Valero Energy Corp (VLO) is a refining and marketing company. VLO closed flat at $44.95 on March 27, 2013. VLO had been trading in the range of $20.00-$48.97 in the past 52 weeks. VLO has a market cap of $24.85B with a beta of 1.53. With the recent pullback, investors can review the long-term position for VLO, which has higher margins with a fair priced cash flow.

All Ethanol Plants Running

Valero Energy had resumed production on March 21, 2013 at an ethanol plant in Linden, Indiana, the last of several plants that the company idled in 2012 due to poor margins. The Linden refinery was idled last year. When running, it can process about 43 million bushels of corn into 120 million gallons of denatured ethanol and 370,000 tons of co-products. Valero spokesman Bill Day said, "Improved margins have allowed the plant to be operated profitably, which

What exactly makes an exchange-traded fund in a given economic segment “cheap?” I am beginning to think that the concept is as arbitrary and as disobliging as the automatic spending cuts in Washington D.C.

For example, Russ Koesterich is the Chief Investment Strategist for Blackrock. I genuinely enjoy reading his perspectives on “everything iShares.” Indeed, every exchange-traded fund enthusiast should follow Russ on Twitter or sign up for Blackrock’s weekly update. That said, in a 3/6/13 blog post, Russ declared that the energy and technology sectors look like bargains. The implication? One should consider investing in the iShares DJ Energy Sector Fund (IYE) and/or the iShares DJ Technology Sector Fund (IYW).

Year-to-date, both IYE and IYW have underperformed non-cyclical segments like health care and consumer staples. Is this a contributing factor for declaring that IYE and IYW are inexpensive?

(click to enlarge)

Perhaps the notion that energy and tech may

The Bureau of Economic Analysis' most recent Personal Income and Outlays report showed continued inflation pressures occurring in September in the U.S. economy. Consumers' personal income and disposable income continued to increase during the month while real disposable income decreased nearly 0.1 percent.

As inflation continues to push prices up and real disposable income down, a few factors are weighing heavily on the economy in the current environment. Specifically, energy prices appear to be a leading inflation driver.

September's PCE Price Index, which measures prices of U.S. consumer goods, increased 0.4 percent. Food prices were less of a factor in September, decreasing 0.1 percent. Energy prices, however, increased 4.8 percent in September following a 5.8 percent increase in August but a 0.2 percent decrease in July. Third quarter energy prices rebounded significantly from a steep decline in the second quarter. PCE Energy Price Index data for the second quarter