Can’t you hear Nancy Pelosi saying to some farm-belt democrat, “What’s it going to take to get you into this climate bill tonight?”

One of the easiest “outs” for a potential car buyer is to say, “I like it, but let me go home and talk to my wife.”

It is no different with shoddy legislation. “I like it,” say our fence-sitting lawmakers, “but let me go home and talk to my constituents.”

Knowing if a customer leaves the lot, he may never come back, House leaders are working overtime to ensure the latest nefarious piece of legislation to come off of Capitol Hill gets a vote before our elected officials head home for the Independence Day break.

If these guys go home, the deal is off the table, possibly for good. You can count on it.

That is why we will likely see a vote on Cap-and-Trade legislation on Friday. It is the oldest trick in the sales book; rush it through while the emotions are high and don’t give them time to think about it.

The tactic worked perfectly with the trillion-dollar stimulus plan. Remember how many legislators read the actual legislation? We all know how that deal is working out.

All we can do is hope our leaders learned from their mistakes.

The market has spoken

Studying Wall Street, the market appears to have already cast its vote. With most energy stocks well in positive territory so far today, investors are not worried about potential new emissions regulations.

The industry that best indicates the market’s sentiments is the coal industry. While Daryl Hannah is getting arrested outside a Massey Energy (NYSE:MEE) facility, the sector is moving ahead as if the threat of strong obstacles ahead is nowhere in sight.

Massey, Arch Coal (NYSE:ACI), Consol Energy (NYSE:CNX), and my favorite coal producer, James River (NASDAQ:JRCC) are all making strong gains today.

The action is the Street’s way of saying Washington won’t be driving House Bill 2454 off the lot anytime soon.

But the market is not always right.

If it is wrong, savvy traders will have a strong profit opportunity on their hands. If the coal industry suddenly forces great headwinds, today’s prices could look downright expensive.

It is a gutsy bet, but as the week progresses could be one worth taking.

Options players have the best shot at profits. Front-month put contracts will soar in value if the above-mentioned companies take a blow later in the week.

This legislation is moving far faster than most pundits would have imagined just last week. That means the market has had very little time to study the situation and digest the estimates. It also means there is plenty of room for increased volatility.

When the markets are unprepared, just about anything can happen.

That is exactly the way Nancy Pelosi wants it.

Source: Right Out of the Used-Car Sales Book

It turns out I was not alone when I discussed my bullish outlook for the nation’s coal producers last week. Earlier today, a Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) analyst gave a similar opinion.

The only difference between my article and his note to clients? His sent the industry soaring.

As I wrote Friday, my favorite coal producer, James River Coal (NASDAQ:JRCC), used strong contract prices to beat its Q1 estimates and send shares surging. The momentum from last week’s announcement has continued through today. Over the last five trading sessions, shares of the company have jumped by more than 55%.

There is a bull on the loose, for sure.

Thanks to the analyst’s positive note, James River is not alone today. Shares of Massey Energy (NYSE:MEE) are up by over 20%. National Coal Corp (NASDAQ:NCOC) is up by about 35%. Alpha Natural Resources (NYSE:ANR) is up by 10%. And rounding out my top five, Arch Coal (NYSE:ACI) is up by over 11%.

The big question is will the gains continue?

Here at home, the only person that can answer that question is Obama. As I wrote earlier today, his cap-and-trade notion could put the crimps on the sector’s future prosperity. Fortunately, most legislators are quickly realizing the idea is one of the most politically dangerous to come from Washington in a long time.

As the cap-and-trade nonsense begins to be pushed onto the next generation of leaders’ laps, coal prices will rise again. Even better, the bullishness will take place when international growth is starting to make headlines once again. It will be a coal-industry double whammy.

If you have been following the sector, you know China has a slew of coal-burning power projects in the works. Just because we are all sunshine, lollipops and alternative energy here, does not mean Asia is giving up its ultra-cheap infrastructure anytime soon.

International coal demand will grow, setting a floor for domestic prices. With one of the world’s largest reserve of coal, domestic producers will benefit from international growth.

Essentially, even though the coal industry got slammed by the current financial meltdown and a new wave of political fury, the industry is little changed from its phenomenal run just a few years ago.

I maintain my outlook and recommend buying coal-related plays on any dips.

