As analyzed in December 2009, the stock of Southwestern Energy (SWN), which I first wrote about on June 5, 2009, at a price of $42.38, formed a a short-term double-top near $50. But I still like the shares at this juncture, for the following reasons:

First, the sell-off from double-top appears to have found support at/near $41. Second, the mild uptrend dating back to mid-2009 remains in place.

It looks like John Paulson wants to get ahead of the crowd. He and other large homebuilders are buying prime building lots in states like Arizona, Colorado and Nevada.

The big players like Lennar Corp (LEN), Standard Pacific Corp. (SPF), KB Home (KBH), DR Horton (DHI) and Toll Brothers (TOL) are all grabbing lots at bargain basement prices.

In its second weekend out in the domestic theatrical marketplace, Viacom's (VIA) Shutter Island thriller, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, demonstrated that it has some resilience. This is good news, considering the budget on the film is a healthy $80 million.

Island made $22.6 million, according to Box Office Mojo. The cumulative gross so far for the flick is better than $75 million. Viacom beat out Time Warner's (TWX) new entry Cop Out, directed by Kevin Smith, and horror picture The Crazies, a remake of a George Romero project from the early 1970s, which is distributed by Liberty Capital Group's (LCAPA) Overture Films.

The key data point in January's U.S. personal income and consumer spending data?

Well, the 0.5% increase in consumer spending (0.3% after adjusting for inflation) was encouraging -- it was the fourth straight monthly increase in consumer spending -- and the 0.1% in personal income was low -- but at least it wasn't a decline, however perhaps the most compelling data point concerned U.S. inflation.

Yes it can. Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.B) can outperform Apple Inc. (AAPL) in 2010. That was my thesis in December (see Buffett's Berkshire vs Jobs' Apple for 2010?) and I still believe all the Apple hype in the world will still succumb to a solid value proposition in the long run.

While Apple was reaching new all time highs Berkshire was treading water through 2009. However, after a monster run-up Apple is taking a breather.

Famous auction entity Sotheby's (BID) posted its fourth-quarter numbers Monday. The market liked them. Late in the trading day, shares were up more than 7%, easily topping the 30-day average mark.

One reason investors were keen to give Sotheby's a bid is the absence of red ink. A year ago, the company lost 14 cents per share. During the last three months, $1.09 per share was booked. Total sales increased over 30%, which helped out, but net auction sales unfortunately saw a downturn of 7%.

There's bad news and good news regarding Bill Gross's latest assessment of global credit markets.

The bad news is that Gross, who heads the world's largest mutual fund at PIMCO, said government bailouts point to a global "unicredit" bond market in which sovereign debt rates mirror those for corporations, Bloomberg News reported Monday.

In 1971, President Nixon took the U.S. off the gold standard. On that day, world finance changed forever. What that meant is the Fed no longer backed the U.S. currency with gold. Now the currency was free to trade on a relative basis against other world currencies. Eventually, a U.S. dollar index contract was established on the NYMEX. The index is traded against a basket of currencies.

Now, 40 years later, the dollar is still dominant. Our economy went along merrily until we began racking up huge deficits. The deficits have become so great that we face a loss of confidence from investors in our ability to worm our way out of this mess. This year the Fed had to issue between $1.5 to $2 trillion dollars of notes and bonds. Investors are receiving only 4% on the 10-year note, whereas in the past the average yield was 7% to 9%.

The stock of independent oil/gas company Ultra Petroleum Corp. (UPL), first discussed here on June 4, 2009 at a price of $46, continues to meander, which is surprising, given the company's growth prospects. However, at this juncture I still view the sideways action as a good time to scoop-up shares. Here's why:

Ultra's growth prospects are strong, with three-year reserve replacement rates that are among the best in its class; below-competitor operating expenses represent another UPL advantage. Likely, firming natural gas prices adds to the positive story.

Today was one of those days that started out strong and just stayed strong. Spending in January rose 0.5% but outpaced a 0.1% gain in personal income. This morning's strength came on the heels of an overseas stock market rally and that was enough to keep things rolling all day, even if the manufacturing data was lackluster. Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

DJIA: 10,403 (+0.76%)
S&P 500: 2,273 (+1.58%)
NASDAQ: 1,115 (+1.02%)

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Industrial metals like copper, aluminum and iron ore are basic to economic development. China, with its explosive growth needs these metals.

Word of this has spread around the world, bringing speculators into the markets. China is the world's biggest consumer of aluminum and copper. Armed with that knowledge, speculators drove the price of copper up 48% in the second half of 2009.

If you're looking to buy into an upswing post-recession, it doesn't look like the private equity market will be on your list. Valuations didn't fall as much as you might think, meaning that the bargains you usually find during a downturn just aren't showing up this time.

In the leveraged buyout market, prices were around 25% higher, on average, than they were in 2001, when the dotcom economy fell apart, according to Standard & Poor's Leveraged Commentary & Data. And transactions closed in the past three months have hit heir highest levels since the private equity market peaked in 2007.

Says Christopher O'Brien, president for U.S. and Europe of Investcorp Bank BSC, another "golden era" isn't coming. He tells Bloomberg News, "There's a lot of pressure to put investors' money to work now, and valuations are still high. It's a seller's market."

Between March and the start of December 2009, the U.S. dollar fell 17%. Why the drop? With interest rates near zero the dollar is being used in the so called "carry trade." The carry trade is used when investors and traders sell US dollars and buy riskier, higher yielding securities.

The result of the falling dollar has sparked a rally in commodities and stocks. Now, if traders unwind large chunks of their dollar trades, the markets can sell off. The rebound in world economies after the meltdown is based upon rallies in commodities and stocks. Yes, this does create inflation but the Fed is more worried about deflation than inflation. The Fed is willing to accept a measure of inflation to jump start the economy.

It was not easy but Anthera Pharmaceuticals (ANTH) pulled off its IPO. However, the deal turned out to be fairly small. The company issued six million shares at $7 a piece. The original price range was $13 to $15.

But Anthera is not an isolated event; that is, it's been tough for any type of IPO. So far this year, a variety of companies have canceled their offerings or had to reduce the deal sizes, such as with Graham Packaging (GRM) and QuinStreet (QNST).

With sovereign debt crises in Europe and record deficits in the US, speculation in gold is on the rise. Add to the mix, record low interest rates in the US and speculators are jumping back into gold. Let's look first at the bullish side:

• Billionaire, George Soros, increased his holdings in the SPDR gold trust by 152%.
• Bloomberg analysts predict prices will increase to $1,300 per ounce this year.