For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – November 24, 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: Halliburton Company (HAL), Schlumberger Limited (SLB), Smith International Inc. (SII), National-Oilwell Varco (NOV) and Weatherford International Ltd. (WFT).

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 Monday’s Analyst Blog:

U.S. Rig Count Hits 8-Month High

Producers had scaled back oil and gas drilling operations over the past several months in the midst of falling commodity prices and tighter access to credit. However, during recent weeks, there have been signs that the companies were beginning to

...

According to data from Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI), the number of rigs searching for oil and gas in the U.S. rose for the week ended Nov. 20, reflecting ramped-up drilling activity by the producers amid recent optimism about economic recovery. As shown in the first chart below from Baker Hughes, rigs exploring and producing in the U.S. totaled 1,113 during the week. This is up by 12 from the previous week’s tally and represents the fifth successive weekly gain. The current nationwide rig count is 27% higher from the 2009 low of 876 (set in the week ended June 12). The combined oil and gas rig count is down by 828 from the year-ago period. It rose to a 22-year high in 2008, peaking at 2,031 in the weeks ended Aug. 29 and Sept. 12. The number of natural gas ...

  In its weekly release on Friday, Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI) reported a slight dip in the number of rigs searching for oil and gas in the U.S., as producers restricted their drilling activities in response to the current supply overhang in the natural gas market. The number of units exploring and producing in the U.S. fell to 1,040 for the week ended October 16 (as clear from the first chart below from Baker Hughes). This is down by 1 from the previous week’s tally and is the first decline in 5 weeks. The combined oil and gas rig count is down by 936 from the year-ago period. It rose to a 22-year high in 2008, peaking at 2,031 in the weeks ended August 29 and September 12. The number of natural gas rigs drilling in the U.S. decreased by 5 to ...

According to data from Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI), the number of rigs searching for oil and gas in the U.S. rose for the week ended Oct. 9, reflecting ramped up drilling activity by the producers amid recent optimism about commodity price recovery. As shown in the first chart below from Baker Hughes, rigs exploring and producing in the U.S. totaled 1,041 during the week. This is up by 17 from the previous week’s tally and is 19% higher from the 2009 low of 876 (set in the week ended June 12). The combined oil and gas rig count is down by 949 from the year-ago period. It rose to a 22-year high in 2008, peaking at 2,031 in the weeks ended Aug. 29 and Sept. 12. The number of natural gas rigs drilling in the U.S. increased by 14 to 726, ...

It’s official: You can reduce your investment risk simply by chucking darts at a list of stocks, then buying them.

That’s if you believe a Nobel economist, of course. His crude “experiment” was the start of “modern portfolio theory” decades ago. The downside, however, was that with a reduction of risk came a dampening of profits. So scratch that idea.

How about this? A startling study in the late 1970s showed that owning a portfolio of large U.S. companies with international divisions drops your risk 10% below a domestic stock portfolio. Much better. But that wasn’t the eye-popper…

The study also found that owning stocks in international companies cuts your risk in half…

Take that, “efficiency” theorists! Yet the stuffy professors still tried to refute these results. It was a losing battle, though, as more studies emerged, laden with more evidence that international stocks reduce risk.

But the

...

According to data from Baker Hughes Inc. ((BHI), the number of rigs searching for oil and gas in the U.S. fell for the week ended Sept. 11, reflecting scaled back drilling activity by the producers. As shown in the first chart below from Baker Hughes, rigs exploring and producing in the U.S. totaled 999 during the week. This is down by 10 from the previous week’s tally and is the first decline in nine weeks. The combined oil and gas rig count is down by 1,032 from the year-ago period, when it rose to a 22-year high of 2,031. The number of natural gas rigs drilling in the U.S. decreased by 2 to 699, snapping a seven-week gain. It is currently down 56% since peaking at 1,606 in the year-ago period. This is shown in the following chart, also from Baker ...

In its weekly release on Friday, Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI) reported another rise in the number of rigs searching for oil and gas in the U.S., reflecting ramped up activity by the producers. Rigs exploring and producing in the U.S. climbed to 1,009 for the week ended Sept. 4 (as clear from the first chart below from Baker Hughes). This is the highest in five months and is up by 10 from the previous week’s tally. The combined oil and gas rig count is down by 1,004 from the year-ago period. It rose to a 22-year high in 2008, peaking at 2,031 in the weeks ended Aug. 29 and Sept. 12. The number of natural gas rigs drilling in the U.S. increased by 2 to 701, the seventh successive weekly gain. However, the rig count still remains 56% lower than its ...

After the crash of 1929, the market had a nice recovery. By April 1930, the market was up 41% from its lows of Nov. 13, 1929. Many believed the worst was over. One of those who did was Benjamin Graham, the father of security analysis, Warren Buffett’s teacher and a great investor in his own right.

In 1930, Graham was 36 years old, a near millionaire who had already enjoyed a lot of success in markets up to that point. So when he met with a successful, retired 93-year-old businessman named John Dix, Graham was full of “smug self-confidence,” as he would admit in his memoir. Graham found Dix “surprisingly alert” as Dix peppered him with all kinds of questions. Then Dix asked him how much money Graham owed to banks. Dix didn’t like what he heard.

That’s because Graham used a lot of debt in his investment fund

...

Embattled U.S. insurer American International Group Inc (AIG) is looking to sell its Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Co. unit to Germany’s Munich Re Group AG, the world’s second-largest reinsurance company, a source familiar with the negotiations told Reuters yesterday (Sunday). The unit could fetch between $700 million and $1 billion, Reuters said. The Washington Journal said the price being talked about is actually in the range of $1.2 billion to $1.5 billion. The negotiations are continuing and the timing of any deal is unknown. AIG, which bought Hartford Steam Boiler, or HSB, for around $1.2 billion in 2000, is under pressure to sell assets around the world to pay off a huge government loan. The U.S. government saved AIG from bankruptcy in September with a rescue plan that has ...