Source: Lighting a Fire Under America’s Coal Industry

This from Today’s Financial News:

This is turning out to be a big week for the energy markets. Prices for commodities like natural gas, coal, gasoline, diesel, and of course, crude oil are dropping precipitously. Right now, we are very close to some critical pricing levels. If we drop below them, even bigger declines could be on the way.

First off, let’s look at the king of all commodities, crude oil.

As I write, a barrel of crude is just $1.27 away from trading for less than $60. Many energy experts believe once oil drops below that crucial level, there is nothing stopping it from dropping drastically lower. With a little help from a strengthening dollar, we could see a barrel of crude trading in the $40 range by the end of the year. $30 is a stretch, but it is not out of reach.

Thanks to interest rate cuts in England and throughout Europe today, the dollar stands to continue its currency domination. When London announced it slashed its key interest rate by 150 basis points, the value of the dollar jumped almost immediately.

It now takes $1.58 to buy an English pound and $1.27 to buy a euro. Both figures were climbing over the past week, but thanks to today’s widespread increases in liquidity, European currencies are one again dropping in value. They will drag oil prices down with them.

But crude is certainly not the only source of energy on the decline. Even after a surprisingly low weekly build in natural gas inventories, the popular source of home heat is trading well into negative territory. Right now, a million BTUs of gas is trading for $7.19. Technical analysts believe if it does not close above $7.30 today, we are in for another major drop.

****** Oil at $50 a Barrel — Gold at $500 by Christmas?  ******

With stocks as volatile as nitroglycerin, gold should be trading above $2,000 an ounce! But the dollar insurrection has shaken up the commodities markets. Some experts now put gold’s downside at $500… even $400.

What if they’re right?

TFN’s options strategist Andrew Snyder has developed a gold hedge strategy that could make you money on your gold position either way. Find his Special Report on the Members Only Reports section of HotStockConfidential.com. To become an instant member, click here…

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According to a report by the energy department, natural gas supplies are not quite as high as most experts believed. Over the last week, inventories grew by 12 billion cubic feet. The consensus estimate was for growth of nearly twice that figure.

It is important to note that inventories are 3.7% below where they were a year ago. That is a clue that the fall in prices was not necessarily caused by a reduction in demand. It is a sign that speculators have been forced from the market.

The bullish side of energy

Finally, it is important to look at coal prices. Thanks to [stell producer] ArcelorMittal’s (NYSE:MT) announcement yesterday that it will slash its production capacity by as much as 35% in the coming months, the coal industry has suffered significant setbacks.

Coal giants like Massey Energy (NYSE:MEE) and Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) have been significantly wounded over the past two days. They have given back all of the gains they made last week.

Fortunately, there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon. ArcelorMittal promises it will boost production in mid-2009. That means coking coal will jump in demand and the companies that produce it will see their valuations increase significantly.

That is great news for James River Coal (NYSE:JRCC). Shares have been reduced by dramatic proportions and are dirt cheap today. I stand by my recommendation to buy the company’s stock.

The energy industry is in flux. For folks with a long-term bullish sentiment like I have, this is a great buying opportunity.

Remember… Buy when everybody else is selling.

Source:Oil nears $50: Is this a buying opportunity?

The prices of oil, gold, silver, coal, cocoa, natural gas and the rest of the gang were up today thanks to some key rate cuts across the globe. China and the United States cut their short-term lending targets and it appears that Japan may follow suit.

Rate cuts mean there is an increased chance of a boost in economic activity and that means commodities traders have a reason to increase prices.

Crude prices surged by nearly 10% today on news that energy supplies decreased faster than expected over the last week. Experts were expecting inventories to surge by as much as 1.5 million barrels, but the weekly government report showed an increase of just 500,000 barrels. That means demand has not slipped as much as traders anticipated.

Some strong profits

For energy investors, today’s commodities increases come as good news. For the folks that followed my advice from earlier in the week and invested in James River Coal (NASDAQ:JRCC), the rise in coal prices is fantastic news. Your positions should be up as much as 28%. Those are fantastic profits in just two days.

Over the next few weeks and months were will experience a bit of a dichotomy in energy prices. The price of crude will continue on its longer-term trend towards $50 per barrel as global demand falters. But commodities like coal that do not see such wide swings in demand will work towards higher prices, making investors in companies like James River plenty of profits.

Finally, the price of gold jumped by nearly $20 today. That means investors are beginning to realize that the Fed’s recent monetary policy changes will greatly increase dollar liquidity. Gold prices will continue to rise over the short-term.

