Sovereign Wealth Funds to the Rescue?

The equity bears will argue that we’re seeing a classic bear market rally, but the bulls might soon have some new ammunition to push stocks higher. I must admit that I’m part of the bearish camp, but the following piece of news has forced me to reconsider my position:

The Holy Grail of Health Insurance: DENIED

The Washington Post recently published an article, later picked up by MSNBC, on the fact that health insurance companies are now targeting patient’s electronic prescription records as a quick, easy and relatively inexpensive way to evaluate a person’s insurability. Gone are the days of contacting a physician’s office or hospital business center and speaking with…

Nissan (NSANY) to Offer the Eco-Pedal

One of the big issues right now — even though oil and gas prices are dropping — is fuel efficiency. Many automakers are trying to come up with more creative ways to improve fuel efficiency in cars. In a way, this is a smart move. After all, even if oil prices do make it back…

BP (BP) Invests in Cellulosic Ethanol

BP (BP) is one of those Big Oil companies that has invested a great deal of advertising money into convincing people that it is diversifying in the name of the earth (you know, "beyond petroleum"). BP seems especially interested in biofuels. The company has been known to invest in jatropha, as well as biofuel ventures…

Free Toaster With Your Bank?

Bank Shares are just so darn cheap right now they could be giving them away with toasters. If you don’t want to have to figure out which bank is going under next you can just buy the (XLF -22.36) on next dip. Personally, I’ve been buying Lehman (LEH – $20.63) because I think they will…

Criticizing Buffett for Being a Good Guy

I know, let’s bash Warren Buffett for supporting Obama. That is what James Altucher does in showing all the ways that Obama policies benefit Buffett at the expense of everyone else. In his list of examples, he includes that Obama’s (and Buffett’s) support of the inheritance tax is good for for Buffett since he plans…

How Nerds Can Help America’s Economy

While the twentieth century had the arms race, the competition in this century will be a brains race, and it looks like America is falling behind. "Although the United States continues to possess the world’s strongest science and engineering enterprise, its position is jeopardized both by evolving weakness at home and by growing strength abroad,"…

Is Now the Time to Buy Exxon Mobil (XOM)?

Last week, with an announcement of a new record for Royal Dutch Shell‘s (RDS-B) quarterly profits, analysts were hoping for a record quarter of $13 billion in profits for Exxon Mobil (XOM). However, with "only" profits of $11.6 billion (a figure that RDS-B had), the analysts were disappointed. And, as a result, Exxon’s share price…

Next for Socially Responsible Investing: Nuclear Power

Photo: JamSki, Creative Commons, Flickr If, as an environmentally-friendly investor, your main concern is global climate change, the latest trend in socially responsible investing may work for you. Many socially responsible funds are starting to include nuclear holdings in the mix. Why? Because nuclear can be considered "alternative," in that it is carbon neutral. No…

Who is Killing the Electric Car?

Photo: urbanjacksonville, Creative Commons, Flickr With the race to launch the world’s first commercially viable zero-emission vehicle now in full swing, it would be kind of fun to take a short trip down memory lane to see the genesis of this race and how we can formulate our expectations going forward.

China and the Olympics Hype

Photo: china_puwa, Creative Commons, Flickr What will China look like after the Olympics? This seems like a dull question that has been asked a million times by mainstream media. But what if we ask another question, one with a more sinister undertone: Is the Chinese government using the Olympics hype to cover up fundamental problems?

Looking for Good Dividend Stocks

I’m in Boulder, Colorado today. The town seems full of people living on dividends. If you’re looking for stocks to retire on, go for growing dividends. In these times of uncertainty with the stock market and currency, stable dividends provide a floor on a stock’s price.