The action in the stock market continues to amaze.

When stocks go up on bad news (like last week’s higher initial claims for jobless benefits and lower-than-expected housing starts), you know you don’t want to be short.

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ/CSCO) is a component of the Dow Jones

In these pages, I recently discussed the amazing returns in the benchmark Nikkei 225 index in Japan and how the country is following America’s example, printing money to fuel the economy.

The fact is that Japan is finally beginning to see some results from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s aggressive

This doesn’t make it easy to understand for investors who bought gold stocks and have now seen them go down in price…

But while the prices of gold stocks have pulled back significantly this year, demand for physical gold bullion has gone through the proverbial roof.

The U.S. Mint had to

I have been making the point about crude oil production and capex absolutely CONTROLLING the energy space right now and through 2013 and this week's entry is perfect to point that out again through the released quarterly reports of EOG Resources (EOG) and Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD).

The action

2012 has been a stellar year for oil and gas. From East Africa to North America, new technology, major new discoveries, an unparalleled appetite for exploration and a metamorphosing perception of risk have changed the playing field.

We're looking at potential rather than existing production, and

Risk perception isn't what it used to be. Ask the swelling ranks of Canadian junior oil and gas companies braving high-risk venues like Sudan, Iraq and even Yemen.

Technological advances and the shale revolution are making risk easier to digest. And political risk is no longer limited to developing

This year's World Oil Outlook (WOO) from OPEC gives us insight into where the world's only oil producing cartel thinks the world's oil market is headed over the coming years and decades.  Here are a few highlights.   The WOO opens by