Company executives may not know much about the stock market. But they know plenty about their own business. That’s why many investors track their every move. When these insiders notify the Securities and Exchange Commission that they have just bought company stock, investors sit up and take notice, because… Read More

Take a look at my forecast chart for United States Oil Fund (NYSE: USO), an exchange-traded fund (ETF) whose units’ net asset value tracks the performance of the spot price of West… Read More

During the past year, exchange-traded fund (ETF) investors have welcomed a plethora of new funds to the marketplace. These new funds cover everything from municipal bonds to emerging market financials. But one of the most intriguing of this latest batch is a fund that… Read More

Earlier this month, gold prices hit an all-time high, as the yellow metal fetched more than $1,240 an ounce. Yet gold bugs still think the price can hit even higher highs, back to the nearly $2,000 per ounce figure hit in the 1980s, on an inflation-adjusted basis. That could spell… Read More

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has been called one of the worst-ever environmental disasters — and may prove to be perhaps even bigger than the 1989 Exxon Valdez catastrophe. For more than a month, crews off the Louisiana shore have tried to… Read More

Among the biggest losers in Wednesday’s early trading are Chico’s FAS (NYSE: CHS), Solarfun (Nasdaq: SOLF) and Cost Plus (Nasdaq: CPWM).    Top Percentage Losers — Wednesday, May 19, 2010 Company Name (Ticker) Intra-Day Price Intra-Day % Loss 52-Week High 52-Week Low Chico’s FAS (NYSE: CHS) $12.21 +13.7% $16.57 $7.46 Solarfun (Nasdaq: SOLF) $6.08 +9.8% $10.78 $4.48 Cost Plus (NYSE: CPWM) $4.80 +10.7% $5.98 $0.95 *Table includes companies with minimum market capitalizations of $200 million and three month trading volumes of at least 100,000 shares. All percentage returns are listed as of… Read More

Among the biggest losers in Wednesday’s early trading are Chico’s FAS (NYSE: CHS), Solarfun (Nasdaq: SOLF) and Cost Plus (Nasdaq: CPWM).    Top Percentage Losers — Wednesday, May 19, 2010 Company Name (Ticker) Intra-Day Price Intra-Day % Loss 52-Week High 52-Week Low Chico’s FAS (NYSE: CHS) $12.21 +13.7% $16.57 $7.46 Solarfun (Nasdaq: SOLF) $6.08 +9.8% $10.78 $4.48 Cost Plus (NYSE: CPWM) $4.80 +10.7% $5.98 $0.95 *Table includes companies with minimum market capitalizations of $200 million and three month trading volumes of at least 100,000 shares. All percentage returns are listed as of 10:30AM Eastern Standard Time. Click on ticker symbols for up-to-the-minute price quotes and percentage gain data. Retailers’ Slump Presents Opportunity for Chico’s Investors often get spoiled. Once they see a company repeatedly blow past estimates, they expect more of the same. So when Chico’s FAS (NYSE: CHS) simply met first quarter profit forecasts on Wednesday, shares were dumped to the tune of -8%. Investors had only recently chased up shares of retailers on expectations of sustained sales and profit growth. But that retail trade has evaporated: shares of Chico’s, in particular,… Read More

Gold prices continued to hit historic highs Wednesday, approaching $1,240 an ounce after closing at a record high Tuesday. The yellow metal is hitting new peaks as investors grow worrisome over the European debt crisis and the $1 trillion rescue package meant to help Greece and other… Read More

The exchange-traded fund (ETF) world remains abuzz with activity on the new launch and product development fronts. Money managers like Pimco that have recently dipped their toes into the ETF waters with… Read More

If you thought Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s announcement Wednesday of an offshore wind farm was big news for alternative-energy investing, then you must have missed the far bigger news from his Cabinet colleague, Energy Secretary Steven Chu. While Salazar was standing behind a rostrum touting a 130-turbine… Read More

The natural gas industry seems to only know extremes. A few years ago, supply trailed demand, leading to a sharp spikes in prices. But then geologists realized that we’re sitting on a lot more of the energy source than we could ever have imagined. Suddenly new wells were being dug… Read More