Do you remember this time last year? As spring turned to summer, energy prices were moving upward. By mid-July 2008, oil prices peaked at $147 per barrel. But as with Gen. Pickett and his famous charge at Gettysburg, that lofty level of $147 was the high-water mark for oil prices.

By August of last year, the price of oil was retreating, and it was a hard slog on the way down. By midwinter, in December 2008 and January 2009, oil prices were in the $30s per barrel - a drop of over 75% within six months. It was a wild ride.

Natural gas had a similar rise and fall last year. In July 2008, the NYMEX price for natural gas was around $13 per mcf (thousand cubic feet). By October 2008, that price was cut in half. In fact, natural gas prices trended down throughout the chilly winter of 2008-2009. The current

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL - June 18, 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: Transocean (RIG), Diamond Offshore (DO), Patterson-UTI (PTEN), Morgan Stanley (MS) and Vivo (VIV).

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 Wednesday's Analyst Blog:

Inflation Under Control...For Now

The index for housing fell by 0.1% for the third straight month, and for the fourth time in seven months (the other three were unchanged). This was largely due to a decline in household energy prices.

Note that natural gas prices have not come

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The release of the CPI confirms what the PPI showed yesterday -- that inflation is not a significant problem at the moment. In May, consumer prices rose just 0.1% on both a headline and on a core basis, as falling food prices offset increases in gasoline prices.Seasonal adjustment helped keep the reported increase in energy prices under control. The seasonally adjusted increase in gasoline prices was 3.1% for the month. What people actually paid at the pump jumped 9.6%. However, the effect of higher inflation readings a year ago, combined with the collapse of commodity prices last fall, left the year-over-year headline CPI with its biggest decline since 1950, falling 1.3%.The index for housing fell by 0.1% for the third straight month, and for the fourth time in seven months (the other three were unchanged). This was largely due to a decline in household energy ...

The recent rise and fall of the commodities market has been giving many oil and gas exploration and development companies issues to deal with. Just when they felt everything was going their way, the bottom dropped out. Most energy companies were left scrambling, but some companies are lucky enough to be able to play both sides of the equation. Companies that can benefit on both sides of the pricing equation can offer cost savings when prices are down and higher volumes when prices are up. If they can be found, a nice even profit could be in the offing.

Ecosphere Technologies Inc., a water engineering and services company, works to provide water reclamation and remediation services primarily to the natural gas exploration and development markets. The company has announced three mobile water reclamation projects in the last quarter, each with the intent of reducing well closing and associated environmental costs.

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