For more than four decades, the Chicago Board Options Exchange has allowed investors to place their bets on commodities from corn to steel.
On Sunday, the exchange will offer options to bet on something very different: bitcoins.
Why is it different? With stocks and commodities, there’s an underlying asset. For stocks, it’s a company and the goods or services they produce. For commodities, it’s the actual item, like oil, fruit or copper.
With bitcoin, there’s nothing like that. Unlike traditional commodities, there’s not a physical asset behind it. And unlike currencies, there isn’t a central bank ready to back bitcoin up.
Bitcoins live on computer servers. They are produced by complex algorithms and recorded in a digital ledger.
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which certified bitcoin futures for trading, acknowledged the unprecedented step taken by the Chicago Board Options Exchange.
Bitcoin “is a commodity unlike any the commission has dealt with in the past,” CFTC chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo said in a statement December 1.
Top 5 Oil Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Magellan Midstream Partners L.P.(MMP)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By ]
Hetty Green Would Love This Trade
It’s in Magellan Midstream Partners, L.P. (NYSE: MMP).Magellan Midstream Partners owns the longest refined petroleum products pipeline system in the country, with access to nearly 50% of the nation’s refining capacity and the ability to store more than 100 million barrels of petroleum products such as gasoline, diesel fuel and crude oil.
- [By Reuben Gregg Brewer]
Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) is one of the largest midstream companies in North America, and it has major dividend plans between 2018 and 2020. By the end of that period, it expects to increase its dividend from $0.50 per share per year (in 2017) to $1.25. That’s huge dividend growth in a short period of time. But don’t get too enamored by that news; the dividend will still be lower than it was before the midstream oil and gas company’s 75% dividend cut in 2016. If you’re looking for dividend income in the midstream space, take a look at longtime dividend payers ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) and Magellan Midstream Partners, L.P. (NYSE:MMP) instead.
- [By Max Byerly]
Magellan Midstream Partners (NYSE: MMP) and Noble Midstream Partners (NYSE:NBLX) are both oils/energy companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, dividends, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and earnings.
- [By Danny Vena, Timothy Green, and Reuben Gregg Brewer]
With that in mind, we asked three Motley Fool investors to choose companies they believed would help baby boomers reach their goals. They offered convincing arguments for Magellan Midstream Partners, L.P. (NYSE:MMP), General Motors Company (NYSE:GM), and Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN).
Top 5 Oil Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Range Resources Corporation(RRC)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Joseph Griffin]
Media headlines about Range Resources (NYSE:RRC) have been trending somewhat positive on Saturday, Accern Sentiment Analysis reports. The research group identifies positive and negative press coverage by monitoring more than twenty million news and blog sources in real-time. Accern ranks coverage of public companies on a scale of -1 to 1, with scores nearest to one being the most favorable. Range Resources earned a daily sentiment score of 0.07 on Accern’s scale. Accern also gave media headlines about the oil and gas exploration company an impact score of 46.3371462950661 out of 100, indicating that recent press coverage is somewhat unlikely to have an effect on the stock’s share price in the near future.
- [By Paul Ausick]
Range Resources Corp. (NYSE: RRC) fell about 4.4% Tuesday to post a new 52-week low of $14.43 after closing at $15.09 on Monday. The 52-week high is $34.93. Volume of about 15 million was nearly double the daily average of around 7.7 million shares traded. The company had no specific news.
- [By Paul Ausick]
Range Resources Corp. (NYSE: RRC) fell about 3.6% Monday to post a new 52-week low of $14.77 after closing at $15.30 on Friday. The 52-week high is $35.64. Volume of about 9.4 million was about 20% higher than the daily average of around 7.7 million shares traded. The company had no specific news.
Top 5 Oil Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Marathon Oil Corporation(MRO)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Stephan Byrd]
Melrose Industries (LON:MRO) had its price target upped by Numis Securities from GBX 250 ($3.39) to GBX 280 ($3.80) in a research report report published on Monday morning. They currently have a buy rating on the stock.
- [By Tyler Crowe]
Back in 2011, Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) elected to spin off Marathon Petroleum. At the time, much of the reasoning for the split was that both entities would garner higher valuations than as an integrated company. Also, by separating them, both could best allocate capital to grow shareholder value.
