Hot Gold Stocks To Watch Right Now

Asian stocks rose, with the regional benchmark index heading toward a five-month high, as China reported economic growth accelerated, boosting the outlook for the global economy.

Sands China Ltd. jumped 8.9 percent toward a record in Hong Kong after the Macau casino operator controlled by billionaire Sheldon Adelson reported higher profit. Newcrest Mining Ltd. (NCM), Australia�� biggest gold producer, rose 5.7 percent as the bullion traded near a two-week high. SBI Holdings Inc. fell 2.9 percent after the Japanese brokerage said it plans to sell convertible bonds.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 0.1 percent to 142.83 as of 12:35 p.m. in Tokyo, with about five shares gaining for every three that fell. The gauge is rising for a second week as investors shift their focus from the resolution of the U.S. fiscal showdown to the timeline for cuts to the Federal Reserve�� bond-buying program. China�� economic data added to signs the global economy is recovering.

��isk appetite is increasing as we��e seeing a modest synchronized recovery in the global economy,��Khiem Do Kong-based head of multi-asset strategy at Baring Asset Management Ltd., which oversees about $57 billion, said in a telephone interview. ��urope is showing some green shoots and China�� economy is stabilizing.��

Hot Gold Stocks To Watch Right Now: Goldman Sachs Group Inc.(The)

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides investment banking, securities, and investment management services to corporations, financial institutions, governments, and high-net-worth individuals worldwide. Its Investment Banking segment offers financial advisory, including advisory assignments with respect to mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, corporate defense, risk management, restructurings, and spin-offs; and underwriting securities, loans and other financial instruments, and derivative transactions. The company?s Institutional Client Services segment provides client execution activities, such as fixed income, currency, and commodities client execution related to making markets in interest rate products, credit products, mortgages, currencies, and commodities; and equities related to making markets in equity products, as well as commissions and fees from executing and clearing institutional client transactions on stock, options, and fu tures exchanges. This segment also engages in the securities services business providing financing, securities lending, and other prime brokerage services to institutional clients, including hedge funds, mutual funds, pension funds, and foundations. Its Investing and Lending segment invests in debt securities, loans, public and private equity securities, real estate, consolidated investment entities, and power generation facilities. This segment also involves in the origination of loans to provide financing to clients. The company?s Investment Management segment provides investment management services and investment products to institutional and individual clients. This segment also offers wealth advisory services, including portfolio management and financial counseling, and brokerage and other transaction services to high-net-worth individuals and families. In addition, it provides global investment research services. The company was founded in 1869 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

Hot Gold Stocks To Watch Right Now: Australian Dollar(AU)

AngloGold Ashanti Limited primarily engages in the exploration and production of gold. It also produces silver, uranium oxide, and sulfuric acid. The company conducts gold-mining operations in South Africa; continental Africa, including Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Namibia, and Tanzania; Australia; and the Americas, which include Argentina, Brazil, and the United States. It also has mining or exploration operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, and Colombia. As of December 31, 2010, the company had proved and probable gold reserves of 71.2 million ounces. The company has a strategic alliance with Thani Dubai Mining Limited to explore, develop, and operate mines across the Middle East and parts of North Africa. AngloGold Ashanti Limited, formerly known as Vaal Reefs Exploration and Mining Company Limited, was founded in 1944 and is headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Considering the work stoppages and violent clashes that have become the norm at South African precious-metals mines, perhaps the miners were wondering exactly what they were getting for their money. An expose by South Africa's Daily Maverick has uncovered a system where miners such as AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE: AU  ) and BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP  ) surreptitiously paid for the salaries of the heads of the local mining unions to keep the mine workers in line, and it's only because the miners sought to end the "uncomfortable arrangement" with the unions that the matter came to light.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  One way Yamana has kept its competitive cost advantage is through extensive sales of base-metal byproducts like copper and zinc, as both it and fellow low-cost rival Goldcorp (NYSE: GG  ) benefit from utilizing those secondary metals to offset the cost of their gold production. Peers Gold Fields (NYSE: GFI  ) and AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE: AU  ) , on the other hand, face much higher costs in part because of their exposure to South Africa and its unstable labor market.

• [By Holly LaFon]

  The second largest market cap company, at $11.22 billion, is Anglogold Ashanti Ltd. (AU). Its afternoon stock price of $29.15 is within 5% of its three-year low, and has experienced a more significant drop than Newmont ��it is down 44.9% from its high price of $52.86 a share.

• [By Daniel Putnam]

  First, and most important, earnings estimates are stabilizing. In the past sixty days, 2013 estimates for the major gold miners have begun to tick up. In most cases, the increase is very modest. For instance, Goldcorp‘s (GG) EPS estimates have climbed from $0.91 to $0.95, while Barrick Gold‘s (ABX) have inched up from $2.57 to $2.64. Newmont Mining (NEM), Anglogold Ashanti (AU), and Gold Fields Ltd. (GFI) have shown similar gains. This positive rate of change marks a significant departure from the steady stream of bad news investors have had to endure in recent years.

5 Best High Tech Stocks To Buy Right Now: Thompson Creek Metals Company Inc.(TC)

Thompson Creek Metals Company Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in mining, milling, processing, and marketing molybdenum products in the United States and Canada. The company?s principal properties include the Thompson Creek Mine and mill in Idaho; a metallurgical roasting facility in Langeloth, Pennsylvania; and a joint venture interest in the Endako Mine, mill, and roasting facility in British Columbia. It also holds interests in development projects comprising the Davidson molybdenum property and the Berg copper-molybdenum-silver property located in northern British Columbia; the Howard?s Pass property, a lead and zinc project situated in the Yukon territory-northwest territories border; and the Maze Lake property, a gold project located in the Kivalliq district of Nunavut. The company produces molybdenum products, primarily molybdic oxide and ferromolybdenum, as well as soluble technical oxide, pure molybdenum tri-oxide, and high purity molybdenum disulfide. As o f December 31, 2010, its consolidated recoverable proven and probable ore reserves totaled 462.2 million pounds of contained molybdenum in the Thompson Creek Mine and the Endako Mine. The company was formerly known as Blue Pearl Mining Ltd. and changed its name to Thompson Creek Metals Company Inc. in May 2007. Thompson Creek Metals Company Inc. is based in Denver, Colorado.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jim Jubak]

  The stock market liked what it heard Wednesday, August 7, from Thompson Creek Metals (TC) after the close in New York. Second quarter adjusted net earnings of 8 cents a share crushed the Wall Street consensus of a penny a share. Revenue climbed 3.8% to $117.8 million versus expectations for revenue of just $1.3.8 million. The company also said that its new Mt. Milligan mine is on schedule with a start-up for the concentrator expected this month, with first ore-feed by mid-August. The company said it expects commercial production to begin in the fourth quarter of 2013, with production ramping to full capacity over the next twelve months.

Hot Gold Stocks To Watch Right Now: CME Group Inc.(CME)

CME Group Inc. operates the CME, CBOT, NYMEX, and COMEX regulatory exchanges worldwide. The company provides a range of products available across various asset classes, including futures and options on interest rates, equity indexes, energy, agricultural commodities, metals, foreign exchange, weather, and real estate. It offers various products that provide a means of hedging, speculation, and asset allocation relating to the risks associated with interest rate sensitive instruments, equity ownership, changes in the value of foreign currency, credit risk, and changes in the prices of commodities. CME Group owns and operates clearing house, CME Clearing, which provides clearing and settlement services for exchange-traded contracts and counter derivatives transactions; and also engages in real estate operations. Its primary trade execution facilities consist of its CME Globex electronic trading platform and open outcry trading floors, as well as privately negotiated transact ions that are cleared and settled through its clearing house. In addition, the company offers market data services comprising live quotes, delayed quotes, market reports, and historical data services, as well as involves in index services business. CME Group?s customer base includes professional traders, financial institutions, institutional and individual investors, corporations, manufacturers, producers, and governments. It has strategic partnerships with BM&FBOVESPA S.A., Bursa Malaysia Derivatives, Singapore Exchange Limited, Green Exchange, Dubai Mercantile Exchange, Johannesburg Stock Exchange, and Bolsa Mexicana de Valores, S.A.B. de C.V., as well as joint venture agreement with Dow Jones & Company. The company was formerly known as Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. and changed its name to CME Group Inc. in July 2007. CME Group was founded in 1898 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Holly LaFon]

  We re-established an investment in CME Group, Inc. (CME) during the period. CME is the largest and most diversified derivatives marketplace in the U.S. Its exchanges support trading across a variety of asset classes, including interest rates, equity indexes, energy, agricultural commodities, foreign exchange and metals. We believe CME has the opportunity to significantly accelerate its growth rates due to the eventual normalization of interest rates and the attendant interest rate volatility. CME's interest rate trading volumes (ADV) have been depressed as a result of the Fed's zero interest rate policy and low interest rate volatility. For example, interest rate ADV was 4.8 million in 2012compared to 7.1 million in 2007, before the financial crisis. However, given the Fed's recent policy statements (discussed above), market participants are starting to anticipate an end to quantitative easing (QE). On May 30, CME experienced record volume for interest rate derivatives with ADV of 19.4 million. With the globalization of CME's business, a host of new products, and the regulatory requirement for interest rate swaps to be cleared on an exchange, we believe CME's interest rate volumes can surpass their prior peak, significantly driving earnings growth for the company.

• [By Sean Williams]

  Leading the charge higher is CME Group (NASDAQ: CME  ) , which advanced 3.3% after exploring a possible sale of its New York Mercantile Exchange building. CME has considered leasing back a portion of the building to run its energy trading operations out of, or it may just move those operations to another building in Manhattan altogether. This announcement also comes on the heels of news that Treasury futures volume hit an all-time record yesterday. With CME looking for ways to maximize shareholder value in an otherwise tepid trading environment, I'd call today's move encouraging.

• [By Roberto Pedone]

  One financial market player that's starting to move within range of triggering a major breakout trade is CME Group (CME), which offers products across all major asset classes based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities, metals, weather and real estate. This stock has been in play with the bulls so far in 2013, with shares up sharply by 48%.

  If you take a look at the chart for CME Group, you'll notice that this stock recently formed a triple bottom chart pattern at $70.42, to $69.88 and $70.28 a share. Following that bottom, shares of CME have now started to trend back above its 50-day moving average of $72.70 a share. That move is quickly pushing CME within range of triggering a major breakout trade.

  Traders should now look for long-biased trades in CME if it manages to break out above some near-term overhead resistance levels at $75.50 to $77.65 a share and then once it clears its 52-week high at $79.45 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above those levels with volume that hits near or above its three-month average action of 1.84 million shares. If that breakout hits soon, then CME will set up to enter new 52-week-high territory above $79.45, which is bullish technical price action. Some possible upside targets off that breakout are $90 to $100 a share.

  Traders can look to buy CME off any weakness to anticipate that breakout and simply use a stop that sits right below its 50-day at $72.70 a share or just below more support at $70 a share. One can also buy CME off strength once it takes out those breakout levels with volume and then simply use a stop that sits a comfortable percentage from your entry point.

Hot Gold Stocks To Watch Right Now: Golden Star Resources Ltd(GSS)

Golden Star Resources Ltd., a gold mining and exploration company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of gold properties. It owns and operates the Bogoso/Prestea gold mining and processing operation that covers approximately 40 kilometers of strike along the southwest-trending Ashanti gold district in western Ghana; and the Wassa open-pit gold mine located to the east of Bogoso/Prestea in southwest Ghana. The company also has an 81% interest in the Prestea underground gold mine located in Ghana. In addition, it holds interests in various gold exploration projects in Ghana, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Cote d?Ivoire, as well as holds and manages exploration properties in Brazil in South America. The company was founded in 1984 and is based in Littleton, Colorado.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sean Williams]

  Golden Star Resources (NYSEMKT: GSS  )
  It's simple physics: The bigger they are, the harder they fall. When gold prices nosedived earlier this week, gold miners with historically higher operating costs took the brunt of the hit. For the most part, that meant that development-stage miners, and those operating in Africa, where labor and political costs make cost-effective mining a challenge, took it on the chin. Possibly no stock was hammered more than Golden Star Resources, a gold miner in Ghana, which lost about one-quarter of its value on Monday alone.

