Oil

Oil and natural gas producer Chevron said on Tuesday it will slash its budget by at least 17 percent for the next two years to save cash as crude prices sit near 10-year lows.

Months of congestion are usually resolved with a splash. So, as soon as we see a break of either support or resistance, look for the subsequent move to be big.

States that collect "significant" severance tax revenues from the oil patch and the coal industry are now scrambling to deal with "revenue shortfalls," the U.S. Dept. of Energy says.

Saudi billionaire businessman Prince Alwaleed bin Talal told me we will not see $100-a-barrel oil again. The plunge in oil prices has been one of the biggest stories of the year. And while cheap gasoline is good for consumers, the negative impact of a 50% decline in oil has been wide and deep, especially for major oil producers such as Saudi Arabia and Russia.

The rout in U.S. stock markets deepened Wednesday and the only thing for certain is that it could get a lot uglier.

U.S. oil prices briefly tumbled below $30 a barrel on Tuesday, underscoring the global economy's difficulty with absorbing a relentless flood of crude supplies.

U.S. crude tumbled 5.6% to $33.97, the lowest settlement price in seven years. 

Crude oil and energy company stock prices have all risen pretty soundly during this early start to the fourth quarter: 

A few weeks ago, I noted the long – very long! – period of congestion would almost have to be broken with a major move.  I didn’t know the direction, but was confident of the ferocity.

Oil prices fell on Wednesday after U.S. government data showed a big rise in crude oil stocks, adding to concerns about global oversupply and weak Chinese growth.

Crude had been pumping up incredibly, so much so that it surged nearly 30% in just three days, the biggest three-day gain since 1990! But today is another day, and crude is under pressure.

OPEC has, so far, held its ground during a steep drop in global oil prices. But with crude now hitting six-year lows, industry watchers are wondering if the oil cartel may finally blink.

In trading, you’re going to be wrong a lot, and that’s okay. What’s not okay? Staying wrong when the charts change.

My wife and I took a few days to visit Disneyworld and it was CROWDED. Does it mean the stock is doing well?

The major U.S. stock benchmarks fell for the fifth consecutive day as oil prices resumed their slide and the Swiss central bank unexpectedly lifted a three-year cap Euro exchange rates put in place to keep the Franc from appreciating too much and damaging Switzerland’s export-driven economy. Adding to the volatility was a surprise rise in weekly jobless claims to a four-month high at 316,000 and a series of disappointing quarterly earnings reports from the financial sector including Bank of America and Citigroup.

The major U.S. stock benchmarks retreated as crude oil sank to new five and a half year lows after finding some stability last week.  Volatility returned to the markets with the CBOE VIX index crossing 20 during the session before falling back slightly to close at 19.6 up 11.68%.

U.S. stocks soared for the second day turning the major averages positive for 2015 as oil seemingly found support after a second day of gains.  While initial jobless claims of 294 thousand was slightly above economist expectations, it remained below the 300 thousand mark while Wednesday’s Fed comments indicating a patient approach to interest rate hikes continued to buoy the markets.

Here are five stock ideas that analysts predict offer upside of at least 20% in 2015, and in a couple cases upwards of 40%.

Stocks recovered a good deal of ground after a multi-day beat down as crude oil prices saw gains and the Fed notes indicated some patience with the approach to raising rates.  Stocks got another boost from a positive ADP jobs report which showed the economy added 241,000  jobs in December beating economist estimates of 226,000.

Stocks were down across the board in a broad market selloff fueled by the continuing decline of crude oil prices.  The Energy sector led the dive falling by nearly 4% as crude oil fell to nearly six year lows.  Adding to the bearish sentiment, Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras warned of a possible Greek default and exit of the EU as that country heads into elections in three weeks. The European markets saw large declines and the Euro fell to nine year lows against the Dollar.