Utility dividend yields are higher now than they were at the bottom of the 2001-02 bear market. And unlike then, payouts are covered by secure and growing earnings, with reduced debt and operating risk. We have a severe mismatch and the underpinnings of a powerful rebound. Read More

Utilities are among the world’s most capital-intensive industries. That makes them highly sensitive to credit risk. Read More

September fears morphed into sheer investor panic in early October. But by mid-month, the chief worry was nothing less than another global Great Depression. The result was several weeks of wholesale liquidation. Read More

Like virtually all federal legislation, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 included a lot more than the headline $700 billion bank rescue fund, such as the Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008. Read More

Energy prices came down sharply last month. Producer stocks, however, have crashed to levels they held when oil was $30 a barrel. A drop in oil under $60 or natural gas to $5 per million British thermal units would put dividends under pressure again. But with so much more priced in, ARC Energy Trust is a buy up to my reduced target of USD20.Fellow Watch List producers BP Prudhoe Bay and Dominion Black Warrior are holds. Read More

Super Oils such as Chevron Corp no longer have a hammerlock on global supplies of oil and natural gas. But they do have more powerful balance sheets than most countries and solid positions in all areas of the energy business. That makes them virtually recession proof and the surest bets on long-term growth in global energy demand and shrinking supplies. Read More

The August issue featured the “Great Eight” limited partnerships (LP) in the UF portfolios as fabulously undervalued bargains. Since then, financial crisis-related selling has pushed their average yield from 8.5 percent to 10.3 percent. That’s despite dividend increases at seven and a major cash flow boosting acquisition at the eighth. Read More

For the first time since third quarter 2001, the US economy is shrinking. Third quarter numbers for GDP showed a 0.3 percent decline from the prior quarter. And given the recent declines in consumer confidence and consumer spending employment, it’s likely we’ll see further contraction in the fourth quarter and possibly into 2009. Read More

The credit crisis is easing, at least for now. After two weeks of coordinated global action to unfreeze lending markets, the key London Interbank rate is back down to roughly 3.5 percent. That’s still somewhat above normal rates but well down from the peak set earlier this month. Read More

Six years ago, US power companies were on the brink. A decade of deregulation that encouraged unprecedented risk-taking had come to a crashing halt, and nearly a quarter of the industry was either in Chapter 11 or perilously close to it. Read More