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High Oil Prices Are Here To Stay -- Here's How To Profit

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American oil production is surging. Yet oil prices remain near $100 a barrel.

You may be wondering: When will all of this additional production finally overtake demand and push the price of oil down?

You can find one answer in the price of oil futures -- which say we can expect oil to fall to closer to $80 in the coming few years and stay there.

 

Is the market correct? Are oil prices heading south?

I think that the answer is no, for several reasons -- especially after I listened to a recent presentation by Bill Thomas, the CEO and chairman of EOG Resources (NYSE: EOG).

EOG is, by a considerable margin, the largest horizontal oil producer in the world. That means the company has access to the best data available on horizontal oil production and resources.

Put simply, EOG and Thomas believe that the futures market is all wrong about oil prices. The company is bullish on oil and focused on producing more of it.

What EOG sees -- and the market doesn't seem to grasp -- is that for all intents and purposes, the horizontal oil boom is coming from only two plays: the Bakken Formation in the upper Midwest and the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas. A slide from EOG's most recent investor presentation illustrates this clearly: Continue reading "High Oil Prices Are Here To Stay -- Here's How To Profit" →

Big Businesses Are Using Bitcoin -- Should You?

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After a century of paying bills through the mail, an increasing number of Americans have made the switch to online bill payment systems.

Banks love the system because it reduces their transaction costs, but they now have a new competitor: Bitcoin.

Satellite TV provider Dish Networks (Nasdaq: DISH) has just announced plans to start accepting bitcoin. Overstock.com (Nasdaq: OSTK) and Virgin America also initiated a bitcoin payment option in the past year, and other major corporations may soon follow. That means you're likely to start hearing a lot more about this virtual currency.

For non-techies like me, two quick questions arose: How does bitcoin actually work? And is it a good idea, or just a flavor of the month? To find out, I did a little digging.

Controversial, But Gaining Acceptance
Bitcoin was launched in 2009 as an alternative to traditional payment systems. While digital payment systems such as PayPal conduct transactions in hard currencies (such as the dollar), bitcoin is an entirely new form of currency. Continue reading "Big Businesses Are Using Bitcoin -- Should You?" →

Louis James: Are You Ready for an Early Shopping Season?

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The Gold Report: Jeff Clark, senior precious metals analyst at Casey Research, recently wrote in an article titled "Time to Admit that Gold Peaked in 2011?" that countered a chart making the rounds showing gold matching its 1980 inflation-adjusted dollars peak in 2011. The chart implies we should expect a decade or more of lower prices. Aside from the fact that John Williams of Shadow Government Statistics might have a problem with how inflation was calculated, how are gold's fundamentals different today than they were in 1984?

Louis James: The fact that things are different today than in the 1980s is a really good point. The argument over methodology almost doesn't matter. Even if it were true that the gold price of 2011 matched the inflation-adjusted gold price of 1980, that wouldn't mean that gold has to go down the way it did in 1980. There wasn't a near collapse in the banking sector back then. There wasn't the Lehman Brothers upset. The government did not triple the money supply. We're dealing not with apples and oranges, but apples and whales.

TGR: If history is not a map for the future, is John Williams correct that we are getting ready for hyperinflation? Continue reading "Louis James: Are You Ready for an Early Shopping Season?" →

Charts Point To Another 5%-7% Advance Before A Correction

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By: John Kosar of Street Authority

All major U.S. indices were higher last week, led by the previously downtrodden Nasdaq 100 (+2.5%) and Russell 2000 (+2.1%). Both of these market-leading indices must continue to outperform the broad market SP 500 if last week's strength is going to become the next leg higher within the larger 2013 stock market advance. The major indices are now all in positive territory for 2014 except for the small-cap Russell 2000, which ended last week down 3.2% for the year.

From a sector standpoint, my own asset flow-based metric shows the largest inflow of investor assets over the past week went into consumer discretionary, which led all sectors with a 2.1% gain. The utilities sector had the biggest outflow of investor assets and, as would be expected, was the only sector to lose ground for the week.

Is Technology Leading the Blue-Chip Stocks Higher?
Beginning in the April 21 Market Outlook, and again in several subsequent issues, I have been discussing overhead resistance at 3,617 on the Nasdaq 100 and stating that a rise above this level was necessary to indicate that this market-leading technology index's larger November 2012 advance was resuming.

After negotiating this level for the past month, 3,617 was significantly broken to the upside last week. This clears the way for more near-term strength and a potential 2% rise to retest the 3,738 early March high.

More recently, in the May 12 and May 19 Market Outlooks, I identified an emerging pattern in the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE:DIA), commonly known as the "Diamonds." The formation was a triangle, indicating investor indecision, and I said, "For the bullish implications of the pattern to remain valid, the lower boundary at $163 must contain DIA on the downside this week while it rises back above $165.51 -- and stays there." Continue reading "Charts Point To Another 5%-7% Advance Before A Correction" →

Ride For The Rivers - INO Cares

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INO's Office LocationWe are so lucky to work in such a beautiful location. One side of our office building overlooks a thriving marina with fisherman constantly going in and out of port, while the other side of our building has the most beautiful view of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Seeing river otters, blue heron and bald eagles are not a rare occurrence here.

Our building also houses the office of the West/Rhode Riverkeeper. This non-profit organization is a licensed member of Waterkeeper Alliance, an international movement of on-the-water advocates who patrol and protect 100,000 miles of rivers, streams and coastlines in North and South America, Australia, Europe, Asia and Africa. The Riverkeeper’s goal is to enforce environmental law, promote restoration and to advocate for better environmental policies.

Our beautiful office view would not be as beautiful without the hard work of organizations like the West/Rhode Riverkeeper!

For our May INO Cares campaign, INO.com sponsored a riding team for the West/Rhode Riverkeeper’s first annual “Ride For The Rivers” on May 10th, 2014. Proceeds for this event went to help the West/Rhode Riverkeeper in its efforts to keep the local waterways fishable, swimmable and clean.

This awesome event took riders through the rolling countryside of two of Maryland’s southern counties and followed up with a post ride party!

Adam Hewison, INO.com CEO and President, is an avid biker, so this event was extra special for him. He got out there for the 60-miler and had an absolute blast! Our sponsored INO riding team consistent of 25 riders from the Annapolis area. We hope they all had a blast and will continue to support this awesome cause year after year!

Enjoy the photo slideshow of the “Ride For The Rivers”!