There’s been an abundance of bailouts this week, with everyone propped up so far other than the ones who really need it. But the news helped turn what could have been a dismal week for stocks into a rather flat one. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.2 percent for the week; the Nasdaq Composite grew 0.6 percent; and the S&P 500 tacked on 0.3 percent.

Something remarkable occurred in the September soybean futures contract last Friday--the last day of trading for this lightly-traded, widely ignored contract. September beans surged to a one-day record of $2.74 per bushel to end its life at nearly $15 per bushel. In contrast, the active November contract closed an unremarkable 26 cents higher at about $3 per bushel below the final September price.

Utility stocks across the board posted very strong second quarter earnings. And with most sticking close to prior full-year guidance, there’s no real indication they won’t in the third quarter.

Inside my subscriber-based service, The Energy Strategist, I recommend a handful of companies that are organized as publicly traded partnerships (PTP); the most common forms of PTP are Master Limited Partnerships (MLP) and limited liability companies (LLC). I’m also co-editor of The Partnership, a newsletter dedicated solely to investing in this group. Here's one stock I currently recommend in both publications.

In August 2006, New York University economist Nouriel Roubini predicted a subprime crisis and subsequent recession. In September of that year, he burdened a gathering of the International Monetary Fund with his bearishness. And Roubini was profiled in a recent New York Times Magazine feature headlined “Dr. Doom.”

In August 2006, New York University economist Nouriel Roubini predicted a subprime crisis and subsequent recession. In September of that year, he burdened a gathering of the International Monetary Fund with his bearishness. And Roubini was profiled in a recent New York Times Magazine feature headlined “Dr. Doom.”

The father of modern economics, John Maynard Keynes, was once asked in a debate how he justified changing his mind on certain key issues of his day. Keynes replied “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?”

We’ve had a choppy week on Wall Street as traders continue to seek some direction from both positive and negative news. All three of the major indexes are relatively flat this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 0.4 percent, the Nasdaq Composite ended the week flat and the S&P 500 tacked on 0.2 percent.

Plenty of supposed smart-money players have ignored China’s instructive trends.

The raw numbers are impressive: A report by the US Geological Survey (USGS) found that 25 areas inside the Arctic Circle contain about a fifth of the world’s undiscovered but recoverable oil and natural gas reserves.