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Clash of the titans
  When bears are raging on the gold bullion market, it's not surprising to see gold stocks getting mauled as well. Golden Star Resources (NYSEMKT: GSS  ) was the biggest loser in the sector, losing a quarter of its market cap on no company-specific news, though a report last Friday indicated that a large number of hedge funds had recently dumped their positions in the mid-tier miner. Yet it wasn't all that much better among the majors, either, as Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX  ) fell almost 13% and Kinross Gold (NYSE: KGC  ) was down 14%.

10 Top Mobile Apps for Investors: Dalbar

What’s in an app? Not all that share that appellation would smell as sweet to mobile phone users (with apologies to the author of Romeo and Juliet).

That’s why Boston-based research firm Dalbar rated 45 financial services company apps, according to nine distinct evaluation categories including discoverability, branding, design, navigation, engagement, draw, personalization, support and ease of use.

We include one app that succeeded across the board, and nine others that exemplify excellence in each of these nine categories.

(Check out 10 Tech Trends That’ll Rattle the Advisory Industry at ThinkAdvisor.)

“Mobile technology has evolved from a mere novelty into an absolute necessity,” says Dalbar’s managing director, Kathleen Whalen. “It is imperative for financial services firms to not fall in line with their competitors but blaze their own trail.”

Here are 10 app producers that do just that (with the top app first and the rest in no particular order).

1. ETrade Mobile for iPad

iOS

Top Honors: highly rated all-around

Of the 45 apps evaluated, ETrade is one of an elite four (CIBC, Soctiabank and Allstate produce the other three) that Dalbar calls a “trailblazer” — an app recognized for its potential to keep the firm in the customer’s view.

A user can trade stocks, check performance, use a variety of customizable features including notifications designed to sustain user engagement.

“E*Trade Mobile’s easy-to-use and visually appealing app is available to account holders and non-account holders alike. The app provides market data to all and quick and easy access to account details to current clients. New accounts can also be initiated through the use of the app,” writes Dalbar.

Besides its four “trailblazer” apps — those that attained high ratings across categories — Dalbar cites nine “pacesetters” that achieve an exceptional rating in an individual evaluation category. The following nine apps exemplify qualities that financial services companies should be seeking to excel in.

2. RidgeWorth Investments

iOS

Honors: Discoverability Champ

Financial services companies want their target audience to discover their app — that is, locate it and understand its function.

That’s what investment research firm Ridgeworth manages exceptionally. The app is prominently promoted on Ridgeworth’s website, which even has a video tutorial of the app to lower any barriers to use.

“Ridgeworth Investments’ iPad app earned a perfect 5 rating in Discoverability due to its promotion of this investment research app on the firm’s website and for its offering of pertinent information in Apple’s App Store,” Dalbar writes.

3. Franklin Templeton (US) for iPad

iOS

Honors: Branding Champ

You can have the market at your fingertips — fund returns, capital gains indications, thought leadership topic discussions — and never forget that Franklin Templeton Investments is somehow connected to all of this.

That’s because the mutual fund company — with wise old Ben Franklin’s countenance facing viewers on its logo — is subtly embedded everywhere.

“Franklin Templeton ensures that users are aware of exactly whose app they are utilizing without its branding ever becoming overpowering,” Dalbar writes.

Aside from its branding prowess, the app gets high ratings on navigation, engagement and ease of use.

4. Vanguard for Advisors

Android

Honors: Design

The Vanguard for Advisors app’s tasteful design — the execution of the app’s visual elements — make this resource an appealing way to access its product and performance information and market and investment commentary.

“With its use of universally recognized icons, accompanied by legible, well-contrasted text, Vanguard’s menu design leaves no room for questions as to what can be accomplished within this app,” Dalbar writes.

The color combinations are also notably consistent with Vanguard’s branding.

5. T. Rowe Price Personal

iOS

Honors: Navigation

The T. Rowe Price Personal app’s exceptional maneuverability strengthens it as a resource where investors can view and manage accounts.

“Because there are headings found at the top of every screen, disorientation is a non-issue as users know exactly where they are at all times, and the arrow found within the menu’s sub-screens helps the user go back easily,” Dalbar writes.

Enhancing navigation, a menu icon is easily located at the top left of every screen.

6. Steer Clear Mobile (State Farm)

Android

Honors: Engagement

Sustaining users’ interest and motivating them to remain in the app longer is something State Farm excels in with its Steer Clear app.

“Not only does the app pique young drivers’ curiosity in the form of quizzes, videos and self-assessing questionnaires, but drivers are also able to earn badges called 'Bumper Stickers' within the app. The app does not outwardly reveal how to earn a badge, and Steer Clear Mobile cleverly engages users by making them analyze hints in order to infer how to earn a particular badge,” Dalbar writes.

Users can tout their badges via Facebook and call an agent to claim their discounts.

7. LifeSales (Transamerica)

iOS

Honors: Draw

Will the app encourage continuous interaction and draw users back? That’s what Transamerica’s LifeSales manages.

“Transamerica’s LifeSales app provides financial advisors with a multitude of tools necessary to support their business on-the-go. The app’s exceptional rating in this evaluation category is earned due to its volume of high-value business support, which draws advisors to continuously seek out the app to complete essential business activities,” Dalbar writes.

With a tap of the finger, the advisor can retrieve new or previously run quotes for customers and find a wealth of sales ideas and presentations.

8. On Investing (Charles Schwab)

iOS

Honors: Personalization

The ability of an investor to suit his personal needs can only occur where an app provides depth, something Schwab’s On Investing app excels in.

“Users can save articles, create personalized tabs and reorganize pages to suit their needs. Once within a tab, articles can be moved around to position them on any part of the screen, and notes can be added via a familiar, yellow square paper. Notes can also be pinned to one’s calendar,” Dalbar writes.

9. MyLifeNow (New York Life)

Android

Honors: Support

No need to give up in frustration on New York Life’s MyLifeNow app when seeking extra help.

“Beyond offering support for technical matters, the app also displays context-specific help icons which, when tapped, will generate help windows for individual regions within the app. By displaying support in this fashion, important information is provided without forcing users to leave the screen they were previously viewing.”

While an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure, the app provides a firewall of support through its Help section and FAQs as well.

10. Schwab Workplace Retirement

iOS

Honors: Ease of Use

People accessing a retirement app are older, perhaps, than your average mobile user, so the Schwab Workplace Retirement app’s ease of use eliminates barriers to usage.

“The logical organization of content and straightforward language results in a minimal learning curve to become familiar with this app,” Dalbar writes.

Buttons are large enough to get accurate screen taps, a plus for mobile-klutzy older folks.

---

Check out these related stories on ThinkAdvisor:

Do Target-Date Retirement Funds Miss the Mark?

NEW YORK ( TheStreet ) -- Holding more than $500 billion in assets, target-date funds rank among the most popular choices in retirement plans. The funds are designed to serve people who will retire on certain dates, such as 2020 or 2035.

But some financial planners argue that the target funds are not perfect solutions. Critics contend that the one-size-fits-all portfolios should be tweaked to lower risks or to boost returns. "The strategies of target-date funds do not make sense," says Ron Surz, president of Target Date Solutions, which seeks to lower risks of portfolios.

At a time when most observers praise the target-date funds, the critics remain a distinct minority. Still, their views are worth considering because they suggest ways that retirement portfolios could be improved or customized by do-it-yourself investors.

The target-date approach has attracted millions of investors by offering balanced portfolios of stocks and bonds. For 401(k) participants, the diversified funds represent a step forward from the days when many savers put all their money in cash or the stock of their employers. Much of the criticism focuses on the asset allocations. Funds for people in their 20s and 30s typically have 70% to 90% of assets in equities and the rest in fixed income. As savers age, the equity allocations gradually decline according to schedules known as glide paths. Portfolios for retirees have from 20% to 50% in equities. The thinking is that older people must be more conservative because they have little time to recover from market downturns. Critics charge that the glide paths should be changed. Surz says that the funds for older people are hazardous because the equity allocations are too big. He points to the losses that equity portfolios recorded in the financial crisis. During the downturn of 2008, funds with target dates of 2000 to 2010 declined an average of 22.5%, according to Morningstar. For retirees, such losses could be devastating. To avoid being caught in a downturn, Surz says that investors should begin shifting to cash 10 years before the retirement date. At the time of retirement, the funds should be entirely in cash. That way savers won't suffer big losses just before withdrawals start.

As they move into retirement, investors should seek customized solutions, Surz says. People of moderate means may decide to hold mostly annuities that provide guaranteed annual income.

Rob Arnott, chief executive of Research Affiliates, says that glide paths should be scrapped. Instead of gradually shifting allocations, investors would be better served by always holding half the assets in bonds and half in stocks.

To demonstrate the impact of allocations, Arnott looked at a hypothetical employee who saved $1,000 annually for 41 years. The saver followed a standard glide path, starting with an 80% equity allocation and tapering to 20% on retirement. Another saver in the study held 50% in stocks and 50% in bonds throughout the period.

Arnott examined the outcome over many different 41-year periods from 1871 through 2011. On average, the standard glide path produced a nest egg of $124,000, about $13,000 less than the 50-50 portfolio. The glide path was also more erratic, lagging badly during many periods when stocks fared poorly. Arnott says that the problem with the glide path is that the portfolio is stock-heavy during the earlier years when the nest egg is small. Big gains from a small asset base don't add many dollars to the final portfolio. To improve results and manage risks, Arnott proposes using a 50-50 portfolio and adjusting it with several tweaks. To lower risk for retirees, he suggests gradually reducing the maturities of bonds. During the first 20 years, the bond portfolio would focus on securities with 20-year maturities. Those tend to have higher yields and stronger long-term returns than shorter bonds do. But the long bonds can be volatile, suffering losses when interest rates rise. To limit the hazard, Arnott suggests gradually reducing maturities during the 20 years before retirement. On the retirement date, the fixed-income allocation would be in Treasury bills, which could hold their value in a bond bear market. So far, Arnott has won few followers. But some funds have moved in his direction recently, shortening bond maturities or increasing equity allocations for retirees. Follow @StanLuxenberg This article was written by an independent contributor, separate from TheStreet's regular news coverage.

Stan Luxenberg is a freelance writer specializing in mutual funds and investing. He was executive editor of Individual Investor magazine.

Government Shutdown Puts Boehner in a Tough Spot

House Speaker John Boehner holds the key to how long the federal government is shuttered.

As soon as the Ohio Republican backs away from the demands of the GOP's tea party wing and offers a "clean" resolution to fund government programs for the short term, enough Republicans will join House Democrats to pass it and end the standoff.

See Also: The Cost of Washington's Dithering over the Budget

It's a tough choice for Boehner, and it could cost him the speakership if enough tea partyers withdraw their support for him. So far Boehner shows no signs of giving ground, despite growing public calls from some members of his caucus and the business community to give up trying to eliminate spending for President Obama's health care law in the funding resolution.

But he'll have to back down eventually, lest he and his party get blamed for taking their ball and sending others — in this case, nonessential federal workers — home.

It doesn't matter whether people think Obamacare is a good idea or a bad idea. It's the law of the land; it was deemed constitutional by the Supreme Court; and more than 40 other attempts to block funding or delay implementation passed the Republican-controlled House, only to die in the Democratic-led Senate. It's difficult to get your way when you control one chamber of Congress and the other party holds the other chamber and the White House.

Sometimes you have to compromise. And sometimes you have to surrender to reality. The longer it takes Boehner to stand up to the tea partyers, the angrier voters will get. At this point, polls show that most voters oppose the idea of using the federal budget as a pawn in the health care game. Even many of those who dislike the insurance mandate don't like how House Republicans are acting.

The ultimate irony here is that at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, when the government closed, enrollment in Obamacare opened.

There's a right time to debate whether to make changes in the health law, and a right time to argue about the size, reach and power of the federal government. It's probably best to do that without the added pressure of a government shutdown that will serve as a drag on the economy if it lasts more than a day or two.

But even if this impasse ends quickly, a fight over legislation to raise the federal debt ceiling is just weeks away. Republicans are making noise about going after Obamacare in that legislation, too, so a default by Uncle Sam isn't out of the question.

Neither impasse will hurt House Republicans running for another term in 2014. Only a relative handful of districts are competitive, and Boehner's party has a comfortable advantage.

They will undercut GOP chances of capturing the Senate, though, and may make it more difficult for Republicans to win back the White House in 2016.

There is, to be sure, a need for the president and lawmakers from both parties to get serious about addressing the federal debt. That will require a comprehensive approach, including tax reform and an overhaul of entitlement programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, as well as spending cuts.

