ETF Database submits: Ongoing protests in the capital of Thailand have left many investors wondering if the country will grind to a halt due to political turbulence caused by the Red Shirt movement. The Red Shirters are protesting what they believe is an illegitimate Abhisit government, which came to power via a December 2008 parliamentary vote after a controversial court ruling ousted former Thai leader Thaksin’s allies. Another court decision last month confiscated close to two billion dollars from the former leader, enraging his followers who are largely from the poor rural north and fervently support the populist policies he introduced before being ousted in a 2006 coup.

Michael Johnston submits:The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has seen its influence over the global energy market wane in recent years, as a prolonged economic downturn caused demand for oil to plummet, limiting the effectiveness of the group’s once eagerly-anticipated supply decisions. But with a seemingly stable recovery underway and many emerging markets demonstrating an insatiable thirst for raw materials and energy, OPEC once again finds itself in a position of power. The bloc of oil rich nations didn’t hesitate to flex its muscles on Wednesday, showing that its decisions are still capable of impacting oil markets.

ReutersThe Peak Oil Crisis: 2014– The Year of Transition

Telegraph.co.uk

Regulators Worry Over Cracks In Financial ReformsNew York TimesCritics say if the EU introduced a ban on some credit default swaps trading, the market would simply shift to Wall Street to avoid the curbs. ...

Utah judge sets June trial in oil lease caseBusinessWeekA federal judge set a June 21 trial date for the college student accused of sabotaging an oil-and-gas lease auction in Utah. Earlier this week, US District ...

NEW YORK, March 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Madison Williams and Company (www.madisonwilliams.com), an integrated capital markets and advisory firm, announced that Jeffrey Spittel, Managing Director and Senior Oil Services analyst, and Sonny Randhawa, Managing Director and Oil Services analyst, have joined t

Statoil: Wins 20 Oil Exploration Leases In US Gulf of MexicoWall Street JournalLONDON (Dow Jones)--Norwegian oil and gas company Statoil ASA (STO) said Wednesday it was the highest bidder on 20 oil and gas exploration leases in the US ...

RALEIGH, N.C., March 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Progress Energy's board of directors today declared a dividend on the company's common stock. The quarterly dividend was declared at 62 cents per share, payable May 3, 2010, to shareholders of record as of April 12, 2010. This represents a total annu

DALLAS, March 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Alon Refining Krotz Springs, Inc. (the "Company") filed its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2009 with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 16, 2010 and announced today that it has scheduled a conference call

Canadian market posts gains, loonie's upMarketWatchSAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Canadian stocks made slight gains on Wednesday as gold and oil prices nudged higher and the ...

World Nuclear News

ReutersIran Offers to Trade Uranium in Single Exchange

Fed, Bank Regulators Issue Liquidity Risk Management GuidelinesBusinessWeekMarch 17 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and four other bank supervisory agencies released ...

Times Online

Reuters South AfricaSudan hangs two for killing Chinese oil workers

MDU Resources' unit buys natural gas assets in southwest Wyoming for $113 millionCanadianBusiness.comNet production as of Oct. 1 was about 14.5 million cubic feet equivalent per day, of which 92 percent was natural gas. About 63 percent of the daily ...

Globe and Mail

Marc Chandler submits:The euro has once again been turned back from the upper end of its 4-5 week trading range against the dollar. The euro has been unable to make much headway despite a couple of favorable developments, including a relaxation of anxiety over Greece and the weaker credits in Europe, economic data that suggests a recovery is taking hold and the fact that the Federal Reserve appears in no special hurry to raise interest rates--maintaining its signaling device of "extended period."While the euro has gone essentially nowhere against the dollar, it has weakened on the crosses. It is making new lows (of different durations) against the Swiss franc, Norwegian krone and Hungarian forint today. The Czech koruna, Polish zloty and Swedish krona don't seem far behind.

Rock Their Wardrobe: It's The Runaways, Our Way!Huffington Post (blog)Above, clockwise from bottom left: Maya Brenner Rectangle Pendant Necklace in Silver, $115, available at Goldyn; Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart in The ...