The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently cut the nation’s biofuel output quota for 2010. It wasn’t a token cut, either. It was a -94% reduction in cellulosic ethanol, to 6.5 million gallons, from 100 million gallons. (Cellulosic ethanol… Read More

Certain stocks are either loved or hated. Investors shun them when sales and profits are sliding, yet become quickly enamored when results start to improve. But any rebound in a company’s operating picture can come in fits and starts, so when speed bumps emerge in the story, momentum-chasing investors tend… Read More

If you’ve ever been to Mexico, then Carlos Slim owes you a gracias. It’s almost impossible to go a day in this country without spending a peso in one of his business. Slim is the third richest person in the world, behind Bill Gates and Warren Buffett,… Read More

Investors have suffered through 14 bear market plunges in the post-WWII era. Fortunately, those declines have been followed by 14 bull markets. The bounce-backs are typically far more powerful, but predicting the inflection points… Read More

Uganda, the East African nation sandwiched between the Congo and Kenya, is blessed with significant mineral resources. Its rich, fertile land is not prone to drought, and although agriculture has long encompassed a majority of the country’s economy — coffee is its most significant… Read More

In each issue of High-Yield Investing, we include a “Dividend-Capture Dates” section. The strategy is pretty simple: You buy a dividend-paying stock right before it’s… Read More

This week brought a significant bit of news in the ethanol world. Industry-watchers might assume I’m talking about President Obama’s Wednesday announcement with the Energy and Agriculture secretaries that a federal biofuel output quota schedule had been finalized, a move that… Read More

The President’s health care initiative rests on a shelf with little talk in Congress about what’s next for the sweeping overhaul. At the same time, Mr. Obama has re-positioned the chessboard for his climate-control bill, suggesting at a town-hall meeting in Nashua on Tuesday that the legislation might need to… Read More

The vast majority of investors regret not having bought Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) or Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) 20 years ago, long before they became the behemoths they are today. Consider this, though: Many investors in 20 years from now will probably look back at the opportunities available in today’s market with… Read More

The roller coaster-like moves in the energy sector appear to be ending. Energy prices are no longer too low to spur the development of oil and gas fields. And they’re not so high that they will choke off demand for the world’s largest energy consumers. With an outlook for more… Read More