Alberta may not be back to its former self, but it sure looks like it is getting off the mat. It always starts with jobs, especially in Alberta. Here the news has turned positive for the first time in years. Unemployment in Alberta dropped to 7.2% in February. Source: economicdashboard.alberta.ca Unemployment is now below...
Last week and this week I look at two ag commodities--phosphate and this week -- POTASH. Prices are soaring--but is this the peak of the cycle? If you only looked at the supply and demand of the potash market, you would come away thinking its balanced. Potash demand is expected to...
With supply issues and politics, agriculture stocks are a legitimate investor trend now. From upstream farming & fertilizer stocks to downstream grocery stores (are you seeing the food inflation numbers right now??) the Market will be paying a lot more attention to this sector for a few years. This week...
There are two very important energy stocks for investors to watch.  In Canada, it’s the large integrated oil producer Suncor—symbol SU on both the TSX and NYSE.  In the United States, it’s the large independent refinery company Valero—VLO-NYSE. I think they’re important because I see the as them as energy...
Investors don’t need to hire Sherlock Holmes to help them see what it did to the balance sheet of Cenovus (CVE-NYSE/TSX) after spending $17.7 billion to buy most of Conoco-Phillips (COP-NYSE) Canadian assets this week. It’s a whopper of a deal. In total what is being acquired adds 298,000 BOE/day of...
by Elizabeth Lappin, P.Geo Elizabeth is the Geothermal Ambassador Coordinator at CanGEA, and the Founder of Castle Rock Consulting Ltd.  In Part 1 of this series on geothermal energy, I outlined the potential of it for both the oil and gas industry and consumers.  It’s a feel-good story, that can get a lot...
by Elizabeth Lappin, P.Geo Elizabeth is the Geothermal Ambassador Coordinator at CanGEA, and the Founder of Castle Rock Consulting Ltd.  Alberta’s oil and gas wells produce thousands of barrels of water each day. This water is considered a waste by the oil patch, and operators pay to send it away by...
Peabody Coal (BTUUQ-NYSE) is a CRAZY, HIGH-RISK trade.  This stock was up 600% this week at one point on Friday.  But it could literally be worth almost zeroon Wednesday morning, after they report their quarterly. But it could also be on the way to $43, as I'll explain. Peabody Coal’s stock is already...