In honor of Earth Day, we looked at a few companies dealing specifically in earth, lots of it. Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) and BHP Billiton Limited (ASX: BHP) are the largest diversified mining and resources companies in the world.

While we can’t talk about their environmental impacts, which may or may not be great, we can look at their place in the global markets and the commodities cycle. It’s no surprise that they are stable barometers of the economic health of the world economy.

by Louis Basenese

On Monday, $24.8 billion worth of takeovers was announced. It was the third busiest Merger Monday on record in 2009. Yet most investors remain unimpressed….

While it may be unpopular over the next few days or weeks – however long it takes for us to test our march lows - investors can be a little more confident going into this bottom.

Unlike March, when we were unsure if the bottom truly had been reached, we’ll have a set of “road markers” to signal when we’ve retested the low. And looking at the relative performance of numerous stocks, we now know what their support levels are.

by Dr. Mark Skousen

Buying real estate? Are you nuts?

Investment U Chairman Alex Green thinks so, what with foreclosures skyrocketing and prices in some places falling more than half from their peak. He says the market is “dead” for now.

As doubt grows about the sustainability of the current rally and the strength in the financials, the possibility of another bottom increases. Our colleagues are fond of saying, as the proverbial “wall of worry” grows, the longer it remains, the better its chances of being right.

And we seem to only be adding support to this theory.

We’ve been talking about the potential for a second market drop, bringing to light the specter of the “double bottom,” and the possibility the current market increase is nothing more than a bear market rally.

But even with some of the negative earnings, housing starts and manufacturing figures we’ve seen, the major indices have gained over the past few sessions in choppy trading.

by Louis Basenese

No one’s talking about one of the most interesting developments in real estate this year.

In the past two weeks Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS) and MGM Mirage (NYSE: MGM) have increased over 88% and 218% respectively. That’s a considerable amount of “doubling down.”

Both of these companies have seen their share prices drop over the past year and a half –losing over 90% of their value. But over the past few weeks these two have been staging a considerable comeback.

by Alexander Green

Investors in the West have a poor track record when it comes to the world’s emerging markets. In particular, they have a bad tendency to leave them just when they should love them. This is particularly true today.

With the amount of rejoicing that’s been creeping into the financial newscasters' voices recently, you would think that we were somewhere in the middle of the dot-com boom.

Unfortunately, we’re not.

Thursday morning, Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) announced that it expects a $3 billion profit from the first quarter. One of the biggest banks in the country, Wells Fargo is the first big winner from this earnings season.

It’s in stark contrast to Alcoa (NYSE: AA), the world’s biggest aluminum producer, which reported lower earnings than expected.

by Dr. Scott Brown

As you know, I’m very bearish on gold. I’ve been in total agreement with Louis Basenese’s 12 Reasons Why You Should Short Gold and his follow-up article, A Clarification on Shorting Gold.

We spotlighted Pulte Homes (NYSE: PHM) along with a few other homebuilders recently as signs that the housing market is starting to move again. Wednesday morning we were greeted with the news that Pulte is buying out Centex (NYSE: CTX) for $10.50 a share – a 38% premium to its close Tuesday.

Moving again indeed.

by Louis Basenese

Believe it or not, but based on the classic Wall Street definitions, we’re in a new bull market. As of last Friday, all three major market indices recovered more than 20% from their March 9 lows. Of course, we’ve been here before. Or as Yogi Berra liked to say, “It’s like déjà vu all over again.”

It was rumored that market recovery wouldn’t occur until the housing market turned itself around. For months it seemed a popular thing to say.

And why not? It makes sense that in order for millions of Americans to move forward, we needed to have a strong foundation first. Homes are the largest investment most people will make. An unstable housing market spells trouble for our fiscal stability.

Gold may be one of the biggest questions on the market right now.

It’s easy to see how commodities, equities, real estate, bonds, and even treasuries have been pushed down by our bear market - and even easier to see how they could spring back. Gold is a different story.

by Michael Checkan

[Investment U Editor’s Note: Many of our long-time readers will remember our old friend and colleague Michael Checkan at Asset Strategies International, Inc. A specialist in precious metals and foreign currencies, today he takes a look at a unique “hyper-inflationary” economy and the havoc it plays on foreign currencies.]

by Alexander Wissel

We’ve heard everyone from the far right to the far left criticize the administration’s plan to kick out General Motors (NYSE: GM) CEO, Rick Wagoner, and the resulting “back to the drawing board order.” The outcry has been a little on the ridiculous side. Let’s face it – he deserved it.

by Marc Lichtenfeld

When I was in my early 20s, I had one friend who was always on the prowl for Mrs. Right (or at least Mrs. Right Now) whenever we went out.

We’re always keeping our eyes peeled for aggressive marketing, signs of brand domination and more importantly, changeovers in established hierarchies. Watching the NCAA tournament, we were presented with a big one.

Many who have been glued to their TVs at home (or the office) during the NCAA tournament have seen what I’m talking about. Behind every bench and at almost every commercial break, the image of Vitaminwater has been clear and unsubtle.