The Changing Nature of Global Gas Projects

I wrapped up my recent trip to Russia at 4 a.m. last Friday in a Moscow airport. One thing is certain about my trips to Russia - the time schedule is always off. But I can't complain; the weeklong visit provided many benefits. As I told you two weeks ago the primary purpose of my trip was to evaluate natural gas projects in northern Russia. It's becoming increasingly necessary to estimate global-wide gas prospects in order to determine effective price levels. That's because the

natural gas projects

When Fund Managers Sell, It's Time to Go Bargain Hunting

You may not realize it, but the annual practice of "window dressing" - a process through which fund managers dump their worst-performing stocks and replace them with high flyers - can create some real bargains for retail investors. The sleight-of-hand does actually little to improve the fund's performance, but it does keep a fund manager's biggest mistakes of the year out of the annual reports sent to investors. For that reason, most fund managers do some window dressing every December.

Fund managers

Out of Answers, Federal Reserve Can Only Offer Empty Rhetoric

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is scheduled to issue a statement at 2:15 pm. today (Tuesday), but don't expect anything other than more empty rhetoric. Indeed, with few options remaining, the Fed is expected to produce little more than a statement designed to reassure the markets following today's meeting. "If the Fed were smart, they would use this meeting to take decisive action," said Money Morning Chief Investment Strategist Keith Fitz-Gerald. "Sadly, though, I think

Federal Reserve

The "New" Biggest Threat to the Energy Industry

The energy industry has a dangerous enemy that is getting stronger and more motivated to damage companies' operations and wreak havoc on global oil prices. This new threat comes from the growing trend of cybercrime, and the criminals have become more focused on disrupting large industrial systems, like those operating in the energy industry. Indeed, oil companies are reporting more frequent, better organized attacks on their systems. With most of the world's energy production and

the energy industry

It's Time to Brace for a Repeat of 2008

If you think the global economy is out of the woods now that the European Union (EU) has expanded its effort to solve the sovereign debt crisis, then I'm afraid you're sorely mistaken. No doubt, the European crisis is far from being solved - but that's hardly the only potential economic catastrophe looming on the horizon. Indeed, two successive articles in the Financial Times last week warned of a new disaster approaching: They forecast 25% declines in financing volume for both

Global Economy