Until recently, my largest positions were in financial stocks Citigroup (C), Wells Fargo (WFC) and Bank of America (BAC). As a contrarian investor, I do buy on fear and sell on greed as "my pal Warren" has advised for many years. This has worked out to be very profitable over the past 18 months. However, in the past 30 days the financial stocks have dropped to second place in favor of oil and gas stocks.

I think the economic recovery is moving at a snail's pace, lowering anticipated demand for oil while gas was already depressed based on the same factors and the addition of numerous new large supplies. Add to this the mess in the Gulf of Mexico and the public's already negative sentiment about oil companies and you have the makings of depressed pricing in the sector.

Oil-related stocks have been significantly beaten down in the wake of the BP (BP) oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The market could be suggesting, however, that now may be the time to jump back into this sector.

Frankly, the energy complex as a whole looks like the most compelling segment of the stock market right now, although it does come with significant risk as many traders and investors have already been burned trying to pick a bottom over the last few months.

In order to mitigate risk in this sector, investors could consider putting together their own oil-related ETF: Determine the amount of capital that you want to commit to this sector and then divide it up between a number of companies in order to reduce company specific risk. This is similar to buying an ETF such as the Oil Service HOLDRs ETF (OIH), but allows you to pick the specific component companies.

The costs to BP (BP) associated with cleanup, containment, relief well drilling and damage claims arising from the Gulf oil spill has exceeded $3 billion, the London-based energy giant reported Monday.

This includes $147 million in payments to individuals, businesses and governments affected by the spill, which began April 20, but not the $20 billion escrow account that BP agreed on June 16 to set up at President Obama's insistence.

How many days can we have where the plus or minus signs on the DJIA and the S&P 500 are not fully clear until the final minutes of the trading day? Lots it appears. US markets followed global markets higher this morning after China announced its partially more flexible Yuan-Dollar peg promise. A strengthening Euro and concerns in energy and retail sectors took out the strength of the day, as sellers started coming into the market right before the last hour of trading. Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 10,442.41 -8.23 (-0.08%)
S&P 500 1,113.20 -4.31 (-0.39%)
Nasdaq 2,289.09 -20.71 (-0.90%)

Top Analyst Calls

Stocks have fallen over the past month and certain stocks have fallen considerably. If you have lost equity recently and can find similarly positioned stocks, it may be wise to consider some lateral moves. Selling one stock and buying something comparable allows you to claim a loss while still remaining fully invested.

In this way you do not have to observe the 30-day rule where you cannot claim a loss in a stock sold today if you buy it back until after 30 days have past. In 30 days the market opportunity to repurchase the shares of the company you sold at good price may have also past.

BP's stock price (BP) recently declined $6.11 to $36.81 in pre-open trading. The April 20th Gulf of Mexico explosion that led to a deepwater rig sinking and the spilling of oil is operated by Transocean (RIG) in a field 65% owned by BP with minority partners Anadarko Petroleum (APC) and Mitsui. Crude oil futures are recently down 2.33% to $72.25 according to Bloomberg. BP overall option implied volatility of 46 is above its 26-week average of 32 according to Track Data, suggesting larger near term price movement.

Stocks with implied volatility above 30-day mean; Vivus (VVUS), Rambus (RMBS), ATP Oil & Gas (ATPG) according to IVolatility.

Options Update is by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

MSCI Spain Index ETF (EWP) closed at $33.07. The IBEX 35 Index is recently down 4.12%. The euro fell to its lowest level against the yen since November 2001 on concerns about the Spanish banking system. EWP over all option implied volatility of 50 is above its 26-week average of 32 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

Transocean (RIG) closed at $53.96. The April 20th Gulf of Mexico explosion that led to a deepwater rig sinking and the spilling of oil is operated by RIG in a field 65% owned BP PLC (BP) with minority partners Anadarko Petroleum (APC) and Mitsui. Crude oil futures are recently down 3.75% to $67.58 according to Bloomberg. June option implied volatility is at 79, August is at 65; above its 26-week average of 39 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

