solar power
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Buy Signal: Top Hedge Funds Are Moving Into Energy
There is an easy way to find out where the market thinks a particular sector is heading: Check out the movement of futures contracts held by top hedge fund managers.
These days the signal is clear and pointing in one direction. It's in energy.
Reports have recently surfaced that hedge funds are moving into commodities in general, and energy commodities in particular. What's more these moves are more bullish than at any time since midsummer.
The reason is the same one that we have been discussing for several months. Demand is coming back more quickly than anticipated.
Energy spikes usually start that way. Indicators of market resurgence seem to rush onto the scene, catch analysts by surprise, and the acceleration begins.
But this time, those who survey the market should have seen it coming. After all, the indicators and benchmarks have been there. I have been laying them out here in Money Morning for weeks.
Two elements have emerged over the past several days that finally require the pundits to catch up with us.
First, it is becoming impossible to ignore what is happening in the U.S. and China. Both markets are moving up, with that direction intensifying of late.
In the U.S., forward economic indicators are developing into a bull market signal. This has augmented the run we have experienced of late, largely due to the combination of an oversold condition, no bad news (Congress and the White House may at last be learning how to play nice in the sandbox), and money moving back in.
But it's the second factor that everybody will be talking about this week.
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The Problem with Renewable Energy is the Price
I haven't written about renewable energy in recent months for a very specific reason.
The market for sources such as solar, wind, and biofuel has collapsed.
There are two reasons. Both involve price.
First, while crude oil is beginning to move upward, and natural gas prices have increased by about 57% over the past three months, both had fallen to unusually low levels.
That means the primary ally of alternative sourcing - the acceleration in the price of hydrocarbons - has been absent.
Of course, there are environmental, lifestyle, and social considerations that would benefit from renewable energy. Taken by themselves, however, these do not have more than a marginal impact on the energy balance.
Price remains the main ingredient.
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Investing in Alternative Energy Stocks: Five Solar Power Winners
It has been a tough year for solar power.
Solyndra famously imploded, the price of polysilicon dropped 60%, and a glut of natural gas has made it the "new" alternative energy source.
But make no mistake about it: alternative energy stocks are going to be long-term winners-especially for solar power investors.
For instance did you know that Germans are initiating a campaign valued at more than $260 billion to harness wind and solar power. It is already being called the biggest restructuring of the national energy landscape since the end of World War II.
Or that China plans to double its solar power capacity by installing three GW this year, according to China Daily.
And despite the recent declines, analysts expect European demand to rise again in 2012. UBS forecasts that solar power generation will rise from 21 GW in 2011 to 25 GW in 2012.
What's more, solar panel prices are expected to stabilize as a result of tighter inventories and improving demand.
That's increasing talk within the industry that pure-play alternative energy stocks could be gobbled up by oil companies or large-scale manufacturers.
With that in mind here are five solar power possibilities, including innovative companies, takeover targets, and companies that can compete on cost.
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The Truth About $6 Gas, $200 Oil and the Quest for Energy Independence
No one needs to tell the average American about the impact of oil and gas prices. If they don't feel it in their wallets every day, they hear about it on the news every night.
But surprisingly, amid all the rhetoric, there have been no real answers to some of the key questions driving the energy debate... until now.
Is President Obama truly responsible for high gas prices, and can his opponents really bring them back down?
What role has Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's loose monetary policy played in soaring energy costs?
Is more domestic drilling the answer?
Renowned energy expert Dr. Kent Moors answers all of these questions - and more - below.
Dr. Moors, an adviser to six of the world's top 10 oil companies and a consultant to governments around the world, also talks about the effect political turmoil in the Middle East could have on energy prices in the immediate term and how North America will gain energy independence in 15-20 years.
Here's what else Moors - a bona-fide energy expert - had to say...
Dr. Moors on Gas Prices
Can a U.S. President actually impact gas prices- at least enough to get gasoline back to $2.50 a gallon? Or is this just talk? I don't know whom to believe anymore...
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