The market is beginning to settle down and trading opportunities are cropping up all over the place. I am quite excited about the action on the commodities market today. While some of the price gains will certainly reverse, the news proves that the doom-and-gloom sentiment is changing.

The next few weeks will be great to savvy investors.

Source: Commodities mini-rally hands us big gains in James River Coal (JRCC)

This from Today’s Financial News:

All across America, huge companies are selling at deep discounts. One of those companies is General Electric (NYSE:GE). It is one of the most prominent, well-known and successful companies in the world, yet its shares are selling for prices just shy of half what traders were getting one year ago.

In fact, GE has not been this cheap in over a decade. The last two times shares of General Electric were this cheap, investors more than doubled their money in the following few years.

Imagine having the opportunity to purchase shares of the company for just $22 this time last year when shares were peaking at $42.

Investors would have pushed their own mothers out of the way for that kind of opportunity.

Let’s face it. General Electric has been in business for a long, long time. And it will remain in business for an even longer period of time. Because the company is such a diversified mega-conglomerate it has the power to withstand immense turmoil.

A Wall Street panic like the one we saw recently is nothing new to this Blue Chip. GE has endured huge price declines many times in its past. Each and every time it did, share price rebounded dramatically higher than where it started.

As I write, GE’s fundamentals are in ranges we have not seen in a very long time. With a reading of just 9.6, the company’s price-to-earnings ratio is insanely low. It should be twice that figure, at least. The downturn has created the ultimate value play.

That is why Warren Buffett recently wrote the company a check for $5 billion so he could get his hands on the profit potential. You do not become the nation’s richest person by paying too much for something. Follow his lead.

Shares of GE are priced at levels we should not see except during the most catastrophic economic events. We are nowhere close to that situation. Granted, the company’s earnings will suffer over the next few quarters. But the decline will not be anywhere close to justifying this huge share price decline.

General Electric is oversold. Warren Buffett knows it. I know it. Now you know it.

Buy shares of the company and wait for the rebound. In just a year or two, when shares are once again trading for $40 and more, you will be very, very glad you did.

Discover what it is like to be rich

Since we are following in the footsteps of Buffett, how about we take another piece of his sage advice…

Buffett is constantly discussing his investment philosophy: buy what you know and use. This theory is why Campbells Soup and McDonalds have remained relatively unscathed by the credit crunch.

To learn about the next undervalued superstar, all you have to do is open your wallet. I bet you have a few credit cards stashed in there.

All of the major credit card companies – names like Visa (NYSE:V), Mastercard (NYSE:MA), and American Express (NYSE:AXP) – have seen their valuations drastically reduced during the recent bear market. None of them are as undervalued as Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) and its powerful Discover Card brand.

Selling for less than $11, down from over $32 less than two years ago, shares of the company are a downright steal.

Again, this company and its products are in a very strong position. No matter what happens in this economy, people will still use their credit cards. And even if every American cuts their cards to shreds, Discover still has a strong network in 184 other countries.

Like I mentioned above, all of the major credit card companies have been hit hard in recent weeks. And all of them have created fantastic buying opportunities. But only Discover adds a powerful technical investing layer to the mix.

Over the next few weeks and months, we are bought to hear the mainstream media discussing record-breaking delinquency rates. More people than ever will be late with credit card payments as the economic machine grinds to a halt.

For the nation as a whole, folks that cannot afford to pay their credit card bills is a terrible thing. But for credit card companies, like Discover, that are allowed to charge huge annual interest rates and levy fees for just about everything, late payers create a wealth of revenue streams.

Shares of the company are trading right at all-time lows. It means no investors have ever bought shares of this company at prices this cheap. It also means if anybody wants to sell, they would have to do it at a loss. It puts a solid floor under share price and is a phenomenon technical investors love.

Even if the economy were to take a strong downward slide, Discover’s firm price floor would help avoid any serious share-price decline. It will also create a catapulting function as the market and the economy rebound.

As long as you buy shares below $12, your position should create some fantastic profits.

The coal industry cannot die

While we are on the subject of investing in what we know and use, let’s discuss another product that we are both using right now, electricity.

Electricity is the commodity this world depends on every second of every day. And chances are the electricity your computer is using as you read this report was created by coal. It is a good bet because about 50% of this nation’s electricity is generated by burning coal.

