News that oil-producing countries are in talks with oil-consuming countries to denominate future transactions in a basket of currencies rather than in dollars sent the U.S. dollar to new lows and gold to new non-inflation adjusted highs of $1,045 before settling around $1,039. Portfolio manager Brian Hicks spoke with Stacey Delo from Marketwatch about whatrsquo;s behind goldrsquo;s big move upward today and whether todayrsquo;s move is just the beginning of a long-term trend for the precious metal. Hicks believes the trend has legs and has even moved his price target higher. My original target was $1,100 by year-end, and I think where the dollar is now and the potential for it to go lower between now and the year end, I think I have to move that target up a bit to $1,150, maybe $1,200 by year-endhellip; Wersquo;ve tested $1,000 an ounce on several occasions over the last 18 months and now wersquo;ve ...

News that oil-producing countries are in talks with oil-consuming countries to denominate future transactions in a basket of currencies rather than in dollars sent the U.S. dollar to new lows and gold to new non-inflation adjusted highs of $1,045 before settling around $1,039. Portfolio manager Brian Hicks spoke with Stacey Delo from Marketwatch about whatrsquo;s behind goldrsquo;s big move upward today and whether todayrsquo;s move is just the beginning of a long-term trend for the precious metal. Hicks believes the trend has legs and has even moved his price target higher. My original target was $1,100 by year-end, and I think where the dollar is now and the potential for it to go lower between now and the year end, I think I have to move that target up a bit to $1,150, maybe $1,200 by year-endhellip; Wersquo;ve tested $1,000 an ounce on several occasions over the last 18 months and now wersquo;ve ...

U.S. banks are going bad as quickly as a bunch of over-ripe peaches in the summer heat. On the heels of the Colonial Bank failure comes another sizable bank failure.

Guaranty Bank in Texas became the 81st U.S. bank to fail this year. It was the 11th largest bank failure in U.S. history. This kind of thing is becoming so regular it is hardly news when it happens.

But what’s interesting to point out about this one is that the FDIC sold Guaranty to Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria of Spain. This is the first time regulators have sold a failed bank to a foreign lender. Such a turn of events would have been unthinkable only a decade ago.

So the world turns. When it comes to the question of who has the money, it’s often a non-U.S. buyer these days.

Speaking of foreign buyers, there is probably no group of buyers more watched and

...

The world may be headed for a catastrophic energy crunch that could cripple a global economic recovery because most of the major oil fields in the world have passed their peak production. The scenario may come true according to Dr. Fatih Birol, the chief energy economist at the respected International Energy Agency (IEA). The IEA is charged with the task of assessing future global energy supplies by countries of the OECD – Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Recently, the IEA conducted the first-ever assessment of the world’s major 800 oil fields, which cover three quarters of global reserves. The IEA found that most of the biggest fields have already peaked and that the rate of decline in oil production is now running at nearly twice the pace as calculated just two years ago. On top of this, there is a problem of chronic under-investment by both oil companies and oil-producing

...

You may have noticed that you’re hearing a lot about America’s national debt recently. No doubt you’ll be hearing a lot more about it in the future. And, along with it, you’ll be hearing a lot more of the “T” word (trillion). In fact, it’s about the only time the average person will ever hear the word trillion, because there just aren’t many things we deal with in life that are that big. After all, a trillion is equal to a million million.

• If you took all of the cars that exist in the entire world, old and new, the number would be under 1 billion, a number that’s a thousand times smaller than a trillion. This sounds about right when you consider the fact that the entire population of the world is under 7 billion. It would take over 140 planet earths to equal 1 trillion people. • If you

...

Axial Vector Energy Corp. is a global solutions provider that owns, develops, invests in and licenses revolutionary technologies in areas such as energy. In the energy area, the company has entered into a joint venture with Petrosonics LLC called PETRO-AVEC. The joint venture is owned 60% by Petrosonics and 40% by Axial Vector Energy.

The company’s PETRO-AVEC joint venture was setup to develop, finance and market Petrosonics’ sulfur removal technology which can be used in refineries around the world. The process removes sulfur from all types of crude oil fractions through sonic energy, oxidation and the removal of all of the oxidized sulfur through hydrotreatment.

The PETRO-AVEC joint venture was recently awarded a patent for its sulfur removal technology in two additional countries. The two countries are both oil producing countries – Mexico and Egypt. In both cases, the patent awarded was for

...

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

...

As attested to by the large amount of coverage of the recent US-China Strategic and Economic Dialog [0] [1], [2], [3], [4],[5] China looms large in any discussion of the world economy. One of the most important contributors to the informed discussion on this subject was Brad Setser, at the Council on Foreign Affairs and before that at RGE Monitor. Unfortunately, Dr. Setser will be leaving the blogosphere, so his insights will be missed (although fortunately for us, he'll be adding his input at the NEC, where we all wish him well).

So now, there'll be even a greater need for reasoned analysis. One addition to the discussion is a Symposium on China's impact on the global economy just published in Pacific Economic Review (August 2009). From my introductory chapter to the symposium:

Over the past decade, China's presence

...

By Guest Author: Andy Richardson

My sister went house hunting last week. She likes a Taylor Wimpey PLC new build development but the plot she would want has not been started. The site representative said that Taylor Wimpey would not start to build on that particular plot until the three existing houses have been sold. They are anticipating about 18 months. So much for green shoots in the housing market. An estate agent I spoke to the other day said how fast rents are falling in my area since so many repossessions are being rented out by the receivers instead of being sold at auction. The receiver gets paid, the mortgage company gets some income and the tenant gets a home with an affordable rent.

I had a hard look at some ‘Industrials’ over the past couple of days. CHTR is a very well managed company yet its last trading announcement was …

Oil is trading well over $70 a barrel - at its highs for this year - and just off nine-month highs of $73.20, seen last October 21, oil has been steadily rising. Oil prices have risen nearly 100% since their $38 a barrel lows seen last January.

Unfortunately - at a time when consumers can’t afford a wallet drain - retail gasoline prices across the United States have risen to $2.55 a gallon on average, and over $3.00 a gallon in places like California.

As you drive by the gas station and see the now familiar price changes - sometimes by the hour - you might wonder what’s really affecting the price you pay…

Investors, of course, want to know if there’s a good way to play the price moves. Let’s take a look at the two biggest drivers of oil prices and ways you can play its movements.

Oil Prices Rise As Production

...