The clock is ticking. We don’t have much time. That’s not just the opening line of the upcoming season of “24,” it’s the statistical reality of the world’s petroleum reserves. Fact: The world consumes 80 million barrels of oil every day. Read More

Fossil fuels are out, alternative energy is in and dozens of companies are likely to benefit from the transition. Investors can use one security to capture these imminent gains. Leaders of 192 countries are meeting at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen to… Read More

Exactly 250 U.S. companies are valued at more than $10 billion, but only 18 of them — the top 7.2% — have no long-term debt on their balance sheets. It’s an impressive statistic, but perhaps more notable to investors is that… Read More

Something was drastically amiss. I had turned the radio in my car to my favorite FM station, a boisterous “urban” format that’s best enjoyed loud. But that’s not what I was hearing. Not even close. I called a… Read More

Never judge a stock by its share price. Just because a stock trades for $5 does not make it “cheap.” Conversely, a stock that trades for $100 is not necessarily “expensive.” Millions of investors ignore this. Mention a stock and the first question out of most investors’… Read More

Benjamin Franklin once referred to the magic of compound interest as the “8th wonder of the universe” for its ability to systematically accumulate wealth. Inflation, then, which systematically destroys wealth, must be an evil twin. Nothing is quite like the relentless… Read More

I hadn’t spoken to my friend Harriet for almost a year. We were really close in university, but with her living several hundred miles from me, we drifted apart. So a few weeks ago, I picked up the phone, dialed, and awaited with pleasure her cheery “Hello.”… Read More

With the weak economy, drug makers have been scaling back their drug development plans. The slowdown has trickled down to the so-called contract research organizations (CRO), which help pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms manage the necessary clinical trials for a drug to be licensed… Read More

An unprecedented level of industrial expansion during the past two decades has not only made China wealthy. It’s made the country really dirty. Now comes the clean up. Years of industrial growth, largely powered by coal, have left China choking in smog. Cities smolder… Read More