Two seemingly unlikely candidates are sitting near the top of the Zacks Industry Rank List: Furniture and Retail-Home Furnishings.

Given the macroeconomic environment, it would be reasonable to assume that people are not spending on furniture. The numbers support this assessment. La-Z-Boy (LZB) recently reported an 18.3% drop in quarterly net sales. Ethan Allen (ETH) experienced a 41% drop.

Yet, several analysts have recently raised their fiscal 2010 profit forecasts on both companies.

The Worst May Be Over

Though the furniture industry is certainly not healthy right now, there are signs that the worst of the storm may have passed.

Bottom-line results for both companies surpassed expectations. ETH's positive surprise was its first in 4 quarters. The company lost 23 cents per share, 2 cents less than analysts had feared. LZB earned 5 cents per share, its second consecutive positive surprise.

The housing industry is moving

...

Last May, I discussed the possibility of a turnaround for oil & gas exploration and production (E&P) companies. Higher production and cost control measures led to positive earnings estimate revisions.

Three months later, the trend continues. Production levels, particularly in the North Sea and the Middle East, are increasing. Costs continue to be reined in. And analysts are raising their full-year profit forecasts further. During the past few weeks, 292 profit forecasts have been increased.

Commodity Prices Playing A Role

Rising oil prices are helping. Though significantly down from last year (crude peaked at $147.27 on Jul 11, 2008), crude rebounded throughout the second quarter. Furthermore, given the likelihood of economic expansion in the coming months, it is probable that a floor for oil prices has been set.

Natural gas prices may have hit a bottom. Natural gas started the year at $6.50 per million BTU and fell

...

Several years ago, I started adding ETFs to my own portfolio. As the number of ETFs has grown, so has my personal use of them.

Don't get me wrong, I still own individual stocks and mutual funds, but increasingly, a greater proportion of my portfolio is allocated to ETFs. The reason is that there are several advantages that make ETFs very attractive.

ETFs Are Less Expensive Than Mutual Funds

The majority of mutual funds are actively managed, which means investors not only have to pay for a fund manager, but also a staff of analysts

These expenses hurt your return. This wouldn't be a problem if the performance was spectacular, but it's not. According to Standard & Poor's, 71.9% of actively managed large cap funds underperform the S&P 500. So while there are some funds that are worth paying extra for (and the Zacks Mutual Fund Rank will help

...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL - April 9, 2009 - Zacks.com releases the latest Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks featured in this week's analysis include Best Buy Co., Inc. (BBY), Conn's, Inc. (CONN), GameStop Corp. (GME) and Corning Incorporated (GLW).

Zacks Industry Rank Analysis is written by Charles Rotblut, CFA, Senior Market Analyst for Zacks.com.

This Week: Better Profits for Electronics Stores?

Profit forecasts for electronics retailers are rising in a significant manner. During just the past 2 weeks, more than 40% of all earnings estimates for Retail-Consumer Electronics have been revised upwards - a very bullish sign.

The biggest beneficiary of the optimism has been Best Buy Co., Inc. (BBY).

A couple of weeks ago, BBY shocked analysts with better-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter earnings of $1.61 per share. Though same-store sales were down, the dollar amount of the average

...

Highlighted stocks include Best Buy Co., Inc. (...

After Friday’s lousy action in the gold and silver price…and their shares, it was no surprise to me that the boyz hit the price right at the open in Far East trading early Monday morning. They weren’t even trying to hide…it was like a two by four right between the eyes. Every rally was crushed…and once the London p.m. fix was in at 10:00 a.m. New York time, they really went to work on the price. This continued through what was left of Comex trading…and then into the electronic Globex trading after.

Here’s the 3-year gold chart. Hopefully this put the current situation in some sort of historical perspective.

click to enlarge

Silver was similar. Its price was driven down all through Far East trading as well…and it even got smacked pretty good at the London silver fix (noon in

...

pJan 5, 2009 (WALL STREET JOURNAL) -- As the U.S. seeks to stockpile oil, China has been doing the same, observers say, and is expected to quicken the pace -- a development that already may be helping to boost oil prices./ppOn Friday, the U.S. Department of Energy said that amid low oil prices, it aims to fill the country's Strategic Petroleum Reserve to capacity this year./ppThat news followed a rare public statement last week from China's top energy official, Zhang Guobao, head of the National Energy Administration, in the People's Daily newspaper that China should take advantage of the falling global energy demand to increase its oil reserves. Mr Zhang said China will quot;encourage companies to utilize idle storage capacity to increase inventories.quot;/ppOil prices have been rising lately. On Friday, oil closed up 3.9% to $46.34 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange./ppThough China doesn't disclose its oil inventories ...

Dollar rises to 3-week high vs euro on stimulus hopes… Oil prices fail to hold gains above $48 a barrel…  Abu Dhabi Dec gold sales fall 40 pct month on month.

Gold slid more than 3 percent in Europe on Monday as the strengthening dollar knocked the metal’s appeal as a currency hedge, and oil prices retreated from highs.

Other precious metals tumbled in gold’s wake, with silver falling 8 percent, platinum 3 percent and palladium 6 percent.

Spot gold was quoted at $851.65/853.65 an ounce at 1445 GMT, down from $873.20 an ounce late in New York on Friday, having touched a session low of $843.50.

U.S. gold futures for February delivery on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange were down $26.60 at $852.90 an ounce, having earlier touched a low of $843.50.

“The dollar is the critical factor today,”

...

Congressional Democrats and the White House yesterday (Wednesday) finalized a short-term package that’ll supply General Motors Corp (GM), and Chrysler LLC with $14 billion in emergency loans.

The bill clearly falls short of the $34 billion the Big Three were asking for, but should be enough to keep the automakers running through January, when the new Congress and Obama administration take the wheel.

As previously reported in Money Morning, there will be limits on executive pay, prohibitions for golden parachutes and requirements that the automakers get rid of their corporate aircraft and not pay dividends while loans are outstanding. The bill also provides a “car czar,” or presidential appointee, to oversee keep tabs on the companies’ restructuring efforts.

Of course, the bill is still awaiting congressional approval and there is cause to believe it may stall in the Senate.

Sen. Richard Shelby, R-AL,

...

Projections for high-tech hardware makers are looking grim for the coming years. As a result, investors with shares in semiconductor companies or PC makers would be wise to eat their losses - unless they have the stomach to grind it out perhaps into 2010 or 2011.

A rash of recent reports clearly indicates that the hardware makers will endure shrinking revenues. The usual suspects are a work here. It’s mostly the credit crunch that is tightening the spending for both business and consumers when it comes to high-end computer systems or PCs for the family.

Since 2001, forecasts from ChangeWave Research have ranked as among the most reliable for predicting buying patterns in the high-tech market. Every quarter, the group surveys about 2,000 businesses about their tech-spending plans.

The results released Friday, from a survey in early November, found that 45% of businesses say they’ll decrease tech spending - or spend nothing at

...