When people ask me if I think crude oil is going to $50 or $150, I nod sagely and say: “Yes, probably.” I’m not being flip. I’m simply giving both the short-term and the long-term timeframes. Short-term, crude oil is probably heading lower, even though it’s nearly 60% off its highs. The last chance to hold the line on oil prices was at OPEC’s emergency meeting. And the oil cartel choked like a cat on a hairball. They cut 1.5 million barrels per day of production when they needed to cut about 3 million barrels per day. The OPEC meeting was the last obstacle in the way of deflationary forces that are driving oil prices lower in the short-term. Long-term, there are forces that should drive oil much higher. And one of ...

Last week, market volatility reached record levels. Dan Amoss says the wild gyrations in stocks are the result of hedge funds liquidating assets to cover their highly-leveraged positions. This means some good firms — especially those providing vital functions in the food and energy markets — are now massively undervalued.

More from Penny Sleuth:

Congratulations on making it through yet another week of panic, margin calls, and forced selling! If you’re surviving, and you’re not down too much this year, you’re better off than most money managers.

Out of the thousands of hedge funds in existence, hundreds are closing up shop and liquidating, if the past weeks’ trading action was any indication.

Many of these hedge funds should never have been started to begin with, because their illusory gains during the credit bubble were too often made with leverage, rather than analytical talent.

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Recommend Plays That Go Up Even When the Market Goes Down

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The rules of the global oil games are changing, says Keith Fitz-Gerald. And China — not the US — is leading the way. China doesn’t worry about the political leanings or dubious human rights of its energy suppliers. It needs a steady supply of oil to fuel its economic boom…and it will do what it takes to get it.

This from Money Morning:

Iraq recently signed its first oil deal in 35 years with a foreign company.

And –- quite surprisingly to many observers -– the company wasn’t one of ours.

Not surprisingly, the US news media barely acknowledged the deal –- even though the agreement was major news throughout the rest of the world.

According to reports from Baghdad, the 22-year deal between the Iraqi government and the China National Petroleum Co. involves $55 billion, or 87% of Iraq’s current total revenue at a conservative long-term estimate

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It remains to be seen whether fear takes control of the markets again today. So far, global equities have seen a reprieve from the brutal pounding they suffered last week.

The crash in stock prices has most investors spooked. But it's worth keeping you head while others lose theirs, says Strategic Investment editor Dan Amoss.

Right now, there are some very healthy resource stocks are shockingly cheap. What Dan calls "screaming bargains."

Carbo Ceramics, Inc. (CRR) continues to benefit from elevated energy prices. The company's second-quarter results were excellent, analyst estimates are up once again, and its stock price has been rallying for most of the year.

Carbo Ceramics engages in the production of ceramic components used in natural gas and oil wells. The company was founded in 1987, has a market cap of $1.30 billion and is headquartered in Irvine, Texas.

Second-Quarter Results

With crude prices remaining at elevated levels, oil services companies continue to experience strong demand for their products and services. This dynamic was evident when Carbo reported impressive second-quarter results on Aug 5.

Revenue was up 32% from last year to $103 million. Net income totaled $13.5 million, producing earnings of 55 cents per share, ahead of analyst estimates by 4 cents.

It was the fourth time in four quarters that

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The U.S. Treasury Department finally stepped up to the plate over the weekend and seized control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The nation’s largest mortgage lenders have had implicit federal backing as government sponsored enterprises (GSEs). Mounting losses from the sub-prime mess have artificially help up mortgage rates despite multiple Fed rate cuts, making home-ownership more expensive and exasperating the housing crisis.

Now that federal support is fully explicit, the concerns of major holders of Fannie and Freddie debt, including China and Russia, should be ameliorated, and mortgage rates should come down. Overseas markets in Asia and Europe rallied strongly overnight on the news. U.S. index futures are soaring this morning. “Cheap” financial equities that could make major moves today on massive volume include WM and ABK.

Index futures: S&P: (+) 34.6 Dow: (+) 253 Nas: (+) 36.0 Fair value: S&P: (-) 1.21 Dow:

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The next time you look at your big screen television, take a closer look. Is it plastic that encases the screen or is it something else? Try the same for your cell phone. Materials science is always on the move, manipulating molecules and whatnot to come up with a stronger and lighter product. Most likely, you don’t pay them a second thought. It seems the products you use every day are increasingly not what they appear to be. Finding products that are used, but not paid attention to, are an opportunity for profit. The problem is they need to be recognized in the first place. The companies that turn out these products fall into this category as well, but if they can be found, profit will follow.

Liquidmetal Technologies, Inc., an engineered materials manufacturer and marketer, works to manufacture market and commercialize liquid amorphous metal products. In a general sense,

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This is quite a traumatic selloff, but once these momentum trades reverse, a lot of rats want to get off the same ship through a very narrow door. I said I would not believe this is a bottom until THE strongest sector (natural gas) got hit, and it appears I’m getting my (ahem) wish. I’m going to being placing some orders into the panic, into 2 service names and one natural gas name we began yesterday.

On the service side we cast Core Laboratories (CLB) to the side early this week [Bookeeping: Closing Core Laboratories] To compensate for that “position” in terms of sector exposure by finally adding back to National Oilwell Varco (NOV) which has not been in a major holding in a long while. It is still not a huge stake but we’ll begin buying here in the $75s. There is no great …