An article in the New York Times last week about careers in solar energy revealed a shocking number - one that would certainly make me look elsewhere for job. As an investor, this particular number would also call into question the true growth of solar energy over the next few years.

The Times’ story cited the Solar Energy Industries Association as reporting that 3,400 companies in the solar energy sector employ only 25,000 to 35,000 workers, including installers, manufacturers, distributors and project developers and materials suppliers. Those numbers are expected to hit more 110,000 employees by 2016, according to the association.

Wait a minute: So seven years from now, this highly touted, save-the-world market will employ only 110,000 people?

From an investor’s perspective, I thought that number was absolutely puny. Let’s put that into perspective…

– Toyota employs 110,000 part-time workers. – That’s the number of foreclosure notices sent to homeowners in California during

...

Wednesday December 10, 2008 Navivest

Considering the dire initial jobless claims employment number that we got today, which showed that unemployment was at a 26 year high, stocks were impressively resilient for most of the day, with either a very modest loss or brief forays into positive territory.

However, at around 3PM, we saw the declines start to accelerate. At 3:06, the Dow is down almost 200 points, for over 2% and the Nasdaq is down over 3%.

With the unemployment numbers that was due out today as well as the recent run up in a lot of stocks, we were looking for some pull-back today and we are finally getting it. Of course there is still almost an hour to go in the trading day and anything can still happen.

This morning, in our Trade Of The Day column, we recommended traders short Amazon (AMZN) shares. Those shares like the

...

White House and Democrats tentatively agree to auto aid… Eastman Kodak, Electronic Arts warn on outlook… Energy shares could get lift from higher oil prices

U.S stocks headed for a higher open on Wednesday as news the White House and congressional Democrats reached an agreement in principle to aid U.S. automakers. including General Motors , calmed investors’ worries.

But signs of further deterioration in the world economy and the profit outlook, including big job losses at an global mining company, fueled caution a day after stocks sell-off ended two straight days’ of gains.

Without government help. investors fear that a possible failure or bankruptcy in the auto sector could send shock waves through the economy and worsen unemployment.

Backers of the $15 billion proposal for bailing out U.S. automakers could come to a vote in the House as early as Wednesday, officials said.

“Investors have been concerned

...

Sometimes you have to just stand back and admire the extremes a real bubble can produce. What you have now, as Bill explained last night at the Doomer’s Ball, is the last greatest bubble of them all, the bubble in U.S. bonds. It’s reaching staggering levels.

How do you measure these things? In yields. This, by the way, is how you’ll know the bubble is popping. When that happens (bond yields rise like a rocket ship) it’s going to unleash financial chaos. But for now, the bubble just keeps on getting bigger and yields on short-term U.S. bonds keep approaching-and even reaching-zero.

“The Treasury sold $27 billion of three-month bills yesterday at a discount rate of 0.005 percent,” reports Bloomberg. It’s, “the lowest since it starting auctioning the securities in 1929. The U.S. also sold $30 billion of four-week bills today at zero percent for the first time since it began selling

...

Kenmare Resources plc is quoted on the official lists of the Irish and London Stock Exchanges (London:KMR). Its principal activities center on the exploration for commercial deposits of natural resources and the development and operation of mines. For example, the firm’s main asset is the Moma Titanium Minerals Mine, located on the coast of Mozambique. The Moma Mine contains reserves of heavy minerals which include the titanium minerals ilmenite and rutile, as well as the high-value zircon mineral. In addition, Kenmare have acquired a Mozanbiquan uranium exploration license. Titanium is considered a valuable resource for industrial producers because it is added to paints and pigments to make the color more opaque. Currently, the titanium market is dominated by a small number of giant mining companies, such as Rio ...

