The wild, unpredictable ride called Chevron Corp's (CVX) shares, first discussed here on February 15, 2009 at a price of $66.18, continues.

However, it's not that the aforementioned stock pattern is preferred by investors. In April it appeared that Chevron had finally broke out of a roughly 2-year, $60-75 trading range, when it cleared resistance at $80, as economic data in early 2010 confirmed that the U.S. economic recovery was underway. Chevron then tested $84, only to plunge to about $66 this summer, some of it an overreaction to the U.S. government's offshore drilling moratorium.

However, after cooler heads took over -- only about 6% of Chevron's production is Gulf of Mexico-based -- the stock resumed its move north, pushing back above the key, 50-day moving average to about $78.

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.

"Big Oils are a classic value investment proposition at current prices; now is the time to go shopping," says energy sector specialist Elliott Gue.

The editor of The Energy Strategist explains, "And Chevron (CVX) is the only Big Oil name that's likely to grow production significantly in coming years thanks to a long list of projects underway.

"Investors often regard Big Oils as mysterious profit-generators because of all their moving parts, but they're fairly simple companies.

It seems as if everyone is worried about the economy going into a double-dip recession these days. Worry in and of itself can be very destructive, both to your mental state and to the economy overall. Besides pulling out your hair, causing acid reflux and other health problems, worry can actually become self-fulfilling prophecy and cause the very thing you are most afraid of.

A number of years ago when I read Dale Carnegie's book How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, one method he suggested was just to accept the worst case scenario and then move on with life from there.

So accept it: THE ECONOMY IS DOOMED! it's going to be 10 years of economic nightmare!

Now what?

Though Chevron (CVX) beat estimates by reporting Friday that its quarterly net income tripled over a year earlier, shares were barely up by the end of the day.

Earnings for the second quarter came to $5.41 billion, or $2.70 per share, up from $1.75 billion or 87 cents last year. Analysts had expected a profit of $2.44 per share. Revenue in the quarter rose 32% to $53 billion.

The earnings crunch rolls on this coming week, and the analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are looking for strong quarterly results from the likes of Avon (AVP), Coinstar (CSTR), Corning (GLW), DuPont (DD), MetLife (MET), Norfolk Southern (NSC), Northrop Grumman (NOC), Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) and many others. In fact, Broadcom (BRCM), Chevron (CVX) and Southwest Airlines (LUV) are expected to have doubled their second-quarter earnings per share compared to a year ago.

The three months that ended in June saw Southwest Airlines celebrate the 39th anniversary of its founding, and it also declared a quarterly dividend. Analysts expect the Dallas-based no-frills carrier to report that second-quarter earnings came to 27 cents a share, a 70.4% rise from a year earlier. Revenue for the period is expected to have grown 20.4% to $3.2 billion. So far, analysts predict similar earnings and revenue numbers for the third quarter. But earnings results were better than expected in the past four quarters, beating consensus estimates by as much as 47%.

The new joint-venture formed by Exxon-Mobil (XOM), Chevron (CVX), ConocoPhilips (COP) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) as a rapid response system to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill is best characterized as too little, too late.

The companies have initially committed a measly $1 billion to the force. A fund with a starting point of $20 billion-$30 billion would have been more appropriate and practical. The enormity and complexity of the BP's (BP) Deepwater Horizon oil spill demonstrates how quickly a contain-and-cap operation can shoot over $1 billion. Oil fell 56 cents to $78.74 per barrel in Friday morning trading.

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.

In the year following Bush's dividend tax cuts, the Dow Jones rose 16%. When the tax cuts expire in a few months, will the market drop?

One method of evaluating stocks is that they are worth the present value of all the future cash flows. This can make dividend stocks particularly attractive to investors because they get paid rent or a dividend for holding a company. If conditions change and those future dividends are no longer expected, a stock can suddenly be worth a lot less. This is a large reason why we see stocks drop suddenly at earnings announcements or when companies revise outlooks.

Chevron (CVX) closed at $75.23. Crude oil futures are recently up 0.32% to $76.69, according to Bloomberg. CVX July put option implied volatility is at 27, December is at 31, above its 26-week average of 24, according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG) closed at $8.83. Natural Gas futures are recently up 0.04% to $5.187, according to Bloomberg. UNG overall option implied volatility of 50 is near its 26-week average, according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price movement.

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

In the wake of the environmental disaster stemming from the BP (BP) oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Congress summoned oil officials to testify over the safety of their offshore drilling.

The oil spill that started back on April 20 when one of BP's offshore drilling platforms exploded continues to leak into the ocean, and could take up to another two months to stop. Following the accident, President Obama imposed a six-month moratorium on deep-water drilling and Congress is now trying to determine the likelihood of another disaster taking place.

If you're a stock trader, then this post is not for you because these stock picks are long-term bets for people looking to beat the traders using the best time-tested strategies. We have been in a very volatile market as of late. It has knocked down many quality companies creating opportunities.

Today I ran a stock screen using six value metrics to find big companies with low stock prices. I found a few dozen, but selected the household names.

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.

"Fear is back and it can be seen in the internals. So what is one to do? What we always do: identify quality, establish value, and take advantage of opportunity when it presents itself," suggests Kelley Wright.

The editor of Investment Quality Trends -- an advisory service that assesses blue chip stocks by analyzing their historic dividend yield levels -- adds, "While all ships go out with the tide, value is eventually rewarded. Remember, we are in this for the long haul.

"Our current Timely Ten -- featured below -- is our reasoned expectation based on our methodology and experience for what we believe will perform best over the next five years. Do we believe that all 10 will go up simultaneously or immediately? Of course not.

With no end in sight to the undersea oil gusher in the gulf and mounting

clean-up costs, investors have started to take a hard look at the reality of the disaster's impact on BP (BP). The company has shed more than $70 billion in value since April 20 when an explosion on one of its oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico sparked the worst crude oil disaster in U.S. history.

Some say that things could get even worse as the blowout on the ocean floor continues to wreak havoc and the price tag continues to mount. But many others say the sell-off is overdone, and that investors would be wise to buy shares at what could be bargain valuations.