Gas prices are pushing our government to do something rash.  Folks who are already feeling the crunch from poor credit management to declining equity in housing to fear of job loss and wage reduction are barking for congress to “do something” about gas prices.  It’s understandable.

However, a witch hunt to blame high prices on everything from price gouging at the local level to unreasonably high profits at the national level to speculation on wall street is shaping up to do us more harm than good.

The only thing that will reign in speculation is supply outweighing demand.  …

Last Wednesday, Provident Energy (PVX: chart, web, Y!) came out with their 2007 year-end and Q407 report, and also provided an update on reserves.

All around a positive report, and I’m curious as to why the stock dropped almost a dollar in two days on a fairly bullish report. The only thing I can think of is that crude oil ($wtic: chart) dropped $6 and natural gas ($natgas: chart) prices waned almost a dollar in those same two days will a lot of money fleeing commodities.

A few highlights from the report:

The payout ratio in the fourth quarter of …

It seems the sentiment on the trading floor is that oil is going higher. Scott Hess, is an crude trader on the Nymex, and if his outlook bears any fruit, oil is going higher.

Last Tuesday, Duncan Energy Partners (DEP: chart, web, Y!) announced the fourth quarter distribution amounting to $0.41 per share, an increase of 2.5% over the initial quarterly distribution of $0.40 per share starting in February 2007.

The distribution will be paid on February 7th to shareholders on record at the close of business January 31.

Duncan will also announce Q4 earnings on January 28th prior to the market open.

Falling Stock Price

DEP shares have been falling for the last couple of months, and in part I believe this is due to the low daily volume. Citi was a large holder (over 600,000 shares) and …

There are very few people out there that can seem to justify the near $100 price tag on crude oil. The fundamentals based on supply and demand support levels much lower than $100, leading one to believe that the additional premium on black tea is built on speculation, which tends to be the most volatile trait of a commodity.

So one has to wonder, is it time to short crude?

The next question you might ask, is if so, how? The traditional way to trade oil is through a futures account, which tends to be an expensive endeavor just to set up …

Another example of economic short-term memory.

Crude prices are continuing upward, as today Nymex Crude closed just shy of $90 per barrel. But in contrast to previous spikes, we’re not hearing the political sounding board in Washington cry for windfall profits taxes, and the talking heads are not aghast with news of gasoline shortages…

Oil is up 8% just in the few weeks since the Fed cut interest rates to bail us out of the credit crisis, and in the process fueled one of the strongest commodities (pardon the pun) we’ve seen in a long time as the thought of a higher …