Chevron is a global integrated oil company which has interests in exploration, production, refining, marketing, and petrochemicals.  The company owns seven refineries and one asphalt plant, and has interests in 10 international refineries.  Plus, Chevron has a network of approximately 25,000 retail gas stations worldwide.  The company is doing a good job Read the full story

THE S&P 500 SPDRs (SPY) looks pretty ugly from a technical perspective.  The SPY has a bearish confirmed down-trendline, which is an overall bearish sell signal.

And the 50-day simple moving average (SMA) could drop below the 200-day (SMA), which is a negative indicator called a “Death Cross”.  

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One euro is currently worth around USD $1.25 and I expect it to fall down to parity with the U.S. dollar by year end.  Euro parity with the dollar means one dollar will be worth one euro.  That would be a further drop of 20% in the euro… Read the full story

Yum! Brands has the world’s largest fast food business.  YUM operates or licenses over 37,000 restaurants in more than 110 countries and territories. Their restaurants include the KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell chains.  In 2009, Yum! Brands generated close to $36 billion in U.S. sales and $10.8 billion in worldwide sales. Read the full story

Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) owns high end casino resorts in Las Vegas and Macau.  Macau is one of China’s special administrative regions.  The Wynn Las Vegas sits on 215 acres of land on the Vegas strip and has 2,716 hotel rooms and suites.  This property has a large casino and plenty of retail and meeting space.  The company also operates the Encore at Wynn Las Vegas which has 2,034 guest suites, plus another large casino.  In China, the casino Read the full story

Akamai Technologies (AKAM) is involved with accelerating and improving the speed of the internet.  The company helps its customers improve their revenues and reduce expenses by maximizing the performance of their websites.  Akamai focuses on improving website performance, scalability, and security.  Read the full story

SanDisk Corp. (SNDK) designs, manufactures and markets flash storage card products used in digital cameras, mobile phones, smart phones, laptops, USB flash drives, GPS units, gaming devices and MP3 players.  Flash storage technology lets you store data in a compact format.  SanDisk’s products are seeing increasing demand as more video and internet are accessed from mobile phones.  Read the full story

Intuitive Surgical makes what we have dubbed the “Baby-Boomer Fixer”. This company has developed the da Vinci Surgical System, which uses advanced robotics and computerized visualization technology for minimally invasive surgeries.  The da Vinci machine makes major surgery easy for surgeons.  Plus, the patient has less recovery time as well.  They sell them for well over $1 million per unit.  Read the full story

According to precious metals firm Monex, investing in silver is an “Extrodinary Opportunity”.  When silver starts to move it could quickly shoot higher.  A silver bull market is underway and can start to gain steam.

People are clamoring to buy silver.  The silver ETF (SLV) alone has sucked 296 million ounces of silver off the market. Read the full story

Baidu (BIDU) is nicknamed the Google of China.  They’re the primary provider of Chinese language online search services.  Baidu.com is the most frequently used search engine in China.  China has more Internet users than any other country and the number of internet users in China is growing rapidly.  Internet advertising spending is increasing and Baidu is perfectly positioned to benefit. Read the full story