Greetings from the Las Vegas Money Show. This year’s conference comes at a time of extraordinary danger but also opportunity in the investment markets. Not surprisingly, the mood was rife with uncertainty, with investors questioning everything from the economy’s recent “green shoots” and the staying power of the recent rally to the Obama administration’s plans. Here’s a sampling of what I was asked and how I answered. Read More

The market always looks ahead, never behind. The worst sin is always uncertainty, particularly when it affects literally every investment across the board as it has over the last nine months or so. What many forget is that getting out of such a funk doesn’t always take real, honest-to-goodness positive news. In fact, in the worst crises, all it may take is just a little certainty about where the bottom may be. Real good news is a major bonus. Read More

Shares of Atlantic Power Corp (TSX: ATP-U, OTC: ATPWF) have been on a wild ride since the credit crisis ratcheted up last summer. However, that’s a stark contrast with the rock-steady business results of the owner of 14 power plants and California’s Path 15 power line. Read More

From Three Mile Island to the Enron meltdown, utilities have always recovered from disaster by cutting debt and operating risk and repairing regulatory relations. CMS Energy’s (NYSE: CMS) road back from near bankruptcy in 2002 has been a rocky one. Read More

Natural resource and foreign-based utilities are the How They Rate sectors most at risk to dividend cuts. Seven producers reduced this year, the direct consequence of 74 and 68 percent plunges in natural gas and oil prices, respectively, since last summer. Read More

First quarter earnings aren’t all in yet, but indications are utilities are still weathering the worst recession in decades. One reason is having their strongest balance sheets since the 1960s, enabling companies to roll over debt at reasonable interest rates. Even at the height of the fall financial crisis, utilities with credit ratings of A- and higher were issuing bonds. Read More

Did stocks hit ultimate bottom on March 9, or will the bear bite us again? The macro outlook rests squarely on how quickly the economy stabilizes. But how we’ll fare will depend mainly on the companies we own holding up as businesses, thereby exceeding the low expectations built into share prices. Read More

The telephone has been essential for decades. Even in the toughest times, service demand has continued to rise, and consumers and businesses have stayed connected and paid their bills, right along with electricity, heat and water. Read More

Standard & Poor’s reports a record 367 companies slashed dividends in the first quarter 2009. Conspicuously absent from its list are US utilities, 50 of which have raised dividends since Jan. 1 against only five cuts. Read More

Utes’ strong balance sheets kept their access to credit open even during the worst of the financial crisis, and at some of the best interest rates seen in a generation. In fact, they’ve been able to issue a record volume of new debt, even as companies in other industries have had difficulty rolling over credit lines. Read More