That can't be done piecemeal. And it can't be done as part of a frantic bid to get the government back to work.

It will take two parties working together, not standing alone.

Right now, that's hard to imagine.

Sugar on Lows of Recent Move

Sugar futures, which have been on a steady decline since trading over 20 on October 14, are trading at the lowest level since that time at 17.50. This area matches the lows from mid-September, from which the rally to 20 emanated. If this support level is breached, there may not be support until the September 18 low (17.30).

Posted-In: Futures Commodities Technicals Intraday Update Markets Trading Ideas

(c) 2013 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

  Around the Web, We're Loving... Come Learn 6 Proven Trading Strategies at Our Holliday Trading Summit Lightspeed Trading Presents: Intra-day and Swing Trading the First Two Hours of the Market Rumsfeld: Denial of Benefits to Fallen Soldiers' Families 'Inexcusable' Come See How the Pro's Trade in this Exclusive Webinar Facebook, Baidu Lead Big Caps Beating Shutdown What Should You Know About AMZN? Most Popular Home Depot Versus Lowe's: What Three Analysts Are Saying Five Star Stock Watch: Tesla Motors, Inc. Voxeljet Shares Respond After Sour Citron Research Report Sony's $399 PlayStation 4 Costs $381 To Produce Apple Trapped in Narrow Range Five Star Stock Watch: Groupon, Inc. Related Articles () NCAA Sues Electronic Arts and Collegiate Licensing Over Breached Duties Natural Gas Futures Off High of the Day Why RR Donnelley Was The Long Trade Of The Day Crude Futures Post Strong Gains

Profit From 5 Trades Warren Buffett Made

BALTIMORE (Stockpickr) -- What's Warren Buffett buying? As usual, when Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) released its 13F filing to the public on Friday, people went nuts.

>>Why You Should Buy Hedge Funds' 5 Favorite Stocks

How nuts? Berkshire's biggest buy for the quarter picked up another $8 billion in valuation as new buyers piled into shares. But Wall Street got a lot of the details wrong about the Oracle of Omaha's stock spending spree. That's why we're taking a closer look today.

It's not understating things to say that it was another quiet quarter at Berkshire. The $92 billion portfolio only increased stakes in six stocks in the third quarter, and none of those positions were new. Instead, Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, Buffett's team of two portfolio managers, stuck with increasing stakes in their favorite names in 2013.

>>5 Big Stocks to Trade for Big Gains

That's fine as far as Buffett is concerned: Both managers beat the S&P 500 by double digits last year.

Even though the buying has been cautious, it tells us a whole lot more about the stocks that these guys like than if they'd been buying with both hands. And buys aren't the only telling trades going on at Berkshire. The stocks that Berkshire unloaded are pretty informative too.

So, want to profit from the trades that Buffett made? Today we're taking a closer look at five conviction trades from Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio.

>>5 Rocket Stocks for Another Week of New Highs

That word -- conviction -- is an important distinction for the folks poring over Berkshire's latest 13F filings with the SEC.

Exxon Mobil

Berkshire's purchase of shares of Exxon Mobil (XOM) has been generating a lot of buzz in the last few days -- but one detail that most are getting wrong is the idea that this is a new position. It's not. Berkshire actually picked up most of its 40 million share stake last quarter, even though the SEC allowed Buffett and company to keep the move confidential as they accumulated shares. "Only" 8.85 million shares were added to the position.

>>5 Stocks Poised for Breakouts

That's not the first time Buffett has secretly bought shares of Exxon -- Berkshire did the same thing back in 2009. But what's interesting is that you didn't need to see the 13F filing to know what was going on. Warren Buffett has been singing XOM's praises in Berkshire shareholder letters since last year.

Exxon Mobil is an integrated oil and gas supermajor with more than 18.2 billion barrels of oil equivalent in its proven reserves. That's enough scale to make Exxon the world's biggest refiner and one of the biggest makers of processed commodity products. In recent years, Exxon has been focused on reducing production costs and shifting its product mix more towards nat gas, which has helped to solidify the fortress-like double-digit margins that XOM currently sports.

It's not surprising that Buffett likes Exxon -- the firm has a strong history of returning value to shareholders, thanks to a 2.6% dividend yield and a share buyback program. With a low earnings multiple priced into shares and around 5% of the firm's market capitalization covered by cash and investments, XOM is looking cheap too. A technical turnaround in shares since early October rounds out the picture in Exxon; you could do a lot worse than to follow Berkshire Hathaway into this stock.

Suncor Energy

Exxon wasn't the only energy name that Berkshire picked up last quarter -- Suncor Energy (SU) was another. Buffett and company bought 240,500 shares of the Canadian oil firm, building its stake in the stock to $644 million.

>>5 Stocks Under $10 Set to Soar

Suncor is the biggest oil and gas name in Canada, with 550,000 barrels of oil equivalent coming out of the ground every day. The firm is a major oil sands operator, exposure that the firm was able to acquire relatively cheaply and is now leveraging for bigger margins than most of its peers. Investments in new extraction technology have helped to bust through plateaus in production at SU's oil projects, squeezing more cash from older assets.

Like Exxon, Suncor is an integrated energy firm. That means that the company is involved with every step of the process, from pulling commodities out of the ground to transporting, refining, and retailing fuel at Petro-Canada gas station locations. While operations downstream are dilutive to margins (holding SU's net profit margins sub-10%), they give the firm a heftier top-line than a standalone E&P stock would have. Despite the upside, Suncor isn't a very exciting energy name; investors are better off in Exxon.

ConocoPhillips

Based on the two big oil buys, it's easy to think that Bershire Hathaway made a big bet on the energy sector last quarter -- but that ignores the huge sale of ConocoPhillips (COP) shares, which flushed more than $519 million worth of the Houston-based E&P from Berkshire's portfolio. The trade nearly halved Buffett's stake in ConocoPhillips, almost offsetting the Exxon and Suncor trades entirely.

>>5 Stocks With Big Insider Buying

There's a big difference between ConocoPhillips and the energy stocks that Berkshire actually bought: COP spun off its downstream operations into Phillips 66 (PSX) in May 2012. The result is one of the biggest pure-play oil and gas producers with 8.6 billion barrels of proven reserves. But the fact of the matter is that a lack of refineries and gas stations actually makes COP more attractive, not less. Without the paper thin margins those businesses provide, ConocoPhillips converted twice as many sales dollars into profit as Exxon did last quarter.

Around half of ConocoPhillips' reserves come from natural gas. That's an attractive mix, especially given how the firm's supermajor peers have been falling all over themselves to boost exposure to nat gas by acquiring big producers in recent years. With oil prices holding onto the high end of their historic range, nat gas prices are starting to see some buoyancy as consumers substitute one fuel for the other.

With Buffett selling COP right now, I'd be buying.

DaVita HealthCare Partners

Enough about energy. DaVita HealthCare Partners (DVA) is another name that should sound familiar to Buffett disciples. And the Oracle of Omaha is buying more in 2013. Berkshire Hathaway added 1.5 million shares to its portfolio in the latest quarter, boosting its total stake to $1.79 billion.

>>5 Toxic Stocks to Sell Before It's Too Late

DaVita operates more than 1,850 dialysis clinics and in-patient hospital dialysis units across the U.S., serving patients who suffer from chronic kidney failure. The long-term nature of dialysis treatment makes DVA's business pretty predictable, since kidney transplants are scare. DaVita has been cautious about its relationship with Buffett's firm -- the two parties agreed to a deal in May that limits Berkshire Hathaway's ownership of DVA to 25%. The latest trade brings the DVA stake to 14.8%.

A $4.4 billion merger with HealthCare Partners changed DVA's business dramatically in the past year, putting medical practices, hospitals, and pharmacy services under DVA's umbrella for a 25% contribution to corporate revenues. But none of that changes the fact that DVA trades for a premium right now. While demographic tailwinds should keep a steady stream of patients at DVA's doors, much of that upside is already priced into shares.

GlaxoSmithKline

Last up on Berkshire's conviction trade list is GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), a $130 billion pharmaceutical name that Buffett's stock pickers unloaded en masse in the last quarter. With the $1.13 million share selloff in Berkshire's portfolio, the firm owns a "meager" $17 million stake in the firm. GSK isn't the only big pharma name that got sold off in the third quarter; the firm also dumped nearly 160,000 shares of Sanofi (SNY).

GlaxoSmithKline owns a broad portfolio of drugs and vaccines that span nearly every category. Even though crown jewel Advair lost patent protection in 2010, generic competition has been far less than the bear case proposed by Wall Street. Going forward, Glaxo's investment case looks a lot like most of its peers: big R&D investments into rare diseases hold orphan drug potential for GSK, at the same time that longer-running efforts on more mainstream drugs get closer to market.

Glaxo is currently in the middle of a major cost-cutting initiative that should take some of the pressure off of the firm's pipeline until more new offerings hit the top of the income statement. But that hasn't stopped investors from pricing in black clouds over a 4.58% dividend yield at current price levels. Buffett and company are all but out of this stock at this point, but with decent fundamentals and rapidly improving technicals, GSK actually looks much better positioned than DaVita does right now.

To see the rest of Berkshire Hathaway's plays -- including a complete list of which stocks the firm added or sold off -- check out the Warren Buffett Portfolio on Stockpickr.

-- Written by Jonas Elmerraji in Baltimore.

RELATED LINKS:

>>4 Stocks Rising on Unusual Volume

>>5 Earnings Short-Squeeze Plays

>>5 Tech Stocks to Trade in November

Follow Stockpickr on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

At the time of publication, author had no positions in stocks mentioned.

Jonas Elmerraji, CMT, is a senior market analyst at Agora Financial in Baltimore and a contributor to

TheStreet. Before that, he managed a portfolio of stocks for an investment advisory returned 15% in 2008. He has been featured in Forbes , Investor's Business Daily, and on CNBC.com. Jonas holds a degree in financial economics from UMBC and the Chartered Market Technician designation.

Follow Jonas on Twitter @JonasElmerraji

10 Best China Stocks To Invest In 2014

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Favorable data out of China and follow through from the Fed�� relatively market-friendly statement from Wednesday provide the favorable backdrop for today�� trading action. While some tentativeness ahead of tomorrow�� jobs report will be understandable, but one would reasonably expect the stock market today to sustain the positive pre-open mood throughout the session, particularly if the ISM report comes through as expected.

The Fed statement was broadly market friendly as it cracked the door open to delaying the ��aper��from September to perhaps December or even early next year. The Fed appeared to be downgrading their economic growth outlook a bit and pointed towards low inflation readings and the rise in mortgage rates. A natural offset to those trends would be for the Fed to not do anything on the QE question, at least not any time soon.

GDP growth has undoubtedly been tepid and even the housing recovery could be at risk from the rising interest rates. But labor market data has broadly been positive, as this morning�� weekly Jobless Claims numbers and Wednesday�� ADP report showed. A positive jobs reading in tomorrow�� BLS report, say something close to 200K, will further magnify this apparent disconnect between the labor market and GDP numbers. The question in many people�� minds, including the Fed, could very well be which set of data is more accurately reflective of the economy ��GDP or jobs. The market�� hope will be that a continued goldilocks type of positive jobs and underwhelming GDP numbers keeps the Fed in its QE business for a long time to come.

10 Best China Stocks To Invest In 2014: China Mobile(Hong Kong)

China Mobile Limited, an investment holding company, provides mobile telecommunications and related services primarily in the Mainland China. It offers various services comprising local calls, domestic long distance calls, international long distance calls, domestic roaming, and international roaming. The company also provides voice value-added services, including caller identity display, caller restrictions, call waiting, call forwarding, call holding, voice mail, and conference calls; customer-to-customer messages and corporate short message services; and mobile Internet access services. In addition, it engages in other data businesses, which primarily include multimedia messaging services; color ring services that enable users to customize the answer ring tone from various selection of songs, melodies, sound effects, or voice recordings; and mobile reading, mobile gaming, mobile video, mobile payment/wallet, mobile TV, mobile market, and Internet data center services. F urther, the company offers telecommunications network planning, design, and consulting services; roaming clearance services; technology platform development and maintenance services; and mobile data solutions, and system integration and development services, as well as operates a network and business coordination center. Additionally, China Mobile Limited sells mobile phone handsets and devices. As of March 31, 2011, it served approximately 600.8 million customers. The company was formerly known as China Mobile (Hong Kong) Limited and changed its name to China Mobile Limited in May 2006. China Mobile was founded in 1997. The company is based in Central, Hong Kong, and is considered a Red Chip company due to its listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. China Mobile Limited is a subsidiary of China Mobile Hong Kong (BVI) Limited.

