Yesterday, Sasol Ltd. (SSL) reported better-than-expected results for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2009, aided by robust performance from the company's energy businesses, partly offset by weak chemical operations. The South Africa-based petrochemicals group reported headline earnings per share, excluding one-time items, of R25.3 ($3.40), beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.00.  However, on a year-over-year basis, Sasol's adjusted earnings per share fell 33%, hurt by lower oil and chemical product prices, partially offset by a weaker Rand/U.S. dollar exchange rate. Operating profit declined more than 27% to R24.7 billion.  South African Energy Cluster  Within its South African energy cluster, Sasol Mining's operating income was up 14% to R1.6 billion, aided by increased turnover on the back of higher coal prices.  Sasol Gas generated operating profit of R2.4 billion, up 36% year-over-year, driven by higher gas prices and stable sales volumes.  Sasol ...

Tomas Valasek of the Center for European Reform has a sharp column in the Wall Street Journal today on the European loan to Ukraine to buy Russian gas.  If Gazprom chooses to cut the taps, Kiev would be likely to hoard supplies intended for Europe, which would put them in Brussels doghouse.  Such a move would be irresistible were it not for the fact that Russia really needs the income right now.  But we all know that there's plenty of bad blood.Independent of the fighting with Russia, Europe is once again asking Ukraine to clean up the corruption in the gas trade with reforms, a task which will not come easy politically - though reform stands a better chance now than in the past.  From the Wall Street Journal:

Kiev has of course failed to live up to

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Profiting From Oil – Peak or Not

Tony Daltorio, The Investment U Research Team

It seems like the only times that the financial media talks about oil is when they mention either demand destruction in the United States or an inventory buildup of fuel, etc. in the United States.

The financial media is doing a real disservice to millions of investors in two ways.

The first is by ignoring the rest of the globe when it comes to demand for oil. For example, China imported a record amount of oil in July – 4.6 million barrels a day, up 42% from last July.

This record monthly figure is well above the previous peak of 4.1 million barrels of oil a day set in March 2008, when the financial media said that China was simply stockpiling oil ahead of the Olympics.

The second

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The yen slipped on Tuesday in choppy trade while the dollar struggled against most currencies as earnings of Goldman Sachs and U.S. retail sales surpassed expectations, stoking modest hopes for an economic recovery

But traders were cautious ahead of quarterly results from other U.S. banks, while lackluster data from Germany weighed on the euro and kept it rooted in a broad range against the dollar.

The slight rise in risk appetite also boosted higher-yielding currencies such as the Australian dollar at the expense of both the yen and U.S. dollar, which tend to see their biggest gains when investors grow anxious and buy them as safe havens.

“Retail sales were better than expected, so that’s a bit of good news, but there’s been little follow-through as the market is uncertain which way it wants to trade,” said Greg Salvaggio, vice president of trading at Tempus Consulting in Washington.

The retail sales data came with

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Let’s be honest, as drivers and consumers, we hate hearing news that the price of oil is rising. Higher crude prices mean high gas prices and a little more of a pinch every time we head to the local gas station. Fortunately, there is a way to ease the sting of higher gas prices and even profit from them. Oil services stocks are deeply tied to the price of oil when it comes to stock performance, and since the price of oil is on the rise, now may be the time to take a look at this sector.

And don’t worry if you don’t want to individually own all of the names mentioned in the following article, because there’s an ETF for you. The Oil Services HOLDRs ETF (AMEX: OIH) holds all of the names we’re going to highlight, and many more.

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Highlights include JC Penney Co., Inc. (JCP), Macy's, Inc. (M), Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (WMT).Gasoline prices are climbing, and that is creating another headwind for retailers.According to AAA's Fuel Gauge Report, the national average price of gasoline is $2.23/gallon for regular and $2.45/gallon for premium. These prices look pretty cheap compared to May 2008, when the national average was $3.71 for regular and $4.08 for premium, but not so good compared to January 2009.Unfortunately, gas prices have been steadily climbing since the beginning of the year. The price of regular gasoline bottomed out in December 2008 around $1.65/gallon. The price has climbed about 35% in the last five months.Higher gasoline prices take a bigger bite out of consumers' wallets, and they have less to spend on discretionary items like clothes, shoes or house wares. ...

The Gas Prices Rollercoaster: Why Energy & Infrastructure Are Inextricably Combined

by David Fessler, Advisory Panelist, Investment U Friday, January 16, 2008: Issue #917

President-elect Obama takes office in less than a week’s time. While many will be watching closely to see how he handles the ongoing financial crisis, I’ll be equally interested to see how he handles a far more ominous one: our ongoing energy and infrastructure crisis.

Regular readers know I believe energy and infrastructure are inextricably combined. We need cheap energy to fuel sustained economic growth. And we need infrastructure in place to move and dispense the energy from its source to its destination. Today I’m going to give you a perfect example of how the two are intertwined, and how one can play off the other to create a positive benefit for all.

In the face of gas prices that are less than half of what they were only a

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Market and regulatory forces are exerting pressure on higher gas prices, but whether or not the coming hikes will turn new car buyers to green autos still remains to be seen. With drillers curtailing new wells, and President-elect Barack Obama’s pick for energy secretary, Dr. Steven Chu, mouthing off about raising fossil-fuel surcharges, the weakness of the overall economy could deter consumers from paying the green-car premium at their local dealerships.

As of 2007, when gas prices were on the rise, the price premium for a hybrid (a gas-electric vehicle) was about $5,000 versus a conventional gas-burning vehicle. Even at those higher gas prices, the break even for a hybrid compared with gas was six to 10 years. Today, with gas down 2005-2006 levels, we can only estimate that the break even for a hybrid would be extended to 10-15 years.

These numbers don’t compute for a country in the throes of

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If there’s ever a reason why you should avoid investing in the electric-car revolution it’s a start-up called Better Place L.L.C.

Based in Silicon Valley, the company is negotiating with governments and car makers to set up networks of charging systems for electric-car batteries.

The New York Times ran a story today about how Hawaiian Electric Company endorsed the Better Place system of rechargeable stations and swappable batteries. Better Place already has garnered endorsements from Israel, Denmark, Australia, Renault-Nissan and a coalition of Northern California.

In essence, the endorsements constitute permission for Better Place to install its system.  Here’s how Better Place makes money for investors:

Drivers pay to access a network of charging spots and conveniently located battery exchange stations powered by renewable energy. – Drivers pay for the miles they drive. – Cars are made much more affordable—even free in some markets—by the business model’s financial and  environmental incentives to add drivers

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Falling gasoline prices will provide some stimulus to the economy. But how much?

Americans consumed 142 billion gallons of gasoline last year. That means that when gasoline prices rose $1/gallon last spring, if consumers and fuel-using businesses had not reduced the quantity of gas they purchased, they would have had to reduce other expenditures by $142 billion. That's a bigger negative shock to spending power than the $90 billion that the federal government was trying to put back into consumers' hands through last spring's fiscal stimulus.

The run-up in gasoline prices hurt the economy not just by reducing consumers' spending power. The abrupt drops in spending on key sectors of the economy exerted significant effects of their own. As higher gas prices caused consumers to shun Detroit's gas guzzlers, U.S. production of motor vehicles and parts fell by 15% between 2007:Q4 and 2008:Q3 (BEA

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