Stuck for Christmas gift ideas? Why not try a barrel of oil? You can get one for around US$40 these days. That’s 54% lower than this time last year and 72% below the price on July 14th ($145.16).

True, a big barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude oil might be hard to fit under a Christmas tree. And it’s probably a fire hazard. But it also makes an excellent end table or lectern. However, we would wait for the post-Christmas sale, or maybe even until 2009, for a lower price.

Speaking of Christmas, just a reminder that our third annual Doomer’s Ball is tomorrow night. The location is BLVD Bar, located at 6 Queensbridge Square on Southbank in Melbourne, from 6:30 p.m. until later. There will signs directing to the right room and even be a red carpet, we hear. If you’ve RSVPd, there will be a check in desk where you

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Connecticut Hedge FundsConnecticut Hedge Fund GuideHere is a short collection of articles on the hedge fund industry in Connecticut. I am always looking for more valuable online tools and resources to add to these geographical hedge fund guides to the hedge fund industry. If you have a white paper or PowerPoint that I can include here please send me an email and I will post it for everyone's benefit.Look at a map and it would seem that companies and businesses looking to move out of New York City and into nearby suburbs would naturally choose Westchester County the city's immediate northern suburb. But when hedge fund managers began moving out of Manhattan a few decades ago, they ...

Several great questions came in over the weekend. I'll tackle one the first one today.First up, a reader asked a follow up about shipping stocks (mentioned in passing in this past weekend's video). I mentioned in the video that one of the names in this group, Dry Ships (DRYS) as being nuclear hot. I made a joke about seeing the name in the $60's a few months back and ten minutes later it was trading at par ($100).The reader stumbled across Frontline (FRO) and asked for my take on what to make of the 18% yield. He wonders if buying the name would be considered chasing yield. That he is asking the question means he realizes a crucial point. We are in a 3%, or maybe 4% world. Something that yields 7% or 10% or 12% or as high as you want to go has some ...

By Keith Fitz-Gerald Investment Director Money Morning/The Money Map Report First it called for a meeting of oil producers and oil consumers. Now Saudi Arabia has proposed a boost in oil production. At the end of the day, however, neither of these moves will have any real impact on the ongoing escalation in oil prices. Let me explain … The Saudi Spin When Saudi Arabia called for a summit on high oil prices recently, it said there was “no justification for the current rise in prices” - and used the opportunity to express concern that high oil prices could harm the global economy. That’s why Saudi Arabia also wants to work with its cartel compatriots in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to “guarantee the availability of oil supplies now and in the future,” said Iyad Madani, the country’s minister of information and culture. Madani made his comments ...