10 Best China Stocks To Invest In 2014: CNinsure Inc.(CISG)

CNinsure Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides insurance brokerage and agency services, and insurance claims adjusting services in the People?s Republic of China. The company offers property, casualty, and life insurance products underwritten by domestic and foreign insurance companies operating in China. Its property and casualty insurance products include automobile, individual accident, commercial property, homeowner, cargo, hull, liability, and construction insurance; and life insurance products comprise individual whole life insurance, term life insurance, education annuity, and health insurance, as well as universal insurance and group life insurance. The company also offers insurance claims adjusting services, which include pre-underwriting survey, claims adjusting, disposal of residual value, loading and unloading supervision, and consulting services, as well as damage assessment, survey, authentication, and loss estimation to insurance companies and the i nsured; and value-added services to its customers in conjunction with distributing automobile insurance products. As of April 15, 2010, its distribution and service network consisted of 49 insurance agencies, 3 insurance brokerages, and 4 claims adjusting firms, with 571 sales and service outlets. The company was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Guangzhou, the People?s Republic of China.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Udovich]

  China is set to ease the one child policy, something that could benefit Chinese stocks in general but be especially beneficial to insurance stocks like China Life Insurance Company Ltd (NYSE: LFC) and CNinsure Inc (NASDAQ: CISG) plus health care stocks like Mindray Medical International Ltd�(NYSE: MR) and Concord Medical Services Hldg Ltd (NYSE: CCM). First, let�� be clear that China is NOT abolishing the one child policy as the changes will merely�allow married couples to have two children if one spouse is an only child plus it will be up to China�� 34 province-level administrations to revise�their laws and put the new policy into effect. Moreover, China�� family-planning bureaucracy employs more than 500,000 full-time workers and six million part-time workers all the way down to the village level to�collect billions of dollars in fines and these bureaucrats have fought for years against policy changes���meaning they could throw up roadblocks if not placated. With that said, the insurance and health care sectors are two sectors with publicly Chinese stocks that look set to�take advantage of the coming changes.

Top Small Cap Companies To Invest In 2014: Changyou.com Limited(CYOU)

Changyou.com Limited develops and operates online games in the People?s Republic of China. It involves in the development, operation, and licensing of massively multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPGs), which are interactive online games that might be played simultaneously by various game players. The company operates seven MMORPGs that include its in house developed Tian Long Ba Bu; and licensed Blade Online, Blade Hero 2, Da Hua Shui Hu, Zhong Hua Ying Xiong, Immortal Faith, and San Jie Qi Yuan. As of December 31, 2010, Changyou?s games in China had approximately 111.4 million aggregate registered accounts; 1.0 million aggregate peak concurrent users; and 2.7 million aggregate active paying accounts. The company was founded in 2003 and is based in Beijing, the People?s Republic of China. Changyou.com Limited is a subsidiary of Sohu.com Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Kevin Chen]

  To be fair, these revenues come from their stake in game company Changyou (NASDAQ: CYOU  ) . Because Sohu owns a majority stake in Changyou, Sohu must consolidate all financials into its statements -- even as Changyou is independently listed on stock exchanges. Whatever the case, Sohu actually created Changyou -- it started as a business unit in 2003, then was spun out in 2007. In any case, Sohu should do some serious soul-searching.

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Changyou.com (Nasdaq: CYOU  ) is expected to report Q2 earnings on July 29. Here's what Wall Street wants to see:

  The 10-second takeaway
  Comparing the upcoming quarter to the prior-year quarter, average analyst estimates predict Changyou.com's revenues will increase 24.3% and EPS will expand 1.5%.

10 Best China Stocks To Invest In 2014: Renesola Ltd.(SOL)

ReneSola Ltd, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of solar wafers and solar power products. It offers virgin polysilicons, monocrystalline and multicrystalline solar wafers, and photovoltaic cells and modules. The company also provides cell and module processing services. Its products are used in a range of residential, commercial, industrial, and other solar power generation systems. The company sells its solar wafers primarily to solar cell and module manufacturers. It principally operates in Mainland China, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, India, Australia, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, France, the Czech Republic, and the United States. The company was founded in 2003 and is based in Jiashan, the People?s Republic of China.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Travis Hoium]

  There will be winners, though. Shares of polysilicon maker Renewable Energy fell 7% in trading immediately after the announcement because the company will likely see either lower prices or lower demand. But shares of GCL Poly, who manufactures in China and is the biggest polysilicon maker in the world, jumped 4% on Friday after the news was announced.�Renesola� (NYSE: SOL  ) and LDK Solar� (NYSE: LDK  ) also have lots of unused polysilicon capacity that will likely experience more demand because of the move. The question is if they have sufficient quality to supply the industry.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  On Thursday, ReneSola (NYSE: SOL  ) will release its latest quarterly results. The key to making smart investment decisions on stocks reporting earnings is to anticipate how they'll do before they announce results, leaving you fully prepared to respond quickly to whatever inevitable surprises arise. That way, you'll be less likely to make an uninformed knee-jerk reaction to news that turns out to be exactly the wrong move.

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Photovoltaic module and wafer manufacturer ReneSola (NYSE: SOL  ) has been contracted to�provide 7,200 250-watt high-efficiency polycrystalline solar PV modules for a project in Roswell, N.M.

10 Best China Stocks To Invest In 2014: ChinaEdu Corporation(CEDU)

ChinaEdu Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides educational services to the online degree programs of universities in the People?s Republic of China. It also offers online tutoring services to primary and secondary school students; operates primary and secondary schools; and markets international English language curriculum programs to established learning institutions, as well as international polytechnic programs to vocational schools in China. The company?s online degree programs offer associate and bachelor?s degree programs, including accounting, marketing, finance, business administration, international business, law, civil engineering, education, computer science, literature, project management, marketing, and administrative management. These online degree programs primarily target working adults. Its services also include academic program development, technology services, enrollment marketing, recruiting, student support services, and finance operati ons. The company provides technical, recruiting, and other services for the online degree programs of 27 universities; and technology support services to 7 additional universities that are awaiting regulatory approval to launch their online degree programs. As of December 31, 2010, it served approximately 311,000 online degree programs students, as well as approximately 51,450 students in other businesses. ChinaEdu Corporation was founded in 1999 and is based in Beijing, the People?s Republic of China.

10 Best China Stocks To Invest In 2014: ChinaCast Education Corporation(CAST)

ChinaCast Education Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides post-secondary education and e-learning services in China. The company operates in two segments, E-learning and Training Service Group and Traditional University Group. The E-learning and Training Service Group provides post secondary education distance learning services that enable universities and other higher learning institutions to provide nationwide real-time distance learning services. It also provides K-12 educational services, such as broadcast multimedia educational content services to primary, middle, and high schools; and vocational/career training services. The Traditional University Group segment operates private residential universities that offer four-year bachelor?s degree and three-year diploma programs in finance, economics, trade, tourism, advertising, IT, music, foreign languages, tourism, hospitality, computer engineering, law, and art. The company also provides logistic service s. ChinaCast Education Corporation was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Central, Hong Kong.

10 Best China Stocks To Invest In 2014: Sina Corporation(SINA)

SINA Corporation provides online media and mobile value-added services (MVAS) in the People?s Republic of China. It provides advertising, non-advertising, and free services through SINA.com, Weibo.com, and SINA Mobile. SINA.com offers free interest-based channels that provide region-focused format and content, including news, sports, automobile-related news, finance, entertainment, luxury, technology, digital, tools, collectibles, video, music, and wireless application protocol, as well as interactive platform for fashion-conscious users to share comments and ideas on a range of topics, such as health, cosmetics, and beauty. The company's microblogging platform, Weibo.com, enables its users to follow the hottest topics being discussed online, as well as discussions related to people they know. Weibo accounts consist of celebrities, commercial enterprises, government entities, and grass root Internet users. Its SINA Mobile service allows users to receive news and informatio n, download ring tones, mobile games and pictures, and participate in dating and friendship communities. The company also offers SINA Game, which serves as an interactive platform that provides users with downloads and gateway access to popular online games; SINA eReading, a shop for book reviews; SINA.net, an enterprise solutions platform to assist businesses and government bodies; and SINA Mall, an online shopping Website. In addition, it provides a platform for Chinese bloggers; photo-sharing platform; free email, VIP mail, and corporate email for enterprise users; audio and video-based instant messaging tools; proprietary search technology; and classified advertising services, as well as hosts topic-specific discussion forums in Chinese language; and creates user-maintained and supported online communities. The company has strategic cooperation agreement with China Unicom (Hong Kong) Limited. SINA Corporation was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Shanghai, the Peop le?s Republic of China.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Robert Martin]

  Top holdings include internet companies Qihoo 360 Technology (QIHU) and Baidu (BIDU) — both about 8% — as well as Chinese media giant Sina (SINA) at 6.6%. More than half of PGJ is dedicated to tech stocks, with another 20% allocated in consumer discretionary. This makes a good play for China�� burgeoning tech industry, with a side dish of consumer stocks for the country�� enormous population.

• [By Rick Munarriz]

  A month ago he was concerned about SINA (NASDAQ: SINA  ) , fearing that Alibaba purchasing an 18% stake in SINA Weibo might lead to problems for Baidu. SINA could potentially limit access to its real-time searches of Weibo content, just as domestic search giants had to shell out for access to Twitter. It would be a pretty big gamble for the popular micro-blogging platform since Baidu still commands the lion's share of China's search requests.

• [By WALLSTCHEATSHEET.COM]

  Sina is an online media company that aims to serve Chinese consumers in and outside of China. The stock is now resting after seeing large declines in the last few years. Over the last four quarters, earnings and revenue numbers have improved, which has pleased investors. Relative to its peers and sector, Sina has been a poor relative performer, year-to-date. WAIT AND SEE what Sina does in coming quarters.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Most of the fears that investors have come from Baidu's rising competition. Traditionally, Baidu's partnership with SINA (NASDAQ: SINA  ) Weibo has given the search star useful social information to augment its services. But with rival Alibaba having taken an 18% stake in Weibo three months ago, that partnership could be in danger if Alibaba's use of Weibo information leads Baidu customers to advertise less. Meanwhile, the gains for Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU  ) have continued, with the stock having almost quadrupled in the past year as the upstart company has achieved a 15.6% search market share. With its browser having about 25% market share, Qihoo's growth prospects might be slowing down, but the network effects could continue eating away at Baidu's leading position in the market.

10 Best China Stocks To Invest In 2014: BHP Billiton Limited(BHP)

BHP Billiton Limited, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a diversified natural resources company worldwide. The company engages in the exploration, development, and production of oil and gas; mining and refining of bauxite into alumina, and smelting of alumina into aluminum metal; and mining of copper, silver, lead, zinc, molybdenum, uranium, gold, diamonds, and titanium minerals, as well as development of potash deposits. It also involves in the mining and production of nickel products, manganese ore, and manganese metal and alloys, as well as in the mining of iron ore, metallurgical coal, and thermal coal. BHP Billiton Limited sells its copper, lead, and zinc concentrates, and alumina to smelters; copper cathodes to wire rod mills, brass mills, and casting plants; uranium oxide to electricity generating utilities; rough diamonds to diamond buyers and diamond manufacturers; nickel products to stainless steel, specialty alloy, foundry, chemicals, and refractory ma terial industries; metallurgical coal to steel producers; and energy coal to power stations, power generators, and industrial users. The company, formerly known as BHP Limited, was founded in 1885 and is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Shares of Alcoa have dropped 3.3% to $7.90 today at 9:30 a.m. The downgrade has also hit other aluminum producers this morning. Alumina (AWC) has fallen 1.1% to $3.73, Kaiser Aluminum (KALU) has declined 0.7% to $71.17, and BHP Billiton (BHP), of which aluminum is but a small piece, is off 0.3% at $66.22.

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Considering the work stoppages and violent clashes that have become the norm at South African precious-metals mines, perhaps the miners were wondering exactly what they were getting for their money. An expose by South Africa's Daily Maverick has uncovered a system where miners such as AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE: AU  ) and BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP  ) surreptitiously paid for the salaries of the heads of the local mining unions to keep the mine workers in line, and it's only because the miners sought to end the "uncomfortable arrangement" with the unions that the matter came to light.