If you have heard any of the presidential debates, coal is going to be a major energy focus over the next four or eight years. Both candidates are pushing for increased growth in the clean-coal industry.

That means coal is not going away anytime soon. But if an outsider were to look at the prices for the raw material or the share price of the companies mining and selling the indispensable fuel, they may be inclined to believe coal’s days are numbered.

They would be dead wrong.

Coal will play a vital role in the global economy for decades, if not centuries, to come. Thanks to new technologies, coal can be burnt in an ultra-efficient, super-clean process. It can even be used to make the fuels that power our cars, trucks, trains, and planes. Coal is the next “super fuel.”

One company poised to take advantage of any growth in the coal-producing industry is James River Coal Company (NASDAQ:JRCC). It is yet another company with shares trading for just a fraction of what they were a few months ago.

Right now, you can get your hands on shares for just less than $20.

In June, they would have cost you over $60. This time next year, they will likely cost you at least that much.

There are two important facts to understand about the coal industry.

First, there is a global coal shortage. Demand far outstrips supply no matter where in the world you go. China, India, Australia, and Russia are desperate to get their hands on more fuel. Fortunately, the United States has over a quarter of the world’s coal supply in our own backyards. Finally, we have the power in our hands.

The second thing you need to know is that once a coal-fired generating plant goes online, it cannot afford to shut down. It will need a continuous supply of coal for decades to come. It is just the opposite of nuclear-operated facilities. A nuke plant only needs fuel every twenty years or so. Coal plants are addicted to fuel.

Combine a nearly constant demand stream with a lack of supply and every economist will say you have a perfect recipe for profits. Throw in a stock price that has been unduly beaten down because of unfounded fears of an industry slowdown and you have an opportunity to score big time as share price rebounds.

James River Coal Company is trading well below dirt-cheap territory. Take advantage of Wall Street’s mistakes and buy shares under $22 while you still can.

An American classic

Finally, there is one more all-American company investors absolutely must know about. This one is truly a Blue Chip selling at penny-stock prices.

Take a look at a chart of Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) and you will see a history of ups and downs. The company is in the heart of a highly cyclical industry constantly expanding and contracting. But no downturn has ever been as big as this one.

A decade ago shares of Ford were selling for over $37. Today, you can get them for less than $3.

It is the price of a mere cup of coffee at Starbucks and is a price Ford shareholders have not seen since the Reagan administration.

Granted it may be a long time before the company sees shares trading for over $35, but it certainly will not be long until we see them at $10 or even $15.

The domestic auto industry has reached its bottom. It is impossible to argue any other way.

Just look at the deal General Motors (NYSE:GM) and Chrysler are working to create. Obviously, if it can get its hands on Chryslers strong Jeep and minivan lineup, plus billions of dollars in desperately needed liquidity, General Motors will be a major benefactor. But so will Ford.

The auto industry will consolidate. There will be one less major competitor. Prices will begin to rise and margins will increase substantially. This is a deal that could save Detroit and make a lot of smart investors rich along the way.

But there is even better news.

Just recently, Congress handed Detroit automakers its own version of a rescue package. It came in the form of $25 billion in loans. The deal gives the automakers an insurance policy that will ensure they make it through this latest cyclical downturn. After all, no politician will ever let Ford go belly up on their watch.

Experts agree by 2010, the nation’s car industry is going to embark on a serious upswing. The cars that Americans bought during the last boom cycle will be wearing out, Detroit will have a new, high-tech product lineup, and customers will once again be walking into showrooms with pockets full of cash.

You can wait for the company to start making big headlines and get shares at $10 or more. Or you can invest at penny-stock prices and hold onto the shares as Ford gets back on its feet.

In less than 24 months, we will be entering the fourth-quarter of 2010. This credit crunch and recession talk will be in the history books. Most importantly, your shares of Ford will be worth three or four times more than they are right now.

Investors have an exciting road ahead. We have made it through the worst of the market turmoil. The economy is going to slow but it is finally back to fundamental investing. No longer will we see wild swings wiping out entire sectors. Now the weak will be eliminated and the strong will flourish.

Invest in the strong companies while their prices are dirt cheap and watch your profits grow as Wall Street figures out how to fix this mess. In just a few years, the credit crisis will be behind us and some huge profits will be in your pockets.

Source: Blue chips at penny stock prices