From a href="http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2008/11/26/18729/rio-and-bhp-its-tough-out-there-in-swingin-singles-land/"FTAlphaville/a:br /br /blockquoteBHP Billiton, the global miner, painted a gloomy near-term outlook for metals demand on Thursday as it defended its decision to drop a $66bn bid for rival Rio Tinto, reports Reuters. BHP, facing its shareholders for the first time since walking away from the Rio bid on Tuesday, told its Australian annual meeting that uncertainty in commodities markets would continue in the short term and it was ready to close loss-making operations. Marius Kloppers, BHP chief executive, warned shareholders in Melbourne that Chinese steel production would decrease 17% year-on-year and that BHP would not be “immune” to global economic uncertainty. Lex says BHP’s investors should “thank their lucky stars” that Kloppers and chairman Don Argus saw sense to pull the Rio deal – and should “press for a more honest appraisal of the wretched operating environment./blockquotebr /span class="fullpost"Shareholders of BHP Billiton (strongBLT/strong) greeted the news positively; ...

The base metals were mostly lower on Tuesday. Copper was in the green until late in the pre-dawn hours, then fell into the red and never quite recovered, finishing at $1.6362/lb., down nearly 2½ cents.

Nickel declined from the pre-dawn hours until the noon hour, rallied into the afternoon but not enough to take it back to break-even as it closed at $4.5888/lb., down just under 7 cents. Zinc pushed slowly northward throughout the day, ending just off its intraday high at $0.5603/lb., up more than three-quarters of a cent. Aluminum peaked in the late pre-dawn hours, then dropped straight through the day, just coming off its intraday low at $0.7935/lb., down a third of a cent, while lead traded flat until the afternoon, during which it lost a penny and a quarter, to $0.5295/lb.

Copper’s modest uptrend failed to hold, as traders’ pessimism evidently reasserted itself and they sold into the

...

The base metals were nearly all in positive territory on Tuesday. Copper prolonged its rally, with buying coming in on dips through the day, and finishing at its intraday high of $1.9204/lb., up more than 7 2/3 cents. Nickel soared in the afternoon hours, before easing a bit late to close at $5.2435/lb., up 23 1/3 cents.

Zinc plummeted in the late morning and never found its way back, ending at $0.4885/lb., down nearly 2 cents. Aluminum had a very strong day, pushing to an intraday high of $0.9402/lb., up better than 4 cents, while lead raced to $0.6402/lb., up just over 7 cents.

Copper led most of the industrial metals higher yesterday as it followed equities markets up in anticipation of a rate cut by the Fed today.

“We’ve seen some signs of life coming back to the market with equities rebounding and commodities rising today across the board,” says Matt

...

The base metals were nearly all in positive territory on Tuesday. Copper prolonged its rally, with buying coming in on dips through the day, and finishing at its intraday high of $1.9204/lb., up more than 7 2/3 cents. Nickel soared in the afternoon hours, before easing a bit late to close at $5.2435/lb., up 23 1/3 cents.

Zinc plummeted in the late morning and never found its way back, ending at $0.4885/lb., down nearly 2 cents. Aluminum had a very strong day, pushing to an intraday high of $0.9402/lb., up better than 4 cents, while lead raced to $0.6402/lb., up just over 7 cents.

Copper led most of the industrial metals higher yesterday as it followed equities markets up in anticipation of a rate cut by the Fed today.

“We’ve seen some signs of life coming back to the market with equities rebounding and commodities rising today across the board,” says Matt

...

Founded by senior executives and geologists with experience in the major gold production companies, Elray Resources saw a niche for a company that could combine the level of expertise typically found in a major company with the responsiveness, speed and growth potential of a junior firm. It’s this quick, nimble movement of Elray Resources that has led them to the latest in mineral finds – the Indonesian Zircon Sands.

Indonesia has some of the world’s largest deposits of zircon sand, coal, copper, tin, nickel and gold, and is keen to earn more from the sector particularly as strong demand from China and India is driving prices up for many commodities to record levels. Use of the sand in major electronics such as Plasma and LCD screens are only upping the demand for Zircon Sand mining.

Major mining companies operating in Indonesia include the largest publicly-traded copper company in the world Freeport-McMoran (FCX),

...