• [By Jim Jubak]

  Second, I think there's an objective/subjective problem that makes this slowing more disconcerting than a drop from 6.6% growth to 5% might be in other contexts. We've gotten used to thinking of the high GDP growth in developing economies, such as China, as the reason to invest there. China is growing at 9% so I've got to put money in Chinese stocks. (This shorthand way of thinking comes, despite persistent evidence that there isn't a solid connection between GDP growth rates and stock market performance. Just look at the performance of the S&P 500 recently, during a period of economic growth in the United States that's below trend for a recovery.) And we've gotten used to seeing a relatively small number of big cap stocks as proxies for the outperformance of developing markets. Vale (VALE), BHP Billiton (BHP), and Rio Tinto (RIO) are some New York listed big caps that represented an easy way to buy the emerging markets story. You can find other representatives of the most popular stocks for investing in the emerging markets story, by looking at the top ten holdings of the Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (VWO): China Construction Bank, China Mobile, Industrial and Commercial Bank, Taiwan Semiconductor, American Movil, OAO Gazprom, CNOOC, Bank of China, and Tencent Holdings. When these stocks have faltered, it's felt as if the emerging markets sector is faltering.

• [By Paul Ausick]

  That doesn�� mean that the world�� largest copper producers are in immediate danger. Even with the production increase, Rio Tinto plc (NYSE: RIO) and BHP Billiton Ltd. (NYSE: BHP) currently receive about 50% more for their copper production than they spend to mine it according to Macquarie. Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE: FCX) gets nearly 80% of its annual revenue from copper and its shares are down more than 15% in the past 12 months.

10 Best China Stocks To Invest In 2014: Universal Travel Group(UTA)

Universal Travel Group, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a travel service provider offering air ticketing and hotel booking services, as well as domestic and international packaged tourism services via the Internet, customer representatives, and kiosks in the People?s Republic of China. It also provides technological solutions to travel reservations, and tour planning and tour guide services. In addition, the company operates TRIPEASY Kiosks, which are placed in hotels, office buildings, banks, shopping malls, and MTR stations for travel booking with credit cards or bank debit cards. Universal Travel Group is headquartered in Shenzhen, the People?s Republic of China.

10 Best China Stocks To Invest In 2014: 3SBio Inc.(SSRX)

3SBio Inc., a biotechnology company, engages in the research, development, manufacture, and distribution of pharmaceutical products in the People?s Republic of China. Its products include EPIAO, an injectable recombinant human erythropoietin to stimulate the production of red blood cells in patients with anemia and to reduce the need for blood transfusions; and TPIAO, a recombinant human thrombopoietin to treat chemotherapy-induced thrombocytopenia. The company also offers Intefen, a recombinant interferon alpha-2a product for the treatment of carcinoma of the lymphatic or hematopoietic system and viral infectious diseases; Inleusin, a recombinant human IL-2 product to treat renal cell carcinoma, metastatic melanoma, and thoratic fluid build-up caused by cancer and tuberculosis; and Iron Sucrose Supplement for treating anemia associated with iron deficiency, as well as for patients with end-stage renal disease requiring iron replacement therapy. In addition, its product pi peline comprises a high dosage EPIAO; NuPIAO, a second-generation EPIAO; TPIAO to treat idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura; NuLeusin for metastatic melanoma and metastatic renal cell carcinoma; human papilloma virus vaccine for the prevention of cervical cancer; and an anti-TNF monoclonal antibody product candidate for treating rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, and other inflammatory diseases. Further, the company?s product pipeline includes Feraheme, an in-licensed intravenous iron replacement therapeutic agent used to treat iron deficiency anemia in chronic kidney disease patients and in patients requiring hemodialysis; and Nephoxil, an iron-based phosphate binder for the treatment of hyperphosphatemia in patients with ESRD. It sells its products directly, as well as through its network of distributors to various healthcare providers, including hospitals, clinics, and dialysis centers. The company was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Shenyang, the People?s Republic of China.

Oracle Corporation (ORCL) - Stock Analysis

Oracle Corporation (ORCL) provides computer hardware, products, and services, as well as enterprise software. The company is actively working to shift the complexity of Information Technology out of the enterprise environment by engineering and distributing hardware and software that are able to work together in harmony. Oracle has obtained over 400,000 customers across more than 145 countries around the world by simplifying IT. The company's main focus is to enable other enterprises to continue to grow and innovate without having to worry about the complexity of their hardware and software, with their slogan being, "Hardware and Software, Engineered to Work Together". Oracle Corporation is organized into three different businesses: Software, Hardware Systems, and Services.

The Software business itself is actually separated into two segments itself: New Software Licenses, and Software License Updates and Product Support. The New Software Licenses segment, as the name implies, focuses primarily on the licensing (selling) of their various software products that are designed to perform a multitude of different functions. The Software License Updates and Product Support segment deals with updating client's software with patches and upgrades, and offering product support.

Oracle's Hardware Systems operation consists of two segments as well: Hardware Systems Products, and Hardware Systems Support. Similar to the organization of the Software operation of Oracle's business, the Hardware Systems Products distributes its products, which include storage products, networking components, operating systems, and others. The hardware that Oracle creates is designed to work in customer environments that include either other Oracle, or non-Oracle hardware or software components. Similar to the support available for the corporation's software side of things, the Hardware Systems Support segment is re! sponsible for providing customers with any updates necessary for software components that are necessary for the operations of the company's hardware. This segment also includes repairs, maintenance, and technical support.

The Services business is broken down into three different segments: Consulting, Cloud Services, and Education. While the Consulting segment deals with initial product implementation and ongoing product enhancements and integration, the Education segment provides training to customers and even offers a certification program that enables individuals to become certified database administrators, consultants, implementers, and others. The Cloud Services Segment provides software and hardware management and maintenance services for customers in regards to the company's cloud products.

Oracle has so much to offer to all types of enterprises. From business and financial management products, to industry specific applications software, Oracle has you covered. The company is so driven to provide your company with the total technical experience that they even have their own operating system, Oracle Solaris, which is known for its scalability and originating many innovative features.

Company History

Oracle Corporation was founded in 1977 by Larry Ellison, Bob Miner, and Ed Oates.

The company has a pretty massive history list with an abundance of acquisitions, just as most major corporations do, but here is some of the recent history:

2010: Oracle launched its "Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center," which is a data center automation tool that simplifies discovery and management of physical and virtualized assets. This same year, Oracle's Mexico Development Center begins operations in Mexico. Also in 2010, Oracle was indicted by the U.S. Justice Department for fraud, stating that the company failed to provide the U.S. Government with the same discounts on its software that it offered to its commercial customers (Oracle was required to do so). The lawsuit ! stated th! at Oracle overcharged the government on a contract that ran from 1998 to 2006. This issue was settled in 2012 for almost $200 million. On the other hand, near the end of 2010 Oracle Corporation won a nearly $1.3 billion lawsuit against a European software company named SAP. SAP was accused, and eventually admitted to the acts, of massive illegal downloads of Oracle's software in attempts to take customers away from Oracle.

2013: Oracle Corporation announced an agreement that it has made with Paradox Engineering to work on solutions in the smart city market. Oracle also announced recently that new in-memory applications for Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne, Oracle PeopleSoft, Oracle Siebel, Oracle E-Business Suite, and Oracle Hyperion. They claim that their critical applications are now running 10-20x faster than before.

Oracle has acquired an average of more than 9 companies a year over the last eight years (including 2013). They have been busy. Here are some of the more notable acquisitions that Oracle has made over the last few years:

Acme Packet, a company in the business of providing networking hardware for telecommunications service providers, in February of 2013 for $2.1 billion.

Taleo, a company focused on talent management software, for $1.9 billion in February of 2012.

Sun Microsystems, which focuses on computer servers, storage, networks, Java, MySQL, database, software, and services, in January of 2010 for $7.4 billion.

Financial Strength

Oracle is the third largest software maker by revenue, behind only Microsoft (MSFT) and IBM (IBM). Oracle also has a higher Gross Margin percentage (81.35%) than IBM and MSFT, and a higher Operating Margin (39.28%). The company also has a higher Price to Sales ratio (4.11x) than its two largest competitors.

Over the past year Oracle has also been pushing its software offerings more towards SaaS (Software as a Service) solutions, which is being driven by customer demand. Oracle has been consuming smaller compan! ies left ! and right. With recent acquisitions of RightNow, Taleo, and Eloqua, Oracle's SaaS products should expand greatly.

Oracle also currently has a Return on Equity of 25.52%, which implies that the company is able to reinvest its earnings better than roughly 92% of its industry competitors. This is nothing new either, Oracle has had a ROE of over 20% since at least 2004 (except for 2010, which was 19.9%).

Recent growth in sales has been hampered by the hardware segment's revenue declining. The hardware segment also puts pressure on the operating margins of the company as well. This doesn't concern me much because the software segment of the company contributes to a much larger portion of sales than the hardware segment, and is also growing at a much faster rate. This should help revenue growth rates and operating margin rates increase over time.

Oracle has been doing quite a bit of stock repurchases as well. From May of 2004 to May of 2013 the company has averaged roughly $2.5 billion in share repurchases annually. In fiscal year 2012 Oracle spent $5.1 billion on stock repurchases, and almost $9.5 billion for fiscal year 2013. In June of 2013, Oracle's Board of Directors approved an expansion of the company's stock repurchase program by an additional $12.0 billion. The repurchase program does not have an expiration date, and the company stated that the pace of their stock repurchases will depend on various factors such as the company's working capital needs, cash needs for dividend payments and acquisitions, debt repayment obligations, and economic and market conditions. Oracle currently has almost enough money in cash ($39 billion) to pay off all of their short and long term liabilities ($42.8 billion).

Management

Oracle's management gets paid a lot. And when I mean a lot, I mean that the company's CEO, Larry Ellison (who also founded the company), is one of the highest paid CEO's in the country, raking in over $96 million in 2012. The fact that Mr. Ellison no! t only fo! unded the company in 1977, but is also still the corporation's Chief Executive Officer means a lot to me. Here is the summary of executive compensation:

[ Enlarge Image ]

Valuation

Oracle powers the top 10 SaaS (Software as a Service - a software delivery model in which software and data are centrally located on the cloud) providers, thousands of SaaS applications, and many of the world's private clouds. Cloud computing has seen some pretty serious growth in recent years - even the Department of Defense is hopping on board. It seems like Oracle is in the news almost daily with some sort of new announcement of enhancements or innovation to their product line. For instance, the company recently announced that it is expanding the Oracle Cloud with new services giving customers access to the world's leading database and Java application server in the cloud. These services will give customers full administrative control and managed service options.

451 Research released a study that contained several key facts concerning cloud computing growth. According to them, 69% of enterprises who have separate budgets for cloud computing are predicting to spend more this year, and in 2014, for this service. They also projected that the worldwide cloud computing market will grow at a 36% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) through 2016. This would make the market reach $19.5 billion by 2016.

Using the conventional P/E method, if we subtract the $39 billion in cash that Oracle has from the $155 billion market cap, we see that the company's operations can be purchased for $116 billion. Because Oracle has a net income of $11 billion (TTM), the company is actually trading at a P/E of 10.54 as opposed to the current 14.46. Oracle also has an estimated Forward P/E (1 year) of 10.65.

Let's take a look at using a version of the Discounted Cash Flow m! ethod (DC! F) to valuate the share price. I will use the most recent Earnings Per Share of 2.32, an 18.9% growth rate over the next 10 years (which is the average EPS growth rate of the past 10 years), a Terminal Growth Rate of 2% (average inflation rate for 2013 so far), with 10 years of Terminal Growth at a Discount Rate of 12% to be safe. That leaves us with a Fair Value of $58.85 and a 42% Margin of Safety. That's a healthy margin.

We can also look at the Peter Lynch value, which is currently at $38.81, and view the corresponding chart:

End Notes

Disclosure: No current position held at the time of writing.

Disclaimer: The opinions and ideas in this article are for informational and educational purposes only. They are not a recommendation to buy or sell any stock at any given time. As always, it is imperative for each individual investor to do their own due diligence and perform their own research on any and all stocks before making an investment decision.

How income inequality hurts America

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) It's not just income inequality. It's lifespan inequality. And education inequality. And declining economic growth.

It's a well-established fact that the rich are getting richer, while the poor and middle class are falling behind.

