I hope you enjoy the new format for our free stock picks. There are many stock picks to list oday that will make you money if you invest in them. To get the most leverage for your money, buy stocks between $10.00 and $25.00. To research any stock pick, right click on the symbol and choose “open in a new window”. 

Today’s Stock Picks Under $25.00:

1. (APWR: 11.40 0.00%)  A Power Energy Generation Systems Ord Shs  $22.50
2. (EP: 9.90 0.00%)  El Paso Corp Ord Shs  $20.48
3. (GU: 1.10 0.00%)  Gushan Environmental Energy Ltd  $17.00
4. (GTI: 11.88 0.00%)  GrafTech International Ltd  $24.67
5. (MEA: 4.73 0.00%)  Metalico Inc  $16.09
6. (VISN: 8.20 0.00%)  VisionChina Media Inc  $21.61
7. (LL: 23.32 0.00%)  Lumber Liquidators Inc  $16.48
8. (NTES: 33.93 0.00%)  Netease.com Inc  $24.96
9. (SVR: 15.92 0.00%)  Syniverse Hldg Inc  $22.35 

Today’s Stock Picks Over $25.00: 

1. (DNR: 14.11 0.00%)  Denbury Resources Inc.  $34.87
2. (FTI: 53.49 0.00%)   FMC Technologies  $78.57
3. (HES: 57.03 0.00%)  Hess Corp  $128.03
4. (NBL: 72.60 0.00%)  Noble Energy Inc  $101.54
5. (ARLP: 38.17 0.00%)  Alliance Resource Partners LP  $46.62
6. (APC: 62.33 0.00%)  Anadarko Petroleum  $78.15
7. (ATN: 27.32 0.00%)  Atlas Energy Resources LLC  $44.34
8. (BTE: 28.25 0.00%)  Baytex Energy Trust Units  $29.02
9. (CXG: 25.84 0.00%)  CNX Gas Ord Shs  $44.72
10. (CAM: 36.91 0.00%)  Cameron International Corp  $55.84
11. (CNQ: 64.09 0.00%)  CDN Natural Resource Ord Shs  $101.60
12. (CVX: 70.13 0.00%)  Chevron Ord Shs  $100.38
13. (CPX: 12.56 0.00%)  Complete Production Services Inc  $28.99
14. (EOG: 91.58 0.00%)  EOG Resources Inc  $140.99
15. (ECA: 30.33 0.00%)  EnCana Ord Shs  $94.10
16. (EAC: 48.73 0.00%)  Encore Acquisition Company  $57.59
17. (E: 44.15 0.00%)  ENI ADR  $83.23
18. (ESV: 38.37 0.00%)  Ensco International Inc  $73.93
19. (FST: 23.73 0.00%)  Forest Oil Corp  $66.67
20. (GMXR: 9.94 0.00%)  GMX Resources Ord Shs  $43.31
21. (GLF: 24.05 0.00%)  GulfMark Offshore Inc  $62.09
22. (HAL: 28.10 0.00%)  Halliburton Ord Shs  $49.48
23. (HP: 40.01 0.00%)  Helmerich & Payne Inc  $61.26
24. (HOS: 19.95 0.00%)  Hornbeck Offshore Services Inc  $51.12
25. (ME: 13.70 0.00%)  Mariner Energy Ord Shs  $34.31
26. (NXY: 21.90 0.00%)  Nexen Inc  $40.06
27. (NE: 38.94 0.00%)  Noble Corporation  $65.44
28. (OXY: 76.30 0.00%)  Occidental Petroleum Corp  $94.99
29. (OIS: 34.20 0.00%)  Oil States International Inc  $56.54
30. (PBR: 38.20 0.00%)  Petroleo Brasileiro ADR Reptg 2 Ord Shs  $70.65
31. (PXD: 44.27 0.00%)  Pioneer Natural Resources Co  $69.73
32. (PXP: 31.24 0.00%)  Plains Exploration & Production Co  $71.69
33. (PDE: 29.17 0.00%)  Pride International Inc  $45.95
34. (ROSE: 19.00 0.00%)  Rosetta Resources Ord Shs  $26.32
35. (RDC: 21.56 0.00%)  Rowan Companies Inc  $46.09
36. (SSL: 35.19 0.00%)  Sasol Level II ADR  $65.94
37. (SII: 30.21 0.00%)  Smith International Inc  $82.80
38. (SWN: 41.76 0.00%)  Southwestern Energy Co  $46.12
39. (SM: 31.85 0.00%)  St. Mary Land & Exploration Co  $50.31
40. (STO: 21.57 0.00%)  StatoilHydro ADR Rep 1 Ord Shs  $41.68
41. (SU: 29.12 0.00%)  Suncor Energy Inc  $134.82
42. (SPN: 20.05 0.00%)  Superior Energy Services Inc  $53.87
43. (SFY: 24.52 0.00%)  Swift Energy Co  $59.73
44. (TTES: 20.67 0.00%)  T-3 Energy Services Inc  $64.43
45. (TOT: 55.17 0.00%)  Total Conv Into 1/2 Shs ADR  $88.25
46. (UNT: 44.19 0.00%)  Unit Corporation  $75.99
47. (WTI: 8.52 0.00%)  W&T Offshore Inc  $53.25
