Fuel Prices and Fuel Consumption

Econbrowser highlights this chart from a recent research paper on how to reduce petroleum consumption from transportation.

MIT Open Course Ware

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/#sloan-school-of-management

Am definitely following Introduction to computer science and programming this year and I look forward to a certificate of completion from MITx.

A List of Good Companies

According to Crossingwallstreet, rated by CNN as the best buy and hold blogger

Company	Symbol
Abbott Laboratories	ABT
AmerisourceBergen	ABC
AT&T	T
AutoZone	AZO
Balchem	BCPC
Ball	BLL
Baxter International	BAX
Becton Dickinson	BDX
Biogen Idec	BIIB
C.H. Robinson Worldwide	CHRW
Cerner	CERN
Charles Schwab	SCHW
Church & Dwight	CHD
Clorox	CLX
Coach	COH
Coca-Cola	KO
Cognizant Technology Solutions	CTSH
Colgate-Palmolive	CL
Community Health Systems	CYH
Compuware	CPWR
Costco Wholesale	COST
Cummins	CMI
CVS Caremark	CVS
Danaher	DHR
Darden Restaurants	DRI
DaVita	DVA
Deluxe	DLX
Dentsply International	XRAY
Dolby Laboratories	DLB
Donaldson	DCI
Expeditors International	EXPD
Express Scripts	ESRX
FactSet Research Systems	FDS
Fair Isaac	FICO
Fastenal	FAST
FLIR Systems	FLIR
Flowers Foods	FLO
Flowers Foods	FLO
FMC Technologies	FTI
Forest Laboratories	FRX
General Dynamics	GD
Gilead Sciences	GILD
Graco	GGG
Hasbro	HAS
Hormel Foods	HRL
Hospira Inc	HSP
Humana	HUM
IBM	IBM
Infosys Limited	INFY
Intel	INTC
IntercontinentalExchange	ICE
Internationa Flavors & Fragrances	IFF
Intuit	INTU
Intuitive Surgical	ISRG
Iron Mountain	IRM
J.M. Smucker	SJM
L-3	LLL
Lincare	LNCR
ManTech	MANT
McCormick	MKC
McDonald’s	MCD
Microsoft	MSFT
Nike	NKE
Progressive	PGR
Public Storage	PSA
Quest Diagnostics	DGX
Raven Industries	RAVN
RLI Corp.	RLI
Ross Stores	ROST
Seaboard	SEB
SEI Investments	SEIC
Seneca Foods	SENEA
Sigma-Aldrich	SIAL
Snap-On	SNA
St. Jude Medical	STJ
Starbucks	SBUX
State Street	STT
Stericycle	SRCL
Target	TGT
Teradata	TDC
Thermo Fisher	TMO
Tiffany	TIF
TJX	TJX
U.S. Bancorp	USB
United Technologies	UTX
V.F. Corporation	VFC
Varian Medical Systems	VAR
Visa	V
W.W. Grainger	GWW
Walgreen	WAG
Waters	WAT
WellPoint	WLP
Wells Fargo	WFC
Western Union	WU
Weyco	WEYS
Yum! Brands	YUM
Zimmer	ZMH

Shanghai 1990 and 2010

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/01/picture-of-the-day-shanghai-in-1990-and-2010/69959/

H/T Brad DeLong for the link

Outlook 2012

Here are Wall Street's 2012 forecasts for the S&P 500. Bloomberg has the details here.
The mean forecast is 1348, up a tad more than 7% from the current level. Last year the pros were too optimistic forecasting an 9% rise while the market has been flat in 2011. They thought the S&P 500 would move to 1382 with a 2011 EPS of 93. They now think the market will move less with a 2012 EPS 10% higher. Not a lot of enthusiasm here.
The strategists have been right on the EPS side just a tad cautious but the market did not move with lots of risk aversion. If they are correct on the earnings side again and animal spirits return they could for once be too pessimistic. Let's check that in a year.

Firm                 Strategist           2012 Close   2012 EPS
==============================================================
Bank of America      Savita Subramanian     1,350      $104.50
Bank of Montreal     Ben Joyce              1,325      $102.00
Barclays             Barry Knapp            1,330      $103.00
Citigroup*           Tobias Levkovich       1,375      $101.00
Credit Suisse        Andrew Garthwaite      1,340
Deutsche Bank        Binky Chadha           1,500      $106.00
Goldman Sachs        David Kostin           1,250      $100.00
HSBC                 Garry Evans            1,190
JPMorgan             Thomas Lee             1,430      $105.00
Morgan Stanley       Adam Parker                       $103.20
Oppenheimer          Brian Belski           1,400      $101.00
RBC                  Myles Zyblock                     $101.00
UBS**                Jonathan Golub         1,325       $99.00
Wells Fargo          Gina Martin Adams      1,360      $101.99
---------------------------------------------------------------
Mean                                        1,348      $102.31
Median                                      1,345      $102.00
High                                        1,500      $106.00
Low                                         1,190       $99.00