"The 400 richest people in the United States have more wealth than the bottom 150 million put together," said Berkeley Professor and former Labor Secretary Robert Reich on a recent CNNMoney panel on inequality.

Meanwhile, the median wage earner in America took home 9% less last year than in 1999.

But the rising income gap is manifesting itself in American society in other ways too.

Social scientists have long said income inequality is bad for society. Yet popular measures of social stability -- crime rates, voter non-participation -- have been going down over the last couple of decades.

So how does inequality hurt?

Lifespans: Paychecks aren't the only things that are increasingly unequal. Rich people are actually living longer than poor people.

In the early 1980s, wealthy Americans lived 2.8 years longer than the poor, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. The wealthy and poor were defined as the top and bottom 10% on a number of different economic measures.

But by the late 1990s the rich were living 4.5 years longer, and the gap has only widened since then, HHS said.

The increasing disparity is a result of a variety of reasons including "material and social living conditions" as well as access to medical care, according to HHS.

Education: For Americans born in the early 1960s, 5% of poor people went to college and 35% of rich folks did, according to the Russell Sage Foundation. They defined rich and poor as top and bottom 25% for income.

Only o! ne generation later -- Americans born around 1980 -- the number of rich people going to college jumped by 20 percentage points. For poor people, it rose only 3 percentage points.

That further perpetuates the cycle of income inequality, as an increasing number of middle-class jobs favor the more educated.

While researchers stress that it's difficult to concretely link any of these measures with rising income inequality, the correlation is compelling.

"When income inequality goes up, you see more inequality in these other things," said Lane Kenworthy, a professor of sociology and political science at the University of Arizona.

Economic growth: Some economists have long argued that a widening income gap suppresses economic growth and job creation, and may be one reason this economic recovery doesn't feel like a recovery at all.

The theory is based on research showing middle-class people tend to spend more of their income than rich people. As their incomes and feelings of relative wealth decline, so does overall economic growth.

Since the recession ended, growth has averaged just 2.2%. That compares to the 3.3% historical average since the Great Depression.

"Our middle class is too weak to support the consumer spending that has historically driven our economic growth," Nobel Prize-winning Economist and Columbia Professor Joseph Stiglitz wrote in an editorial earlier this year.

"With inequality at its highest level since before the Depression, a robust recovery will be difficult in the short term, and the American dream — a good life in exchange for hard work — is slowly dying."

  Who's to blame for income inequality?

What to do about it: Research shows Americans want the country to be more equ! al -- two! thirds say inequality is a problem according to Leslie McCall, a sociology and political science professor at Northwestern University.

The trouble is, Americans don't really know what to do about it. Strengthening unions, taxing the rich, raising the minimum wage and better job training are a few ideas.

But many view inequality as an unavoidable symptom of the free market -- a market that has, on a global scale, lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and provided the wherewithal to boost living standards around the world.

"It's not clear that raising taxes will produce what people want -- which is better jobs and more pay," said McCall.

Best Bank Companies To Buy For 2014

Most Asian stocks fell as corporate earnings showed mixed results and the Bank of Japan added nothing new to its stimulus pledge. The regional benchmark index remains headed toward its biggest monthly advance since at least December.

Shiseido Co., Asia�� biggest cosmetics maker, slumped 8.3 percent in Tokyo after reducing its dividend. Advantest dropped 7.9 percent after the maker of chip testers posted an unexpected loss on falling computer demand. BYD Co., the Chinese automaker partially owned by Warren Buffett�� Berkshire Hathaway Inc., jumped 12 percent in Hong Kong after saying first-half earnings will surge.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.1 percent to 139.79 at 7:11 p.m. in Tokyo, erasing a gain of 0.4 percent. About two stocks dropped for each that rose. The measure is heading for a 2.6 percent advance this week, while having gained 3.1 percent this month.

��rofit results look OK,��said Shane Oliver, Sydney-based head of investment strategy at AMP Capital Investors Ltd., which has $126 billion under management. ��nvestors are giving Japan the benefit of the doubt. If it�� a good profit or economic figure, investors say it�� good. And if it�� a bad one, they say it doesn�� matter because the BOJ is doing stimulus.��

Best Bank Companies To Buy For 2014: Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LYG)

Lloyds Banking Group plc, incorporated on October 21, 1985, is a holding company. The Company is a financial services group providing a range of banking and financial services, primarily in the United Kingdom, to personal and corporate customers. The Company operates in four segments: Retail, Commercial Banking, Wealth, Asset Finance and International and Insurance. Retail provides banking, mortgages and other financial services to personal customers in the United Kingdom. Commercial Banking provides banking and related services to business clients, from small businesses to large corporate. Wealth, Asset Finance and International provides private banking and asset management and asset finance in the United Kingdom and overseas and operates the Company�� international retail businesses. Insurance provides long term savings, protection and investment products in the United Kingdom and Europe and provides general insurance to personal customers in the United Kingdom.

Retail

The Retail division operates the retail bank in the United Kingdom and is a provider of current accounts, savings, personal loans, credit cards and mortgages. This includes a range of current accounts including packaged accounts and basic banking accounts. It is also the provider of personal loans in the United Kingdom, as well as being the United Kingdom�� credit card issuer. Retail is the private sector savings provider in the United Kingdom. It is also a general insurance and bancassurance distributor, offering a range of long-term savings, investment and general insurance products.

Commercial Banking

The Commercial Banking division supports the Company�� business clients from small businesses to corporate. Commercial Banking provides support to corporate clients through the provision of core banking products, such as lending, deposits and transaction banking services whilst also offering clients expertise in capital markets (private placements, bonds and syndicated loans), ! financial markets (foreign exchange, interest rate management, money market and credit) and private equity.

Wealth, Asset Finance and International

Wealth, Asset Finance and International consists of the Company�� the United Kingdom and international wealth businesses, the Company�� the United Kingdom and international asset finance and online deposit businesses along with its international retail businesses. The Wealth business consists of private banking and asset management. Wealth�� private banking operations cater to the range of wealth clients from affluent to Ultra High Net Worth within the United Kingdom, Channel Islands and Isle of Man, and internationally. Asset Finance consists of a number of leasing and speciality lending businesses in the United Kingdom, including Lex Autolease and Black Horse Motor and Personal Finance along with its leasing and specialty lending businesses in Australia and its European online deposit business. The international business comprises its non-core banking business outside the United Kingdom, with the exception of corporate business written through the Commercial Banking division. This primarily consists of Ireland, Retail Europe and Asia.

Insurance

The Insurance division provides long-term savings, protection and investment products and general insurance products to customers in the United Kingdom and Europe. The United Kingdom Life, Pensions and Investments business provides long-term savings, protection and investment products distributed through the bancassurance, intermediary and direct channels of the Lloyds TSB, Halifax, Bank of Scotland and Scottish Widows brands. The European Life, Pensions and Investments business distributes products primarily in the German market under the Heidelberger Leben and Clerical Medical brands. The General Insurance business is a distributor of home insurance in the United Kingdom, with products sold through the branch network, direct channels and strategic corporate! partners! . It operates primarily under the Lloyds TSB, Halifax and Bank of Scotland brands.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jeff Reeves]

  Swiss financials Credit Suisse (CS) and UBS as well as U.K. banks like Lloyd's (LYG) have delivered returns significantly better than the S&P 500 this year. Optimism regarding consumer and business lending has lifted shares, and the trend looks to continue in 2014. If you're a believer in the EU recovery, financial stocks are a great way to be at the center of an economic turnaround.

Best Bank Companies To Buy For 2014: Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc (MTU)

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. (MUFJ), incorporated on April 2, 2001, is a holding company for The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd. (BTMU), Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation (MUTB), Mitsubishi UFJ Securities Holdings Co., Ltd. (MUSHD), Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co., Ltd.( MUMSS), Mitsubishi UFJ NICOS Co., Ltd. (Mitsubishi UFJ NICOS) and other companies engaged in a range of financial businesses. Its services include commercial banking, trust banking, securities, credit cards, consumer finance, asset management, leasing and fields of financial services. In May 2010, the Company and Morgan Stanley formed two joint ventures in Japan by integrating our respective Japanese securities companies engaged in investment banking and securities businesses. The Company converted the wholesale and retail securities businesses conducted in Japan by the former MUS into one of the joint venture entities, which is named MUMSS. Morgan Stanley contributed the investment banking operations conducted in Japan by its formerly wholly owned subsidiary, Morgan Stanley Japan Securities Co., Ltd. (MSJS) into MUMSS and converted the sales and trading and capital markets businesses conducted in Japan by MSJS into a second joint venture entity called Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities, Co., Ltd.

Integrated Retail Banking Business Group

The Integrated Retail Banking Business Group covers all domestic retail businesses, including commercial banking, trust banking and securities businesses, and enables the Company to offer a range of banking products and services, including financial consulting services, to retail customers in Japan. This business group integrates the retail business of BTMU, MUTB and MUMSS, as well as retail product development, promotion and marketing in a single management structure. Many of its retail services are offered through its network of MUFG Plazas providing individual customers with access to its financial product offerings of integrated commercial b! anking, trust banking and securities services.

The Company offers a range of bank deposit products, including a non-interest-bearing deposit account that is redeemable on demand and intended for payment and settlement functions, and is insured without a maximum amount limitation. It also offers a variety of asset management and asset administration services to individuals, including savings instruments, such as current accounts, ordinary deposits, time deposits, deposits at notice and other deposit facilities. MUFJ also offers trust products, such as loan trusts and money trusts, and other investment products, such as investment trusts, performance-based money trusts and foreign currency deposits.

The Company creates portfolios by combining savings instruments and investment products. It also provide a range of asset management and asset administration products, as well as customized trust products for high-net-worth individuals, as well as advisory services relating to the purchase and disposal of real estate and effective land utilization, and testamentary trusts. The Company provides a varied line up of investment trust products allowing its customers to choose products according to their investment needs through BTMU, MUTB and MUMSS, as well as kabu.com Securities, which specializes in online financial services. In the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010, BTMU offered a total of five investment trusts. As of the end of March 2010, BTMU offered its clients a total of 73 investment trusts.

The Company offers securities, including publicly offered stocks, foreign and domestic investment trusts, Japanese government bonds, foreign bonds and various other products. The Company offers housing loans, card loans and other loans to individuals. With respect to housing loans, in addition to housing loans incorporating health insurance for seven major illnesses, BTMU began offering in June 2009 preferential interest rates under its Environmentally Friendly Support program ! to custom! ers who purchase environment-conscious houses (like houses with solar electric systems), which meet specific criteria in response to increasing public interest in environmental issues. In September 2009, BTMU launched housing loans with home mortgage insurance, which BTMU jointly developed with the Japan Housing Finance Agency, a governmental agency under the Japanese government�� economic stimulus measures, under which the agency indemnifies BTMU for losses from housing loans.

The Company offers products and services through a range of channels, including branches, automated teller machines (ATMs) (including convenience store ATMs shared by multiple banks), Mitsubishi-Tokyo UFJ Direct (telephone, Internet and mobile phone banking), the Video Counter and postal mail. It offers integrated financial services combining its banking, trust banking and securities services at MUFG Plazas. These Plazas provide retail customers with integrated and flexible suite of services at one-stop outlets. As of March 31 2010, the Company provided those services through 47 MUFG Plazas. The Company offers MUTB�� trust related products and advisory services through its trust agency system not only for MUTB customers but also for BTMU and MUMSS customers. As of March 31, 2010, BTMU engaged in eight businesses as the trust banking agent for MUTB: testamentary trusts, inheritance management, asset succession planning, inheritance management agency operations, business management financial consulting, lifetime gift trusts, share disposal trusts, and marketable securities administration trusts.

Integrated Corporate Banking Business Group

The Integrated Corporate Banking Business Group covers all domestic and overseas corporate businesses, including commercial banking, investment banking, trust banking and securities businesses, as well as UnionBanCal Corporation (UNBC). UNBC is a wholly owned subsidiary of BTMU and a US bank holding company with Union Bank being its primary subsidiary. T! he Compan! y provides various financial solutions, such as loans and fund management, remittance and foreign exchange services. It also helps its customers develop business strategies, such as inheritance-related business transfers and stock listings.

It offers advanced financial solutions to companies through corporate and investment banking services. Product specialists globally provide derivatives, securitization, syndicated loans, structured finance and other services. It also provides investment banking services, such as merger and acquisition (M&A) advisory, bond and equity underwriting. It provides online banking services that allow customers to make domestic and overseas remittances electronically. It also provides a global cash pooling/netting service, and the Treasury Station, a fund management system for a multi-company group. The Company�� global Corporate and Investment Banking business (Global CIB), primarily serves companies, financial institutions, and sovereign and multinational organizations with a set of solutions for their financing needs.

