The market giveth and the market taketh away -- all in the same day. I was looking at how Shaw Group (NYSE: SGR) performed on Thursday. The company, an engineering firm that provides services relating to the energy and environmental industry for both the government and the private sector, was up 5.6% at the close of trading yesterday, powered by superb volume. But, in the after-hours session, it went down nearly 6.4%.

And, yes, the sell-off was on the back of an earnings report. For the third quarter, Shaw Group made 57 cents per share, excluding its acquisition of Westinghouse. The company made 67 cents per share in last year's similar quarter, also adjusted for the acquisition. Net sales were essentially flat.

Over the past couple of months we have seen oil prices move steadily higher, but the precious crude sold off Monday as economic concerns returned to the market.

What a difference a week makes. This time last week we were seeing increased optimism that the current recession was nearing its end, but those hopes were wiped out late last week by disappointing consumer confidence and employment data.

Readers of this space know that one of the preferred sectors is the electric/power generation sector, which should benefit from both an expanded infrastructure and ramping demand, once U.S. economic growth resumes.

And with the above in mind, the Southern Co. is (NYSE: SO) worth a review. The Southern Co. provides power to roughly 4.3 million customers in the Southeast United States.

In general, analysts expect the economic recovery in and around Atlanta, Georgia, SO's core area, to put a bottom under earnings in FY2009. The commercial side of energy use (primarily the industrial segment), will take longer to snap-back, but a more-modest decline in the residential sector and its quicker recovery should offset that industrial sluggishness. The greater Atlanta region did not experience as large a housing bubble as the West and East, hence the bust was not as severe, from a household formation standpoint.

This post was written by Minyanville contributor Smita Sadana.

A trade doesn't simply have an initiation and finale – the most important part of a trade is its evolution and constant re-assessment if the original thesis that the trade was initiated with, still holds true.

On that note, let's look at First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR). I started a short position in it on 6/1 when instead of participating in the market advance, it lagged (due to a LA Times story that FSLR's acquisition of "strategic land rights" is under scrutiny). Recall, it came on the heels of a cautious mention in Barron's on May 26th. So, both times, FSLR reacted negatively to negative news and volume picked up on both those instances.

Today, Pacific Crest Securities reiterated its buy rating on FSLR and called the recent weakness a "buying opportunity."

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A couple of months ago, I would have bet that oil would probably peak out this summer in the upper $60's, and possibly move back through the psychological $70 mark, but it is starting to look like I would have been wrong. We have yet to hit the heart of the high demand summer driving months, and oil is already poised to break through $70 a barrel.

When we looked at oil prices yesterday we mentioned that the first place you are going to feel the recent jump in price is going to be at the gas station. And today, you will be seeing another slight jump in price as the national average for a gallon of gasoline moved over a penny higher last night to a current national average of $2.525.

In the past sixth months, IntercontinentalExchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE) has gone from high-risk play to a model whose electronic trading and centrally-cleared products have become marketplace leaders, particularly for energy products.

Further, while FY2009 revenue and earnings will not overwhelm, look for electronic trading, energy products trading, and clearing house function revenue streams to resume solid growth by mid FY2010.

Readers of this space know that one of the preferred sectors is the electric power generation sector.

And it's preferred for a reason that may not be obvious to all. Electricity via wind, solar, and nuclear generation is likely to play a large role in energy as climate change reduction, then elimination, becomes a societal goal. Electricity also remains a potential propulsion source for cars, given that crude oil has apparently resumed its climb to uncomfortable levels. And with the above in mind, electric power generator Allegheny Energy (NYSE: AYE) is worth a review.

It's an energy-intensive world, and even though the U.S. and global recessions have led to real declines in aggregate energy usage, don't look for that trend to continue. The energy infrastructure in the U.S. was barely adequate for the last economic expansion. The next one will require a substantially expanded and improved network, which is why it makes sense for moderate-risk investors to consider Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE: EPD).

Enterprise Products Partners is a provider of natural gas pipeline and processing services and natural gas liquids fractionation, storage, transportation and terminal services. EPD also is a major developer of midstream infrastructure in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico region.

Remember when Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) was the symbol of all that was evil in corporate America? Remember when people were pawning their jewelry to buy gas? Remember when politicians spoke of a windfall profits tax? Well, move over Wall Street, the largest publicly traded oil company is back again to grab some of the negative publicity.

The company reported $45.22 billion in profits last year, the largest ever for an American corporation. The results beat Exxon's previous record. Exxon spent $40 billion on dividends and share buybacks.

Here's an idea if you are worried about your heating bills this winter. The price of natural gas is crashing. The price decreases last week continued a down trend that's gone on for six months. Why? The economic downturn slows demand for gas and many companies are announcing layoffs and closing plants around the country. Reduced prices for natural gas are also a result of growing capacity in the U.S. because of increases in production at new fields. Natural gas prices are at multi-year lows falling from 65% from more than $13.31 per MMBtu (the way gas is measured) in July 2008 to under $5 -- the lowest since October 13, 2006.