48. (WHQ: 0.00 N/A)  W-H Energy Services Inc  $81.99
49. (WFT: 14.97 0.00%)  Weatherford International Ltd  $88.60
50. (WMB: 20.50 0.00%)  Williams Companies Inc  $38.83
51. (BUCY: 51.79 0.00%)  Bucyrus International Inc  $140.56
52. (ABB: 17.30 0.00%)  ABB Ltd Depository Receipt  $32.69
53. (ATU: 16.20 0.00%)  Actuant Corp  $35.11
54. (AME: 36.28 0.00%)  Ametek Inc  $52.98
55. (FLS: 91.51 0.00%)  Flowserve Corp  $128.82
56. (GHM: 15.13 0.00%)  Graham Corporation  $66.55
57. (JOYG: 44.51 0.00%)  Joy Global Inc  $81.93
58. (WGOV: 25.18 0.00%)  Woodward Governor Co  $40.68
59. (EGLE: 4.76 0.00%)   Eagle Bulk Shipping Inc  $35.69
60. (GNK: 18.70 0.00%)  Genco Shipping & Trading Ltd  $84.00
61. (WAB: 37.02 0.00%)  Wabtec Corp  $45.03
62. (SID: 28.91 0.00%)  Companhia Siderurgica Nacional ADR Repstg One Ord Shs  $50.94
63. (MT: 37.60 0.00%)  ArcelorMittal ADR  $101.56
64. (GGB: 12.99 0.00%)  Gerdau SA Depository Receipt  $48.87
65. (MTL: 20.38 0.00%)  Mechel ADR Rep 3 Ord Shs  $168.99
66. (NUE: 39.57 0.00%)  Nucor Corp  $82.07
67. (TS: 42.00 0.00%)  Tenaris ADR  $59.15
68. (X: 44.09 0.00%)  United States Steel Corp  $181.27
69. (ANST: 0.00 0.00%)  Ansoft Corp  $35.48
70. (ANSS: 40.68 0.00%)  ANSYS Inc  $44.96
71. (BMC: 35.93 0.00%)  BMC Software Inc  $38.65
72. (SY: 40.30 0.00%)  Sybase Inc  $30.75
73. (GLW: 17.84 0.00%)  Corning Inc  $27.36
74. (BKE: 28.05 0.00%)  Buckle Inc  $50.73
75. (BKC: 18.00 0.00%)  Burger King Holdings Ord Shs  $30.43
76. (CVS: 32.72 0.00%)  CVS Caremark Corp  $43.42
77. (GYMB: 40.76 0.00%)  Gymboree Corp  $45.78
78. (BHP: 67.90 0.00%)  BHP Billiton ADR  $95.00
79. (FCX: 69.20 0.00%)  Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Ord Shs  $124.18
80. (RTP: 187.58 0.00%)  Rio Tinto ADR Each Reptg Four Ord Shs  $554.93
81. (CEL: 32.13 0.00%)  Cellcom Israel Ltd  $35.59
82. (ICLR: 23.96 0.00%)  ICON Plc Depository Receipt  $73.68
83. (WDC: 39.65 0.00%)  Western Digital Corp  $35.41
84. (STRA: 206.14 0.00%)  Strayer Education Inc  $196.81
85. (DTV: 30.34 0.00%)  DIRECTV Group Inc  $27.59
86. (SBS: 33.09 0.00%)  Companhia de Saneamento Basico do Estado de Sao Paulo ADR re  $56.18
87. (EGN: 42.08 0.00%)  Energen Corp  $74.19            

I’m testing a new plugin for my free stock picks as the applet I have been using is not reliable and is causing errors. This along with the recent death’s of my step dad and grandmother have keep me from updating this last few months. I will start posting free stock picks again as soon as I find a suitable way to display my free stock picks.

Buy List:

ReneSolan  (SOL: 4.48 0.00%) $22.30

What is the US dollar worth? Well, there are many parameters which decide the true value of the US dollar. The parameters to determine the value has changed over the last centuries. The parameters had to be changed to adapt to the changing political and the economic dynamics of the times.

So what is the US dollar worth? The answer would have differed had someone answered it a hundred years back. If we talk about the history of the US dollar, it was first minted in 1785. During the last 2 centuries, the US dollar has been minted on gold, silver and now on non-expensive metals or even paper notes. Initially, gold and silver were the metals which were used to mint dollars. The dollars were valued at the intrinsic value of the metal it was made of. Thus what is the US dollar worth? Well, in the earlier days, it was worth as much as the value of the metal it was made of.