Integrated Trust Assets Business Group

The Integrated Trust Assets Business Group covers asset management and administration services for products, such as pension trusts and security trusts by integrating the trust banking expertise of MUTB and the international strengths of BTMU. The business group provides a range of services to corporate and pension funds, including stable and secure pension fund management and administration, advice on pension schemes, and payment of benefits to scheme members. Its Integrated Trust Assets Business Group combines MUTB�� trust assets business, comprising trust assets management services, asset administration and custodial services, and the businesses of Mitsubishi UFJ Global Custody S.A., Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co., Ltd. and KOKUSAI Asset Management Co., Ltd.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jim Jubak]

  I think you can use shares of Japanese exporters-such as Toyota Motors (TM)-or Japanese financials-such as Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MTU)-as trading vehicles for this move. I mention both because they trade as very liquid ADRs in New York. If you trade in Tokyo, you should look at exporters more leveraged to the yen than Toyota-such as Hino Motors (JP:7205 in Tokyo) or Mazda Motor (JP:7261)-or real estate development companies with more yen sensitivity than more diversified financials-such as Sumitomo Realty and Development (JP:8830). Toyota and Mitsubishi UFJ are both members of my Jubak's Picks portfolio.

• [By Dan Carroll]

  Mitsubishi UFJ (NYSE: MTU  ) also plunged in the Japanese financial sector's sell-off, with the firm's stock dropping 12.3% over the week. This firm faced more of a threat from Thursday's action, however: Japan's benchmark bond yield climbed to its highest level in more than a year, and Mitsubishi is the largest lender by assets in the country and holds more than 48 million yen in government bonds. Bond yields are still coming off of record lows, so Mitsubishi's hardly in a dangerous place. The firm's attempts to expand recently may also help boost revenue at a company that posted declining net income in its most recent quarter.

Top Penny Companies To Own For 2014: Citigroup Inc.(C)

Citigroup, Inc., a global financial services company, provides consumers, corporations, governments, and institutions with a range of financial products and services. The company operates through two segments, Citicorp and Citi Holdings. The Citicorp segment operates as a global bank for businesses and consumers with two primary businesses, Regional Consumer Banking and Institutional Clients Group. The Regional Consumer Banking business provides traditional banking services, including retail banking, and branded cards in North America, Asia, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The Institutional Clients Group business provides securities and banking services comprising investment banking and advisory services, lending, debt and equity sales and trading, institutional brokerage, foreign exchange, structured products, cash instruments and related derivatives, and private banking; and transaction services consisting of treasury and trade solutions, and securiti es and fund services. The Citi Holdings segment operates Brokerage and Asset Management, Local Consumer Lending, and Special Asset Pool businesses. The Brokerage and Asset Management Business, through its 49% stake in Morgan Stanley Smith Barney joint venture and Nikko Cordial Securities, offers retail brokerage and asset management services. The Local Consumer Lending business provides residential mortgage loans, retail partner card loans, personal loans, commercial real estate, and other consumer loans, as well as western European cards and retail banking services. The Special Asset Pool business is a portfolio of securities, loans, and other assets. Citigroup Inc. has approximately 200 million customer accounts and operates in approximately 160 countries. The company was founded in 1812 and is based in New York, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Grgurich]

  Could Citigroup (NYSE: C  ) stock be doing any better? The superbank's share price is up a big 3.71% this week, and investors may have several factors to thank.

Best Bank Companies To Buy For 2014: Comerica Inc (CMA)

Comerica Incorporated (Comerica) is a financial services company. Comercia operates in four segments: the Business Bank, the Retail Bank, Wealth Management and the Finance Division. As of December 31, 2011, Comerica owned two active banking and 49 non-banking subsidiaries. The Company's Business Bank meets the needs of middle market businesses, multinational corporations and governmental entities by offering products and services, including commercial loans and lines of credit, deposits, cash management, capital market products, international trade finance, letters of credit, foreign exchange management services and loan syndication services. On July 28, 2011, Comerica acquired Sterling Bancshares, Inc. (Sterling), a bank holding company.

The Company's Retail Bank includes small business banking and personal financial services, consisting of consumer lending, consumer deposit gathering and mortgage loan origination. In addition to a range of financial services provided to small business customers, this business segment offers a range of consumer products, including deposit accounts, installment loans, credit cards, student loans, home equity lines of credit and residential mortgage loans.

Wealth Management offers products and services consisting of fiduciary services, private banking, retirement services, investment management and advisory services, investment banking and brokerage services. This business segment also offers the sale of annuity products, as well as life, disability and long-term care insurance products. The Finance segment includes Comerica�� securities portfolio and asset and liability management activities. This segment is engaged in managing Comerica�� funding, liquidity and capital needs, performing interest sensitivity analysis and executing strategies to manage Comerica�� exposure to liquidity, interest rate risk and foreign exchange risk.

The Other category includes discontinued operations, the income and expense impact of equity an! d cash, tax benefits not assigned to specific business segments and miscellaneous other expenses of a corporate nature. In addition, Comerica delivers financial services in its four markets: Midwest, Western, Texas and Florida. The Midwest market consists of Michigan, Ohio and Illinois. The Western market consists of the states of California, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and Washington. California operations represent the the Western market. The Texas and Florida markets consist of the states of Texas and Florida, respectively. Other Markets include businesses with a national perspective, Comerica�� investment management and trust alliance businesses, as well as activities in all other markets, in which Comerica has operations, except for the International market. The International market represents the activities of Comerica�� international finance division, which provides banking services to foreign-owned, North American-based companies and to international operations of North American-based companies.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Financial-services specialist�Comerica (NYSE: CMA  ) announced yesterday its third-quarter dividend of $0.17�per share, the same rate it's paid for the past two quarters after raising the payout 13% from $0.15 per share.

• [By Shauna O'Brien]

  Goldman Sachs announced on Tuesday that it has lifted its rating on Comerica Incorporated (CMA) to “Neutral.”

  The firm has upgraded CMA from “Sell” to “Neutral,” and has raised the company’s price target from $38 to $42. This price target suggests a 2% upside from the stock’s current price of $40.83.

  An analyst from the firm noted: “The market has shown willingness to price the shares at a premium based on CMA�� absolute rate upside, which we do not expect to change much over time.”

  “That said, near-term expectations could be at risk given the ~4% decline in loans in 3Q, which if it continues could weigh on its longer-term earnings profile,” the analyst added.

  Looking ahead, the firm has lowered its FY2013 earnings estimates from $2.85 to $2.81 per share. FY2014 estimates have been reduced from $2.95 to $2.90 per share and FY2015 estimates of $3.30 per share were maintained.

  Comerica shares were mostly flat during pre-market trading Tuesday. The stock is up 35% YTD.

• [By The Part-time Investor]

  The following stocks met the criteria in January of 2008 and were put into the initial portfolio:

  Abbot Labs (ABT)Advanced data processing (ADP)Associated Banc-Corp (ASBC)Bank of America (BAC)BB&T Corp. (BBT)Bemis Company (BMS)Anheuser Busch (BUD)The Chubb Corporation (CB)Clorox (CLX)Comerica Inc. (CMA)Diebold Inc. (DBD)Emerson Electronics (EMR)First Dollar Corp. (FDO)First Third BanCorp. (FITB)Gannett Co, Inc. (GCI)General Electric (GE)Hershey (HSY)Illinois Tools Works (ITW)Johnson and Johnson (JNJ)Leggett and Platt (LEG)Eli Lilly (LLY)La-Z-Boy (LZB)McDonald's (MCD)Marsh and Ilsley (MI)M&T Bancorp (MTB)PepsiCo (PEP)Pfizer (PFE)Procter & Gamble (PG)Pentair Ltd. (PNR)Regions Financial Corp. (RF)Rohm and Haas (ROH)RPM International (RPM)Sherwin Williams (SHW)Sysco Corp. (SYY)UDR Inc. (UDR)

  Historical quotes were taken from Yahoo Finance. $10,000 was put into each position, to the nearest whole share, so a total of $349,262.89 was invested. From 1/15/08 through 5/16/13 all dividends were reinvested back into the stock that paid them. If a dividend cut was announced, that stock was sold on the ex-div date of the new, lower dividend.

Best Bank Companies To Buy For 2014: Western Alliance Bancorporation (WAL)

Western Alliance Bancorporation (WAL) is a bank holding company. The Company provides full-service banking and lending to locally owned businesses, professional firms, real estate developers and investors, local non-profit organizations, high net worth individuals and other consumers through its three wholly owned subsidiary banks (the Banks): Bank of Nevada (BON), operating in Southern Nevada; Western Alliance Bank (WAB), operating in Arizona and Northern Nevada, and Torrey Pines Bank (TPB), operating in California. In addition, the Company�� non-bank subsidiaries, Shine Investment Advisory Services, Inc. (Shine) and Western Alliance Equipment Finance (WAEF), offer an array of financial products and services to small to mid-sized businesses and their proprietors, including financial planning, custody and investments, and equipment leasing nationwide. It operates in four segments: Bank of Nevada, Western Alliance Bank, Torrey Pines Bank and Other.

The Company provides a range of banking services, as well as investment advisory services, through its consolidated subsidiaries. As of December 31, 2011, WAL owned an 80% interest in Shine. As of December 31, 2011, the Company owned a 24.9% interest in Miller/Russell & Associates, Inc. (MRA), an investment advisor. MRA provides investment advisory services to individuals, foundations, retirement plans and corporations.

Lending Activities

Through the Company�� banking segments, the Company provides a variety of financial services to customers, including commercial real estate loans, construction and land development loans, commercial loans, and consumer loans. Loans to businesses consisted 89.2% of the total loan portfolio at December 31, 2011. Loans to finance the purchase or refinancing of commercial real estate (CRE) and loans to finance inventory and working capital that are additionally secured by CRE make up the majority of its loan portfolio. These CRE loans are secured by apartment buildings, professional of! fices, industrial facilities, retail centers and other commercial properties. As of December 31, 2011, 49% of its CRE loans were owner-occupied. Owner-occupied commercial real estate loans are loans secured by owner-occupied nonfarm nonresidential properties for which the primary source of repayment (more than 50%) is the cash flow from the ongoing operations and activities conducted by the borrower who owns the property. Non-owner-occupied commercial real estate loans are commercial real estate loans for which the primary source of repayment is nonaffiliated rental income associated with the collateral property.

Construction and land development loans include multi-family apartment projects, industrial/warehouse properties, office buildings, retail centers and medical facilities. Commercial and industrial loans include working capital lines of credit, inventory and accounts receivable lines, mortgage warehouse lines, equipment loans and leases, and other commercial loans. Commercial loans are primarily originated to small and medium-sized businesses in a variety of industries. Consumer loans are generally offered at a higher rate and shorter term than residential mortgages. Its consumer loans include home equity loans and lines of credit, home improvement loans, credit card loans, and personal lines of credit. As of December 31, 2011, its loan portfolio totaled $4.68 billion, or approximately 68.4% of its total assets.

Investment Activities

All of the Company�� investment securities are classified as available-for-sale (AFS) or held-to-maturity (HTM). As of December 31, 2011, the Company had an investment securities portfolio of $1.48 billion, representing approximately 21.7% of its total assets. As of December 31, 2011, its investment securities portfolio consisted of the United States Government sponsored agency securities, Municipal obligations, Adjustable-rate preferred stock, Mutual funds, Corporate bonds, Direct the United States obligation and government-! sponsored! enterprise (GSE) residential mortgage-backed securities, private label residential mortgage-backed securities, Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) investments, Trust preferred securities, Private label commercial mortgage-backed securities, and Collateralized debt obligations.

Sources of Funds

The Company offers a variety of deposit products, including checking accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts and other types of deposit accounts, including fixed-rate, fixed maturity retail certificates of deposit. As of December 31, 2011, the deposit portfolio consisted of 27.5% non-interest bearing deposits and 72.5% interest-bearing deposits. Non-interest bearing deposits consist of non-interest bearing checking account balances. In addition to its deposit base, it has access to other sources of funding, including Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) and Federal Reserve Bank (FRB) advances, repurchase agreements and unsecured lines of credit with other financial institutions.

