Venture capital investment in clean technology grew 10% from the second quarter to the third this year. According to a report by the Cleantech Group and Deloitte, 134 companies received investments of $1.59 billion – up from $1.2 billion in the second quarter. The sector's upward trajectory continues, with last quarter marking the second in a row of double-digit growth. In the first quarter of 2009, venture capital investment in cleantech companies hit a low of $1 billion.

The strong third quarter has made the cleantech sector the largest in the venture capital business, according to the Cleantech Group, pulling ahead of biotech. Twenty-seven percent of venture capital funds invested in the second quarter of 2009 went to cleantech companies – up from 3% at the beginning of 2004.

Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) will be receiving a $5.9 billion loan from the U.S. Department of Energy to make sure some of its most strategic production facilities will be equipped to continue manufacturing the most fuel-efficient vehicles Ford can make.

The markets closed down in negative territory, but today will feel like a win to many traders. Each day the news keeps getting a set up for a sell-off and nothing materializes. Bears are even getting frustrated because of no substantial pullbacks. The weaker employment data had little dent, but then the weaker services market kept the rally from emerging today.

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 9,280.97 -39.22 (-0.42%)
S&P 500 1,002.68 -2.97 (-0.30%)
Nasdaq 1,993.05 -18.26 (-0.91%)

Top Analyst Upgrades
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What can I say except to report the facts as they are. Valero Energy (NYSE: VLO), one of my top picks of 2007, is my worst of 2008 -- so far! The refiners have taken a big hit this year as the Department of Energy has reported that gasoline inventories are up at the same time that oil prices have only come down marginally.

This is putting the squeeze on oil refiners like Valero, which are not able to increase margins on slackening demand at the pump. Last year, Valero made me look great all year long, rising 36%, and this year I stuck with it: Chasing Value: Valero Energy (VLO) is just so refined.

If the economy continues to look gloomy and the inventory trend continues, with supplies remaining more than ample, then perhaps my best pick will turn into my worst.

In the meantime, we are only 10 days into the new year, and January has been dismal. The market was up and down yesterday, finally ending higher, as fickle as I have seen it in a while, and it is up notably again today. Valero closed yesterday at $61.67, about $8 off my start point. It is up today even after the inventory report has been broadcast, so I think fickle is the word of the day, or even the week.

To find potential opportunities and verify my track record read Chasing Value or Serious Money.

DISCLOSURE: I own shares of VLO.

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the design and research principal for an architecture & planning firm.

Oil prices have once again set a new record today, with prices moving as high as $97 a barrel earlier in the session, and are currently trading up $2.73 to $96.63.

Today's move comes as traders are becoming increasingly worried about supply concerns as winter weather has finally started moving across the Northern Hemisphere. So far this year, mother nature has spared us from onslaught of wintry weather, but now that is changing, and the market is reacting. The past two weeks we have seen greater than expected declines in crude inventories in America, and analysts are expecting even more drops to be announced tomorrow when the Department of Energy releases its weekly inventory report.

Analysts are expecting to see a drop of 1.6 million barrels, and if we get reports of anything greater than that I would not be surprised at all to be sitting here writing about oil at $100 before the week is out. Consider this, before last week's report, prices were trading down to around $90.50, so a move from current prices to the psychological $100 barrier is not by no means out of the question.