So what was the problem? Why did they have to change it? Well, since gold and silver were also traded as metals, any difference in price of these also changed the value of dollar and traders used these arbitrage opportunities to their advantage. To stop these, first silver coins were withdrawn in 1874 and gold standard was implemented. However, during the 1970s, US faced a severe problem with their stockpile of gold to back the US dollars leading to the adoption of the fiat system. This is what has continued till now. So what is the US dollar worth now? Well, it is no longer worth the metal it is made of. It is worth as much as the promise that the Federal Reserve makes to the bearers of an US dollar.

What is the US dollar worth now? Who determines the rates? Well, firstly, there is a foreign exchange market which is in place where the worth of the US dollar is determined based on the supply and demand conditions prevailing. The demand for US dollar increased after the oil crisis in the 1970s post which dollar was the only currency which was used for oil trade. So what is the US dollar worth? It is worth as much as the buyers are willing to pay for it.

What is the US dollar worth? Well, the US dollar has established itself so well as the leading currency in the world that most central banks of countries use this as their reserve currency. So next time you question yourself, “what is the US dollar worth?” hopefully, you will have some answers.

The US dollar has shown a trend of weakening in the recent years. The US dollar weakening has had a number of effects on the economics of the world. For one, the other currencies have gained against the dollar. Following discusses some of the weak US dollar problems.

One of the weak US dollar problems could be the loss of the competitive edge of the domestic industry. Since imports are expensive due to weak dollar, the local manufacturing industry will flourish, which might lead them to higher costs of production as they are still cheaper than imports. This could lead to these industries not optimizing their processes and thus loss of their cost advantage. One of the most serious of the weak US dollar problems could be its effect on the inflation. Since exports become lucrative, the demand for goods may be high. Also, imports being expensive, raw material costs may increase leading to increase in price of goods. All these coupled with the fact that interest rates are not slated to rise makes it a very serious threat to the economy.

One more of the weak US dollar problems have been that the investments are moving abroad to countries, specially emerging economies where the returns are much better.

One of the weak US dollar problems can also be that the central banks of other countries start using other currencies as their reserve currency which till now has been predominantly US dollars. This could be a very disturbing trend as this could mean that there would be lesser demand for US dollar which would then lead to further decrease in the value of US dollar.

Another of the weak US dollar problems is the growing acceptance of Euro as the currency for oil trade. This is because the OPEC countries are more confident about the value of Euro against the US dollar which has been devalued quite a lot.

The weak US dollar problems have been accentuated by the fact that the US domestic economy is grappling with the subprime issue because of which not many fixed income instruments are being floated. This has seen a significant drying up of foreign investments coming into the country.

But it is not that we only have weak US dollar problems. A weak US dollar can mean good in a lot of ways too. For one, since the US economy is going through a phase of stymied growth, and it is expected that the growth rate is going to be lower than predicted, a weak dollar can actually promote the local manufacturing because exports are cheaper and import has become costly. This can actually be beneficial to the economy. Also, a weaker dollar can mean that the trade deficit would decrease.

Till the 1970s, the value of US dollar was determined by the intrinsic value of the coin. From the early days, gold and silver coins were used to make US dollar coins. The value of US dollar was based on the weight of gold or silver that was used to make the coin. Thus, when the value of gold and silver metal fluctuated because of demand or supply changes, the value of US dollar also changed.

In 1971, the gold deficit became so huge that US was forced to default on its commitment of issuing gold against dollars. This led to the establishment of US dollar as a fiat currency and the value of US dollar was no longer dependent on gold or silver that it was made of. The minting of dollar notes became very prevalent and Federal Reserve guaranteed the value of a dollar to the bearer.

Post 1971, US dollar established itself as the primary currency for trade of oil all across the world. This led to a change in the value of the US dollar as the demand increased. This was because any country wanting to import oil needed US dollars to do the trade. The value of the US dollar thus became heavily dependent on the demand for oil.

Also, a major determinant in the value of the US dollar is the reserves of US dollar that is kept by many central banks to maintain their exchange rate. Since US dollar is the most popular currency, most central banks choose to keep foreign exchange in terms of US dollars. Thus, it can be seen that when the demand for foreign exchange is high, the US dollar becomes stronger with respect to other currencies and its exchange rate rises.

There are many parameters which are used to calculate the relative value of US dollar over the years. Some of the important ones are the Consumer Price Index, the GDP deflator, the unskilled wage rate, the GDP per capita and the GDP of the nation. Using one or more of these parameters, you can very well estimate how the value of US dollar has changed over a period of time. Some of these parameters look at the relative price of a same bundle of goods while others look at the cumulative produce of the country over the years, still others would consider the changes in the wage rate to calculate how the value has changed. One can find out the relative value of US dollar at the website http://www.measuringworth.com/uscompare where you have the option to choose which parameters you would like to use for the calculations.

Thus we can see that the value of US dollar is dependent of a lot of factors, economic, political as well as social.