. Energy services, like electricity rose a more moderate -- but still steep -- 0.9%. The rise in core consumer prices was a bit more of a surprise. However, the rising prices were very narrow, with almost all of the increases due to ...

Recently, the federal government’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) issued an overall bullish report, showing a smaller-than-expected build in crude stockpiles. Further, the data showed that gasoline inventories were down as predicted, while distillate stocks also declined, though fell short of expectations. In its release, the agency said that crude inventories rose by 1.3 million barrels for the week ending October 16, much lower than analysts' expectations. This is the second successive week in which the crude buildup has been lower than originally anticipated. A major contributing factor to the modest increase can be attributed to a fall in crude oil imports, which dropped to the lowest level in two months. Current crude oil stocks, at 339.1 million barrels, are 8.9% above the year-earlier level and remain above the upper limit of the average for this time of the year (depicted in the first EIA chart below). The ...

Yesterday, the U.S. Energy Department's weekly inventory release showed a less-than-expected build in crude stockpiles. However, the headline news was centered on a sharp drop in gasoline stocks and refinery utilization that pushed oil prices to a fresh 2009 peak and lifted energy stocks. The federal government’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported a 400,000 barrels rise in crude inventories for the week ending October 9, much less than analyst expectations. The modest increase can be attributed to scaled back operations by the refiners (prompted by weak profit margins) even as imports fell. This follows last week’s report, which showed an unexpected rise in oil supply figures, against consensus forecast of a buildup. Current crude oil stocks, at 337.8 million barrels, are 9.6% above the year-earlier level and remain above the upper limit of the average for this time of the year (depicted in the first EIA chart ...

On Wednesday, Deutsche Bank announced plans to restructure its commodities ETFs, the PowerShares DB Commodity Index Tracking Fund (NYSEArca: DBC) and PowerShares DB Agriculture Fund (NYSEArca: DBA).

We covered the story here.

The move wasn't that surprising. After all, when the CFTC revoked DB's position limits back in August, it was really just a matter of time before the two funds either got a makeover or shut down entirely.

But DB's restructuring plans are more than just a new coat of lipstick. The revisions, slated to take effect between Oct. 19 and 31, will significantly change the commodities exposure these funds can give investors.

DBA and DBC, currently worth $2.2 billion and $3.3 billion, respectively, are two of the most popular commodities ETFs. With their high concentrations in just a few key contracts, the funds are ideal for gaining exposure to the Big Guns of the commodity markets.

DBA, for example,

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The number of traders betting that oil prices will drop outnumbers the number of traders who believe they will rise by the largest margin ever. Some analysts believe prices will fall significantly lower in the near future – at least into the low $60 a barrel range – after soaring to $75 a barrel in August.

Supply has outrun demand this year as a global recovery has yet to accelerate. Yet, oil prices more than doubled from February to August and are up about 50% from where they started the year.

Now, many traders are positioning themselves to profit from a pullback. The gap between prices of options betting on a decline in prices and those that would profit as a result of a rise in oil has widened to a record 10 percentage points, according to five years of data compiled by Banc of America Securities-Merrill Lynch.

Put options, which give traders

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On Sep 2, CME Group Inc. (CME) announced that August 2009 volume averaged 10.2 million contracts per day, assuming combined CME Group and NYMEX volumes. That's down 7% from Aug 2008, but up 5% compared to July 2009. The monthly volume marked the best year-over-year performance to date in 2009.

Total monthly volume was 214 million contracts, 81% of which were traded electronically. Total electronic volume averaged 8.3 million contracts per day, down 6% from the prior year but up 5% from July 2009.

Average daily volume cleared on CME ClearPort was 440,000 contracts for the month, up 7% compared with August 2008. This continued to highlight the market participants' increased interest in the safety and soundness of CME's regulated, transparent, and centrally cleared markets.

Year-to-date volume averaged 10.2 million contracts per day. Interest rates volume increased 14% sequentially, whereas FX volume and commodities and alternative investments volume experienced an annual

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European and Asian stocks extended last week’s rally on Monday and crude oil marched higher after U.S. economic news and stronger-than-expected data from the euro zone spurred expectations for economic recovery.

But an early rally in U.S. stocks faded about midday in New York after Treasuries rose as investors swooped in to take advantage of sharp losses on Friday.

Oil rose to a 10-month high near $75 a barrel and other commodities also surged as optimism that major economies were pulling out of recession drove hopes of rebounding demand. .

Global stocks as measured by MSCI’s all-country world index <.MIWD00000PUS> rose 1.2 percent and was on track for a fifth straight session of gains.

The yen fell while the U.S. dollar slid against commodity currencies, such as the Australian and New Zealand dollars, as investors became more comfortable with riskier trades given the upbeat assessment of the world economy.

“Economic data is in favor of a

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Global Partners LP (...

Last year, oil prices went crazy. In a matter of weeks, oil shot up as high as $147 and came right back down. Today, oil is sneaking back up. The obvious temptation is to try and time it again. The smart money, however, is looking elsewhere to take advantage. We found the perfect penny play to do just that…

Spreading Your Bet Without Losing Any Profits

Instead of outright betting on oil’s price, let’s use the spread between oil and gas. After all, some of the largest companies in the world do this. All the large oil companies (ExxonMobil -NYSE:XOM-, BP, Shell -NYSE:RDS.A-, etc.) do it by owning refineries.

Now, to be fair, most of their profits don’t come from the refinery process. But big money is still out there for the taking. Just take a look at industry leader Valero (NYSE:VLO). Last year, while it may not have

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