- [By Matthew DiLallo]
The company’s Powder River Basinassets also generated strong drilling results, with several wells topping 1,000 BOE/D. Finally, while the company did drill four wells in the Bakken, it has deferred completing them until later this year. That program is one to keep an eye on given the results Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) delivered last quarter, when it completed record-setting wells in the Three Forks and Middle Bakken formations.
- [By Logan Wallace]
Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Marathon Oil (MRO)
For more information about research offerings from Zacks Investment Research, visit Zacks.com
Top 5 Oil Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Whiting Petroleum Corporation(WLL)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Max Byerly]
Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Whiting Petroleum Co. (NYSE:WLL) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 14,439 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock, valued at approximately $489,000.
- [By WWW.GURUFOCUS.COM]
For the details of DFT Energy LP’s stock buys and sells, go to www.gurufocus.com/StockBuy.php?GuruName=DFT+Energy+LP
These are the top 5 holdings of DFT Energy LPWhiting Petroleum Corp (WLL) – 400,000 shares, 18.19% of the total portfolio. Shares added by 2.56%Hess Corp (HES) – 170,000 shares, 11.57% of the total portfolio. Shares added by 30.77%Noble Energy Inc (NBL) – 200,000 shares, 8.15% of the total portfolio. Southwestern Energy Co (SWN) – 1,360,000 shares, 7.92% of the total portfolio. Shares added by 4.62%Anadarko Petroleum Corp (APC)
Top 5 Oil Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Halliburton Company(HAL)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Paul Ausick]
Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) reported first-quarter 2018 results before markets opened Monday. The oil and gas services company posted adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.41 on revenues of $5.74 billion. In the same period a year ago, the company reported EPS of $0.04 on revenues of $4.28 billion. First-quarter results also compare to consensus estimates for EPS of $0.41 per share and $5.75 billion in revenues.
- [By Lisa Levin]
Some of the stocks that may grab investor focus today are:
Wall Street expects Halliburton Company (NYSE: HAL) to report quarterly earnings at $0.42 per share on revenue of $5.75 billion before the opening bell. Halliburton shares fell 0.06 percent to $51.93 in after-hours trading.
Analysts expect Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) to post quarterly earnings at $9.33 per share on revenue of $30.31 billion after the closing bell. Alphabet shares gained 0.24 percent to $1,079.88 in after-hours trading.
Before the markets open, Lennox International Inc. (NYSE: LII) is projected to report quarterly earnings at $1.09 per share on revenue of $815.16 million. Lennox shares dropped 2.84 percent to close at $197.08 on Friday.
HNI Corporation (NYSE: HNI) reported retirement of its CEO Stan A. Askren and appointment of Jeffrey D. Lorenger as new CEO. HNI also reported strong earnings for its first quarter. HNI shares fell 3.17 percent to $34.20 in the after-hours trading session.
Analysts are expecting Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) to have earned $0.35 per share on revenue of $822.15 million in the latest quarter. Hasbro will release earnings before the markets open. Hasbro shares fell 0.39 percent to $82.49 in after-hours trading.
Find out what's going on in today's market and bring any questions you have to Benzinga's PreMarket Prep.
- [By Garrett Baldwin]
Earnings season is now in full swing, with today’s key reports fromAlphabet Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOGL) and Halliburton Co.(NYSE: HAL). Thanks to tax cuts, expectations are high. Analysts expect profit growth to top 18%, which would be the biggest jump in seven years. But there are a few bearish trends that are still lurking in the market. And if you’re serious about making money, you need to know how to harness them and target individual stocks for life-changing gains.Money MorningQuantitative Specialist Chris Johnson explains.
- [By ]
Markets have been mixed on Monday as the 10-year Treasury yield closes in on 3%. Earnings reports today included from Halliburton (HAL) , Hasbro (HAS) and Kimberly-Clark (KMB) . Action Alerts PLUS holding Alphabet (GOOGL) is among the companies reporting after the close.
- [By Todd Shriber, ETF Professor]
IEZ is also a top-heavy fund. Just two stocks — Schlumberger NV (NYSE: SLB) and Halliburton Inc. (NYSE: HAL) — combine for almost 26 percent of the fund's weight. Underscoring the correlation to oil prices, IEZ has a three-year standard deviation of 30 percent, indicating this ETF is far more volatile than standard diversified energy funds.
- [By ]
For top oilfield services picks, Seaport says to keep it simple: Halliburton Co. (HAL) and Hi-Crush Partners LP (HCLP) are the best bets, the firm contends.
