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Stock Market Today
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Why the "Death of Peak Oil" Still Won't Mean Cheap Oil
Today (Wednesday) an analyst from Citigroup became the latest lemming to declare the death of peak oil.
In a report entitled "The End is Nigh," Seth Kleinman says a combination of flattening demand and rising supply will cause oil prices to slide slightly by the end of the decade to $80-$90 a barrel.
But while oil companies have made many large new discoveries over the past few years, including big shale oil finds in North America and Australia as well as deepwater finds in the Gulf of Mexico, that doesn't mean oil prices will fall.
In fact, according to Money Morning Global Energy Strategist Dr. Kent Moors, it's far more likely that oil prices will continue to rise over the next decade.
Moors points out what most other analysts seem to be missing – that all of the new oil finds present many challenges that will add to the cost of extraction.
"None of this new volume is light, sweet crude," Moors said. "The average wellhead costs continue to go up, and that moves its way downstream to processing, wholesale, and retail."
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Stocks to Buy: Huge Growth for a Bargain Price
Some of the most exciting stocks to buy are those with impressive growth potential.
Companies that are able to grow earnings for a long period of time can often see their stock prices soar for years, creating tremendous wealth for shareholders. Stocks to Buy: Huge Growth for a Bargain Price
Unfortunately, much of what passes for growth stock investing today is really momentum investing in disguise. Today's growth stock investors all tend to own and trade the same really popular companies that have already experienced significant price appreciation.
While it may be exciting to share cocktail party chatter with friends about the shares of Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) or Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (Nasdaq: GMCR), odds are that the real growth and profit opportunity has passed.
It makes more sense for growth investors to look for stocks of companies that have been growing sales and earnings at a consistently high rate, but are off Wall Street's radar. Companies that have very high rates of institutional ownership and lots of analyst coverage from the major firms are more than likely fully priced. All the growth potential is well defined and everyone already owns the stock.
The big rally moves in growth stocks come when the institutional money discovers the company and intense buying pressure develops as they all pile into the stock, pushing prices dramatically higher.
One such company that fits the bill now is CPI Aerostructures Inc. (NYSEAMEX: CVU).
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4 Stocks to Buy in the Exploding Cybersecurity Market
There's a story out of England I heard recently that's one of the most ironic tales of how developments in technology – cybersecurity, in particular – need to be taken more seriously.
The story started in 2009, when 18-year-old Nicholas Webber was arrested for using fraudulent credit card details to pay for a penthouse suite at the Hilton Hotel in Park Lane, Central London.
When police examined Webber's laptop, they found details of 100,000 stolen credit cards linked to losses totaling 16.2 million pounds ($24.6 million)
Turns out Webber ran the Internet crime forum GhostMarket. The site allowed hackers to meet up virtually, create computer viruses and share stolen IDs and private credit card data.
In 2011 Webber was sentenced to five years in prison. Once in prison Webber was allowed to participate in a computer class.
And earlier this year, he hacked the prison computer system.
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Why Japan's Desperately Seeking U.S. LNG
The Fukushima nuclear disaster has had a dramatic impact on the country's nuclear industry – and that's opened the door for major developments for liquefied natural gas (LNG).
You see, two years after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, only a few of its more than 50 nuclear power plants have been restarted.
Before the nuclear disaster, Japan had relied on nuclear energy for 30% of the country's electrical power and had planned to increase that to 40%.
Now, the lack of nuclear power has left a big gap between demand for energy and supply.
That's why Japan has sharply increased its imports of liquefied natural gas. In fact, it's now the world's largest buyer of LNG.
In 2012, Japan imported a record 87.31 million tons of LNG, an increase of 11.2% from 2011. It imported LNG from sources including Qatar, Russia, Australia and Indonesia.
The LNG industry has reaped huge gains from Japan's surge in LNG use – and the industry stands to gain much more in coming years.
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Stocks to Buy Now, or Just Another Fad?
After being one of the hot stocks to buy a few years ago, Lululemon Athletica (Nasdaq: LULU) has hit a rough patch.
The company this week had to recall yoga pants made with fabric known as Luon because it was overly transparent – meaning Lululemon customers were walking around with see-through pants.
The products make up about 17% of all "bottoms' sold by the company. According to The New York Times, the recall is expected to account for about $60 million in lost sales.
Lululemon investors saw the stock take a 10% hit this week after the pants debacle.
And now, with some of its most popular products off shelves, the company has opened up the window for another "trendy" fitness chain to play to pantsless consumers.
That's one of the dangers of investing in a fad stock – it's not going to be popular forever.
And even though Lululemon's shares have soared more than 340% in five years – beating returns of both Apple and Google – its success isn't based on solid company fundamentals, but on trends and investor hype.
Here are a couple other "fad" stocks that might not be able to deliver for investors on consumer enthusiasm alone.
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Is London Manipulating Gold and Silver Prices?
As we've explained before, manipulation of gold and silver prices is happening right here in the United States.
Our Global Resources Specialist Peter Krauth interviewed silver market analyst Ted Butler last year, who explained how big financial institutions were using high-frequency trading to depress silver prices.
And earlier this month, Money Morning Chief Investment Strategist Keith Fitz-Gerald detailed how these same big firms were toying with retail investors in the gold market.
Now, in the wake of the Libor scandal in London, which involved the rigging of interest rates by certain banks, it looks like prices in other markets such as gold and silver could be being rigged in a similar fashion.
