Steel Stalls

The massive and historic floods in Australia have driven coal prices up. This is particularly important for steel since Australia exports 2/3 of the world’s coal used for making steel (coking coal). Steelmakers have already been struggling with increasing input costs, so the Australian floods are sure to pinch profits further. At the close of … Read more

U.S. Markets Keep Grinding Higher As Europe Snaps Back

A month ago, I laid out the case for the S&P 500 sustaining its upward momentum. I pointed to 1300-1310 as the next point of strong resistance. As the S&P 500 nears that point (half of a percent away now), I marvel at how quickly this test has come. T2108, the percentage of stocks trading … Read more

Evergreen Solar Retrenches

During the last earnings conference call for Evergreen Solar (ESLR), management claimed that the company had the resources to meet its liquidity needs and had enough cash to sustain current and planned burn rates. A little over two months later, ESLR has announced that it is retrenching and shutting down its manufacturing facility in Devens, … Read more

LDK Solar Sends Sales Guidance Soaring

LDK Solar has started off the new year for solar with a bang. The company significantly raised guidance for both the fourth quarter of FY10 and the entire FY2011 with particularly strong expectations for the module business. Here is a listing of the new sales guidance compared to the old guidance: Revenue 4Q10: $870-910M from … Read more