United States Natural Gas (NYSE: UNG) is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that reflects the price of natural gas in the United States. UNG attempts to mirror the performance, net expenses, of natural gas at the Henry Hub, Louisiana.

Oil is not a 'partisan' commodity, at least not at this juncture.

Democratic or Republican administration, oil continued its march lower, declining another $1 Tuesday to $33.30 per barrel on continued concerns about weakening global demand. Oil fell about $1.70 on Monday.

The other major energy commodities also declined early Monday. Heating oil fell 8 cents to $1.40 per gallon, unleaded gasoline decreased 7 cents to $1.10 cents per gallon, and natural gas dipped 17 cents to $4.62 per million BTUs.

Energy Trader Jim Dietz said Tuesday the weak U.S. economy, a higher dollar, and the resolution of two international energy-related issues points to significantly lower oil in the weeks and months ahead.

This post was written as part of a feature offering ideas from bloggers on ways to make more money in 2009. See all 18 suggestions.

Gold and the U.S. dollar are inexorably linked. The U.S. dollar represents the U.S. economy as a paper asset, while gold represents a standard of international value that transcends national boundaries. The value of both of these asset classes is very difficult to determine. Both are affected by geo-political events and both move up or down as a matter of perception.

Let's look at a few examples. With the large bank bailouts of 2008 and the coming Obama stimulus package, there are those who say that we are way overextended and have printed too much paper money. Those who take this position are the "gold bugs," the ones who are running away from paper assets to the safety of a hard asset like gold. This is where you find predictions that gold will rise to $2,000-$5,000 per ounce. It is this perception of the U.S. economy that drives investors to buy gold.

Then there are those who look at the world a bit differently. They see a world with 6 billion plus people that is running out of natural resources and that will not be able to meet the demand for basic commodities such as food, energy and raw materials. As a result of these shortages, commodity prices will rise to irrationally high levels. This in turn will cause rampant inflation and devalue paper assets even further and make gold even more valuable.

This post is part of a special annual report -- Top Stock Picks '09 -- in which TheStockAdvisors.com asked 75 leading newsletter advisors to select their favorite investment for the new year.

As his top idea for 2009, fund expert Doug Fabian eyes Powershares DB Crude ETN (NYSE: DXO). In his Successful Investing newsletter, he looks at "an aggressive fund" that moves double the underlying index.

The advisor continues, "I like oil at its year-end 2008 bargain prices. One way to invest in oil and ride its likely rebound during 2009 is to buy the PowerShares DB Crude ETN.

"This is a two beta or double long exchanged traded note. This is an aggressive position and should only be used with more speculative capital.

"In late 2008, oil was trading 60% below its 200-day average, a very rare occurrence. Indeed, oil has fallen 70% from its 2008 highs.

"DXO seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, which correspond to twice the daily performance of the Dow Jones U.S. Oil & Gas index. If the Dow Jones U.S. Oil & Gas index moves up 2%, DXO will gain 4%. This ETN could recover strongly in 2009."

Steven Halpern's TheStockAdvisors.com offers a daily look at the latest market commentary and favorite stock picks and investment ideas from the nation's leading financial newsletter advisors.

Back in July, as oil approached its zenith, I cautioned that the bubble in energy stocks was beginning to resemble previous bubbles, such as the ones that sent semiconductor stocks to the moon in 1999 and 2000, and homebuilding stocks in 2005.

At a time when others were buying anything associated with oil, I suggested that investors take profits instead.

In August I wrote about oil and gas exploration firm Devon Energy (NYSE: DVN). The company had just announced quarterly results, which were ahead of estimates, and its shares soared that day to $91 per share.

I made the incredibly astute prediction that there were only two directions for the stock to go: up or down. Basically I stated that if your opinion was that oil demand will continue to outstrip supply, buying Devon made sense.

My own personal belief was that oil was trading at speculative levels, demand destruction would occur in short order with $4-per-gallon gasoline, we'd begin conserving and our massive investments in alternative energy would eventually result in supply outstripping demand.

Even without demand destruction fundamentals suggesting that the price per barrel of oil should have been well below $100, Devon was a stock to sell in my opinion. In fact, the article was titled "Avoid Devon Energy Like the Plague."

Fast forward to today. Oil collapsed beyond what I had even expected and Devon shares fell in parallel. At its lows, DVN hit $54 and change.

For those that had the fortitude to pull the trigger, shorting crude back in early July when all the perfect storm conditions for $200 per barrel oil were on the horizon ... and had the stones to stay with that trade ... made a killing.

This is one of the greatest reversals for any major market of any kind that has ever occurred. And it clearly shows how the crude oil market was being manipulated by speculators and hedge funds.

The impact was fatal for hundreds of small airlines and small- to medium-sized trucking companies, along with thousands of other companies that didn't hedge against the price explosion in energy.

The price of crude, which topped out at $147 per barrel in July 2008, crashed to $35 per barrel by Dec. 18 -- a 76% haircut -- before getting a bid that got the price back above $40 on the eye-popping headline that OPEC would slash daily production by 4.2 million barrels.