Financial Products and Services

In addition to traditional commercial banking activities, the Company offers other financial services to customers, including Internet banking, wire transfers, electronic bill payment, lock box services, courier, and cash management services. Through Shine, a full-service financial advisory firm, the Company offers financial planning and investment management.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Investment Biker]

  Investment Summary: This article is on Western Alliance Bancorporation (WAL), a growth-oriented commercial lender in the Southwest. The banks looks set to improve profitability supported by economic recovery in Last Vegas, industry-leading revenue performance and operating leverage supported by expense control. The credit profile of the bank looks excellent with limited exposure to residential mortgage and well poised to grow its loan portfolio by 20% annually over the next 3 years. It is also well set on a path to credit recovery with improving fundamentals that justifies premium valuation going forward.

Best Bank Companies To Buy For 2014: Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA.AX)

Commonwealth Bank of Australia (the Bank) is engaged in the provision of a range of banking and financial products and services to retail, small business, corporate and institutional clients. The Bank is a provider of integrated financial services, including retail, business and institutional banking, superannuation, life insurance, general insurance, funds management, broking services and finance company activities. Its operating segments include Retail Banking Services, Business and Private Banking, Institutional Banking and Markets, Wealth Management, New Zealand, Bankwest and Other. Its retail banking services include home loans, consumer finance, retail deposits and distribution. Its business and private banking include corporate financial services, regional and agribusiness banking, local business banking, private bank and equities and margin lending. The Bank and its subsidiaries ceased to be a substantial holder in Ten Network Holdings Limited, as of September 12, 2012.

Best Bank Companies To Buy For 2014: Itau Unibanco Holding SA (ITUB)

Itau Unibanco Holding S.A., incorporated on September 9, 1943, is a bank in Brazil. The Company has four operational segments: Commercial Banking, Itau BBA, Consumer Credit and Corporate and Treasury. Commercial banking, including insurance, pension plan and capitalization products, credit cards, asset management and a variety of credit products and services for individuals, small and middle-market companies). Itau BBA includes corporate and investment banking. Consumer credit includes financial products and services to its non-accountholders. Corporate and treasury includes the results related to the trading activities in its portfolio, trading related to managing currency, interest rate and other market risk factors, gap management and arbitrage opportunities in domestic and foreign markets. It also includes the results associated with financial income from the investment of its excess capital.

On October 24, 2010, Itau Unibanco completed the integration of customer service locations throughout Brazil. In total, 998 branches and 245 customer site branches (CSB) of Unibanco were redesigned and integrated as Itau Unibanco customer service locations, thus creating a network of approximately 4,700 units in the country under the Itau brand. The Company is a financial holding company controlled by Itau Unibanco Participacoes S.A. (IUPAR). As of December 31, 2010, it had a network of 3,747 service branches throughout Brazil. As of December 31, 2010, it operated 913 CSBs throughout Brazil. As of December 31, 2010, it operated 28,844 automated teller machines (ATMs) throughout Brazil.

Commercial banking

The commercial banking segment offers a range of banking services to a diversified base of individuals and companies. Services offered by the commercial banking segment include insurance, pension plan and capitalization products, credit cards, asset management, credit products and customized products and solutions. The commercial banking segment comprises the specialized! areas and products, such as retail banking (individuals); public sector banking; personnalite (banking for high-income individuals); private banking (banking and financial consulting for wealthy individuals); very small business banking; small business banking; middle-market banking; credit cards; real estate financing; asset management; corporate social responsibility fund; securities services for third parties; brokerage, and insurance, private retirement and capitalization products.

The Company�� credit products include personal loans, overdraft protection, payroll loans, vehicles, credit cards, mortgage and agricultural loans, working capital, trade note discount and export. Its investments products include pension plans, mutual funds, time deposits, demand deposit accounts, savings accounts and capitalization plans. Its services include insurance (life, home, credit/cash cards, vehicles, loan protection, among others), exchange, brokerage and others. Its core business is retail banking, which serves individuals with a monthly income below R$7,000. In October 2010, it completed the conversion of branches under the Unibanco brand to the Itau brand and as of December 31, 2010, it had over 15.2 million customers and 4,660 branches and CSBs. Its public sector business operates in all areas of the public sector, including the federal, state and municipal governments (in the executive, legislative and judicial branches). As of December 31, 2010, it had approximately 2,300 public sector customers. Itau Personnalite�� focus is delivering financial advisory services by its managers, who understand the specific needs of its higher-income customers; a portfolio of exclusive products and services; special benefits based on the type and length of relationship with the customer, including discounts on various products and services. Itau Personnalite�� customer base reached more than 600,000 individuals as of December 31, 2010. Itau Personnalite customers also have access to Itau Unibanco netwo! rk of bra! nches and ATMs throughout the country, as well as Internet banking and phone.

Itau Private Bank is a Brazilian bank in the global private banking industry, providing wealth management services to approximately 17,951 Latin American clients as of December 31, 2010. The Company serves its customers��needs for offshore wealth management solutions in major jurisdictions through independent institutions in the United States through Banco Itau Europa International and Itau Europa Securities , in Luxembourg through Banco Itau Europa Luxembourg S.A. , in Switzerland through Banco Itau Suisse , in the Bahamas through BIE Bank & Trust Bahamas and in Cayman through Unicorp Bank & Trust Cayman. As of December 31, 2010, it had over 565 very small business banking offices located throughout Brazil and approximately 2,500 managers working for over 1,235,000 small business customers. Loans to very small businesses totaled R$5,981 million as of December 31, 2010. As of December 31, 2010, it had 374 small business banking offices located nationwide in Brazil and nearly 2,500 managers who worked for over 525,000 companies. Loans to small businesses totaled R$28,744 million as of December 31, 2010.

As of December 31, 2010, it had approximately 115,000 middle-market corporate customers that represented a range of Brazilian companies located in over 83 cities in Brazil. The Company offers a range of financial products and services to middle-market customers, including deposit accounts, investment options, insurance, private retirement plans and credit products. Credit products include investment capital loans, working capital loans, inventory financing, trade financing, foreign currency services, equipment leasing services, letters of credit and guarantees. The Company also carries out financial transactions on behalf of middle-market customers, including interbank transactions, open market transactions and futures, swaps, hedging and arbitrage transactions. It also offers its middle-market custom! ers colle! ction services and electronic payment services. The Company is able to provide these services for virtually any kind of payment, including Internet office banking. It charges collection fees and fees for making payments, such as payroll, on behalf of its customers.

The Company is engaged in the Brazilian credit card market. Its subsidiaries, Banco Itaucard S.A. (Banco Itaucard) and Hipercard Banco Multiplo S.A. (Hipercard), offers a range of products to 26 million customers as of December 31, 2010, including both accountholders and non-accountholders. As of December 31, 2010, it had approximately R$16,271 million in outstanding real estate loans. As of December 31, 2010, it had total net assets under management of R$291,748 million on behalf of approximately 2.1 million customers. The Company also provides portfolio management services for pension funds, corporations, private bank customers and foreign investors. As of December 31, 2010, it had R$184,496 million of assets under management for pension funds, corporations and private bank customers. As of December 31, 2010, the Company offered and managed about 1,791 mutual funds, which are mostly fixed-income and money market funds. For individual customers, it offered 154 funds to its retail customers and approximately 287 funds to its Itau Personnalite customers. Private banking customers may invest in over 600 funds, including those offered by other institutions. Itau BBA�� capital markets group also provides tailor-made mutual funds to institutional, corporate and private banking customers.

The Company provides securities services in the Brazilian capital markets. Its services also include acting as transfer agent, providing services relating to debentures and promissory notes, custody and control services for mutual funds, pension funds and portfolios, providing trustee services and non-resident investor services, and acting as custodian for depositary receipt programs. The Company also provides brokerage services to inte! rnational! customers through its broker-dealer operations in New York, through its London branch, and through its broker-dealers in Hong Kong and Dubai. Its main lines of insurance are life and casualty (excluding Vida Gerador de Benefucio Livre), extended warranties and property. Its policies are sold through its banking operations, independent local brokers, multinational brokers and other channels. As of December 31, 2010, it had 9.9 million in capitalization products outstanding, representing R$2,620 million in liabilities with assets that function as guarantees of R$2,646 million. The Company distributes these products through its retail network, Itau Personnalite and Itau Uniclass branches, electronic channels and ATMs. These products are sold by its subsidiary, Cia. Itau de Capitalizacao S.A.

Itau BBA

Itau BBA is responsible for its corporate and investment banking activities. As of December 31, 2010, Itau BBA offered a portfolio of products and services to approximately 2,400 companies and conglomerates in Brazil. Itau BBA�� activities range from typical operations of a commercial bank to capital markets operations and advisory services for mergers and acquisitions. As of December 31, 2010, its corporate loan portfolio was R$ 76,584 million. In investment banking, the fixed income department was responsible for the issuance of debentures and promissory notes that totaled R$18,888 million and securitization transactions that amounted to R$4,677 million in Brazil in 2010. In addition, Itau BBA advised 35 merger and acquisition transactions with an aggregate deal volume of R$16,973 million in 2010.

Itau BBA is also active in Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Economico e Social (BNDES) on-lending to finance large-scale projects, aiming at strengthening domestic infrastructure. In consolidated terms, total loans granted by Itau BBA under BNDES on-lending represented more than R$9,010 million in 2010. Itau BBA focuses on the products and initiatives in the international ! business ! unit, such as structuring long-term, bilateral and syndicated financing, and spot foreign exchange. In addition, in 2010 Itau BBA continued to offer a large number of lines of credit for foreign trade.

Consumer Credit

As of December 31, 2010, its portfolio of vehicle financing, leasing and consortium lending consisted of approximately 3.8 million contracts, of which approximately 71.1% were non-accountholder customers. The personal loan portfolio relating to vehicle financing and leasing reached R$60,254 million in 2010. The Company leased and financed vehicles through 13,706 dealers as of December 31, 2010. Sales are made through computer terminals installed in the dealerships that are connected to its computer network. Redecard S.A. (Redecard) is a multibrand credit card provider in Brazil, also responsible for the capturing, transmission, processing and settlement of credit, debit and benefit card transactions. As of December 31, 2010, the Company held approximately 50% interest in Redecard�� capital stock.

The Company competes with Bradesco, Banco do Brasil S.A. (Banco do Brasil), Banco Santander, Caixa Economica Federal (CEF), BNDES, HSBC, Banco Citibank S.A, Banco de Investimentos Credit Suisse (Brasil) S.A., Banco JP Morgan S.A., Banco Morgan Stanley S.A., Banco Merrill Lynch de Investimentos S.A., Banco BTG Pactual S.A., Banco Panamericano S.A, Citibank S.A., Banco GE Capital S.A. and Banco Ibi S.A.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Hilary Kramer]

  Itau Unibanco (ITUB): A lot of investors have never heard of Itau because it’s headquartered in Brazil, but it’s one of the world’s largest financial institutions. With 5,000 branches, 100,000 employees and nearly $500 billion in assets (yes, half a trillion!), ITUB is not just the largest Latin American bank, it is one of the biggest in the world. With proven dominance in Brazil (and Latin America), Itau Unibanco is a go-to financial pick, and it currently yields an attractive 3.5%. I recently recommended that my Inner Circle readers sell ITUB on a nice bounce due to the risk of near-term weakness on economic data out of China, but I�� already looking for an opportunity to get back in.

Best Bank Companies To Buy For 2014: Popular Inc.(BPOP)

Popular, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides a range of retail and commercial banking products and services primarily to corporate clients, small and middle size businesses, and retail clients in Puerto Rico and Mainland United States. It offers deposit products; commercial, consumer, and mortgage loans, as well as lease finance; and finance and advisory services. The company also offers trust and asset management, brokerage and investment banking, and insurance and reinsurance services. As of December 31, 2010, it owned and occupied approximately 94 branch premises and other facilities in Puerto Rico; and 119 offices, including 20 owned and 99 leased in New York, Illinois, New Jersey, California, Florida, and Texas. Popular, Inc. was founded in 1917 and is headquartered in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Popular (NASDAQ: BPOP) shares tumbled 5.54 percent to $27.48 after Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock from Equal-weight to Underweight.

  Pacific Coast Oil Trust (NYSE: ROYT) down, falling 7.13 percent to $16.70 after the company priced a public offering by Pacific Coast Energy Company LP and other selling unitholders of 13,500,000 trust units at a price of $17.10 per unit.