Update is by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

Analyst Upgrades

• JPMorgan upgraded Anadarko Petroleum (APC) to overweight from neutral on valuation as it views the recent pullback in shares as excessive. Despite upgrading, the firm lowered its target for shares to $82 from $90.
• Oppenheimer upgraded Office Depot (ODP) to perform from underperform and upped its target for shares to $7 from $3 after raising its estimates for companies in the Office Products Retail space. The firm expects trends to accelerate for the sector due to moderating unemployment pressures. In conjunction with the upgrade, Opco raised its target for OfficeMax (OMX) to $26 from $21 and target for Staples (SPLS) to $30 from $28. Both stocks remain outperform rated.
• C.K. Cooper upgraded iRobot (IRBT) to buy from hold with a $30 price target following the company's analyst day.
• Seadrill (SDRL) was upgraded to buy from hold at Jefferies.
• Vodafone (VOD) was upgraded to neutral from reduce at Nomura.

Analyst Upgrades

• SunTrust upgraded Anadarko Petroleum (APC) to buy from neutral. The firm believes weakness related to the oil spill disaster is overdone and is a buying opportunity. The firm set an $82 price target on the stock.
• JPMorgan upgraded NII Holdings (NIHD) to overweight from neutral following the company's Q1 results. The firm has a $55 price target on the stock.
• Keefe Bruyette upgraded Columbia Banking (COLB) to outperform from market perform following the company's secondary offering due to valuation. The firm has a $30 price target on the stock.
• Clean Harbors (CLH) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.
• Pinnacle Entertainment (PNK) was upgraded to buy from neutral at Janney Montgomery.
• Digital River (DRIV) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight at First Analysis.

"Be careful what you wish for" goes the ancient Chinese proverb. The United States government, pushed and prodded by its industrial leaders to get the Chinese to raise the value of the Yuan, should heed these wise words.

The goal, of course, is to make U.S. goods and services cheaper, thereby improving the balance of trade. The problem is that it makes everything cheaper.

It is true that it would support the remaining manufacturing base, software companies, commodities and consulting services. However, this is but a portion of what we have to offer.

What happens if the Yuan increases by 20% against the dollar, and they decide to buy International Business Machines (IBM) the company, not just IBM mainframes? This is not so far fetched. Lenovo bought the ThinkPad notebook computer division from IBM and now it sells Lenovo ThinkPads to us. They would be able to buy IBM 20% cheaper than you or I could buy it.

Anadarko Petroleum (APC), which I first wrote about here on May 14, 2009, at a price of $43.55, is still on my list of favorites. Here's why:

Look for Anadarko to post a modest revenue increase in FY2010 on higher oil prices and lower costs, following a 2009 that saw Anadarko sell noncore assets. Firming natural gas prices, and more than 10 new, deepwater exploration wells in Ghana, the Gulf of Mexico, and Brazil, among other sites, adds to the positive story.

We are still seeing mixed economic reports, something which may become the norm for early in 2009. Today was also a fairly unsurprising give-back day when you consider just how much stocks closed up yesterday. Home sales data was disappointing, while there were gains in factory orders. Even today's auto data was mixed despite a clear win outlined below. Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

DJIA
S&P500
NASDAQ

Top Analyst Upgrades/Downgrades
Top Day Trader Alerts

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says the stocks like to move higher along well-worn paths.

With the usual suspects rallying -- gold and oil -- it's important to remember how the oil rallies have unfolded in the past. You have to be able to recall the oil pecking order of the petroleum complex ramp.

First to move in the drilling complex is Transocean (RIG) (Cramer's Take), the wildest trader in the group. Then it is National Oilwell Varco (NOV) (Cramer's Take). Forget that both of these are the least affected by the day-to-day price of oil. The market's real stupid on these oil moves, and that's what happens. On the oil side it is Occidental (OXY) (Cramer's Take), which at least is closely correlated and can have a big move throughout the day.

Is it time to take a bite out of Apple, Inc (AAPL) or leave it on the vine? After reviewing the current list by examining the stock yields and price-to-cash flow (P/CF) we will take a look at Apple for 2010.

Yesterday I dropped two stocks, but the list is still too long. In the coming weeks there will be more cuts and if I find anything of more value perhaps there will be something new.

Today it's time to do some trimming of the fourteen stocks and four options on the contenders list. This review will prioritize the companies by price-to-book (P/B), price-to-sales (P/S) and return-on-equity (ROE). This does not preclude more possible stocks being added and the final list will not be done until the end of the month.

We will also compare recent stock prices to three-year highs to give us a relative idea where the stock floated in rosier times.