NOTE TO EDITORS: The Following Is an Investment Opinion Being Issued by The Bellwether Report.

Crude oil prices tumbled to settle at $87.56 per barrel to weigh down shares of Marathon Oil Corp. (NYSE: MRO) $2.12 to close at $33.46 and Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) $1.36 to close at $24.35....

Despite retreating oil prices, the markets plunged to close sharply lower over concerns of a lengthy global economic downturn. The Dow slumped 370 points to drop below the 10,000 mark for the first time in four years to 9955. Nasdaq skidded 84 points to 1863.

Energy stocks fueled up and ready for takeoff.

Here's a promising measure to look at when stock hunting.

As you will see below, there were many key changes to short sales in oil stocks. Some of these would have been expected to have gone up because oil was so weak. But there were many surprising gains as well. Here are the mid-September short sale numbers: COMPANY (TICKER) Sep 15 Aug 29 Change Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI) 6,133,690 6,061,556 1.19% Chevron Corporation (CVX) 22,795,662 20,202,281 12.84% Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM) 31,416,108 29,473,462 6.59% Hess Corporation (HES) 4,447,432 4,382,553 1.48% Marathon Oil Corporation (MRO) 7,261,748 5,969,911 21.64% Schlumberger N.V. (SLB) 14,953,601 13,375,004 11.80% COMPANY (TICKER) Sep 15 Aug 29 Change...

Everything comes from price. Any indicator that I use is a derivative of price. No matter what you feel or how certain you are, the price is always right. As oft-quoted Jesse Livermore says, "there is only one side of...

Sentiment Watch: Shade of red known as "de-leveraging". The energy groups for the last couple of days have looked like they want to pick themselves up off the floor but, at the end of the day, have been unable to shake off the swooning broader market. We’ve gone from window-dressing-end-of-quarter concerns about having "energy" names (...)[More...]

The government takes over AIG and the world becomes a rosier place…at least temporarily. Concerns still linger about the other large financial houses and until those concerns are addressed look for only brief breaks in the clouds as the eye of this financial storm passes overhead. Natural gas looks to be putting in a bottom (...)[More...]

US Stocks retreated sharply on Monday as Lehman Brothers (LEH) filed for a record Bankruptcy while leading insurer American International Group Inc. (AIG) struggled to raise capital.[More...]

Last week’s crude and gasoline inventories dropped more than expected as the effects of Hurricane Gustav resulted in some production disruptions. Gustav, which struck last month, was the fourth-most-destructive storm to hit the United States, causing $20 billion in damages.

And…

Companies featured in this segment: POSCO (NYSE:PKX), Iberdrola S.A. (MCE:IBE), Husky Energy Incorporated (TSX:HSE), Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO), General Motors Corporation (NYSE:GM), Endesa (MCE:ELE), PetroChina (NYSE:PTR), Sinopec (NYSE:SNP)

Companies featured in this segment: Aventine Renewable Energy Holdings Incorporated (NYSE:AVR), CHS Incorporated (NASDAQ:CHSCP), Valero (NYSE:VLO), Xstrata (LON:XTA), BHP Billiton (NYSE:BHP), Petrobras (NYSE:PBR), sanofi-aventis (NYSE:SNY), Reliance Industries Limited (BOM:500325), Reliance Power Limited (BOM:532939), Sasol Limited (NYSE:SSL)

Companies featured in this segment: Electricity Generating Public Company Limited (BAK:EGCO), Sultan Mining, Energy Development Corporation (PSE:SLTN), AES Corporation (NYSE:AES), Korea Electric Power Corporation (SEO:015760), Continental AG (OTC:CTTAY), Pioneer Electronics Incorporated (TYO:6773), Sony Corporation (NYSE:SNE), Avnet Incorporated (NYSE:AVT), Arrow Electronics Incorporated (NYSE:ARW), Scottish & Southern Energy (LON:SSE), General Electric (NYSE:GE), Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO), Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT), Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited (NASDAQ:TEVA), Barr Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NYSE: BRL)

Companies featured in this segment: Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO), SNC-Lavalin (TSX:SNC), General Motors (NYSE:GM), Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), El Paso Electric Company (NYSE:EE), (NYSE:ALY), GE Energy (NYSE:GE), Daimler AG (NYSE:DAI), Ford Motor Corporation (NYSE:F), Shell (NYSE:RDS-A), Petro-Canada (NYSE:PCZ), SNC-Lavalin International Incorporated (TSX:SNC)

Companies featured in this segment: Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO)