Total Energy SA (NYSE: TOT) is a major oil and natural gas firm that is down for the last week, year, month, quarter, six months, and year of market action.  For 2015, Total Energy SA is already down by 5 percent (chart below).  The loss of its highly regarded chief executive officer has not helped […]

A Business Development Company (BDC) is a public corporation that helps small- and mid-sized companies with financing.  What is appealing to income investors is that BDCs must pay out 90 percent of its taxable income each year to investors in dividends.  That can result in high dividend yields from such BDCs as Apollo Investment (NASDAQ: […]

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA) and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (NYSE: SPY) have been on a bull market stampede since March 2009. But the overall American economy has not been feeling as bullish. The policies under Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke favored the stock market.  Low interest rates made stocks more […]

For those looking for bullish indicators in the energy sector, BP BPC (NYSE: BP) just announced plans to increase oil production by 900,000 barrels a day by 2020. BP PLC is the second largest oil company, Big Oil in every way with operations around the world. Like so many others in the oil and natural […]

Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS-A) is continuing to expand in areas such as Africa and the Arctic, among others, even with the falling price of oil and natural gas. The largest oil and natural gas firm in the world, Royal Dutch Shell is “Big Oil” by every meaning. But its stock price is not as […]

While Big Oil stocks like Chevron (NYSE: CVX) and ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) should reward long term investors, the short term performance has been painful.  That is much the same for the stock markets overall as both the Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA) and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (NYSE: SPY) have been doing […]

BP PLC (NYSE: BP), the second largest energy company in Europe, is down for the last week, month, quarter, six months, and year of market action. For 2014, BP PLC is down by nearly 17 percent. This is the same with other oil and natural gas firms like Chevron (NYSE: CVX), ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM), and […]

Chevron (NYSE: CVX) is like ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) in that it is a “Big Oil” company that has not spun off units like so many others. As a result, Chevron, again like ExxonMobil, has not fallen in recent stock market action like so many other energy companies. Chevron is down for the last week, month, […]

All investors should read Dan Weiner’s article in Kiplinger’s about market timing for equities. Basically, the article states that is it best to don’t even try to time the stock market as it does not work!!! The most important lesson from the excellent piece in Kiplinger’s, which is a fine personal magazine, is to get […]

With the holiday shopping season approaching, so is the peak sales period for retail companies such as Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT). The largest retailer in the world, Wal-Mart has been a very pleasant gift to long term investors. The fact that legendary investor Warren Buffett is a major shareholder Wal-Mart manifests its appeal.  It has many […]