10 stocks to watch today

1. Food

Stocks:Syngenta (SYT 0.00%, news) and Monsanto (MON 0.00%, news)

The United Nations calls the global food crisis a "silent tsunami." Two billion people, mostly poor, depend on fish and other wild foods for protein. Their supplies have "collapsed or are in steep decline," forcing use of costly animal proteins. The rise in food prices is making it worse for billions living below poverty levels.

In "The End of Plenty," National Geographic warns "synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and irrigation, supercharged by genetically engineered seeds" are failing. A joint World Bank/UN study concluded that the immense production increases brought about by science and technology the past 30 years have failed to improve food access for many of the world's poor. Modern techniques have led to farming that's "destructive of the soil, the environment and us," Doug Gurian-Sherman, a senior scientist with the food and environment program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, tells Time magazine.






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2. Farmland

Funds:Ceres Partners, Chess Capital Partners

Crop soils are "being carried away by water and wind erosion at rates between 10 to 40 times the rates of soil formation," Diamond warns in "Collapse." With forests, the soil-erosion rate is "between 500 and 10,000 times" the replacement rate, he estimates -- a trend accelerated by today's 100,000-acre megafires.

Ceres and Chess are hedge funds that own many small farms.

Additional stocks mentioned in this article: Kimberly-Clark (KMB 0.00%, news), International Paper (IP 0.00%, news) and DuPont (DD 0.00%, news).


3. Forests

Stocks:Kimberly-Clark (KMB 0.00%, news) and International Paper (IP 0.00%, news).

We are destroying natural habitats and rain forests at an accelerating rate. Half the world's original forests have been converted to urban developments. A quarter of what remains will be converted in the next 50 years.

4. Chemicals

Stocks:DuPont (DD 0.00%, news), Molycorp (MCP 0.00%, news) and Dow Chemical (DOW 0.00%, news).

Our solutions often create new problems. Consider the deadly impact of insecticides, pesticides, herbicides, detergents, plastics. The list is endless. For example, industries "manufacture or release into the air, soil, oceans, lakes, and rivers many toxic chemicals" that break down slowly or not at all, Diamond writes.






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5. Energy

Stocks:Exxon Mobil (XOM 0.00%, news), Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.B 0.00%, news), BP (BP 0.00%, news), ConocoPhillips (COP 0.00%, news) and Alpha Natural Resources (ANR 0.00%, news).

Oil, natural gas, coal. Pimco's Bill Gross described a "significant break" in the world's "growth pattern." The world is now past the "peak oil" tipping point. Consumer shopping will decline as economic growth slows in the future and corporate profits will be static.

6. Alternative energy

Stocks:Southern (SO 0.00%, news) and Westinghouse Solar (WEST 0.00%, news).

In "Seven myths about alternative energy," the Foreign Policy asks if biofuels, solar and nuclear are the "magic ticket" before answering that they're not. And they never will be, although some diversified energy companies are well into nuclear energy.

7. Water

Investment: government monopolies

Diamond warns: "Most of the world's fresh water in rivers and lakes is already being used for irrigation, domestic and industrial water," transportation, dams, fisheries and recreation. Water problems destroyed many earlier civilizations: "Today over a million people lack access to reliable safe drinking water."

By 2015 two-thirds of the world will live in water-stressed countries. Water will trade like oil futures. More and more wars will be fought over water and other basic resources concluded a 2003 Pentagon report predicting that "warfare will define human life by 2020.








Do economics point to chaos?
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8. Solar energy

Investment: very risky

Diamond warns that we're already using "half of the Earth's photosynthetic capacity," and will max out by midcentury. In "Plundering the Amazon," Bloomberg Markets magazine warns that Alcoa (AA 0.00%, news), Cargill and other resources giants "have bypassed laws designed to prevent destruction of the world's largest rain forest ... robbing the earth of its best shield against global warming


Company

Sector

YTD change

Forward P/E

Scouter score



ConocoPhillips (COP 0.00%, news)

Integrated oil and gas

5.9%

8.9

10



Exxon Mobil (XOM 0.00%, news)

Integrated oil and gas

-0.5%

9.4

9



Baker Hughes (BHI 0.00%, news)

Oilfield services

0.3%

8.4

8



BP (BP 0.00%, news)

Integrated oil and gas

9.2%

6.6

8



Chevron (CVX 0.00%, news)

Integrated oil and gas

3.0%

8.3

8



Southwestern Energy (SWN 0.00%, news)

Oil and gas exploration

3.4%

18.7

8



DirecTV (DTV 0.00%, news)

Broadcast satellite services

10.3%

8.9

10



Microsoft (MSFT 0.00%, news)

Software

23.2%

10.6

10



Two Harbors Investment (TWO 0.00%, news)

Real estate investment trust

11.5%

6.0

10



Lowe's (LOW 0.00%, news)

Home improvement stores

17.3%

13.4

10
TICKERS IN THIS ARTICLE.




NAME

LAST

CHNG

% CHNG






BHI

48.79

0.00

0.00









HAL

34.88

0.00

0.00









SLB

75.84

0.00

0.00









COP

77.16

0.00

0.00









XOM

84.30

0.00

0.00

Population growth bubble

Stocks:Wal-Mart Stores (WMT 0.00%, news), McDonald's (MCD 0.00%, news), Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD 0.00%, news) and L.L.Bean

Tuesday stocks DJIA $.DXY $.SPX $AAPL $AMZN $AXP $BMO $BMY $CM $COST $JNJ $KMB $KMP $LQD $SO $SYT $WFC $WMT $XLF $XLU

Tuesday, the Day the Game Changed?

DJIA $.DXY $.SPX $AAPL $AMZN $AXP $BMO $BMY $CM $COST $JNJ $KMB $KMP $LQD $SO $SYT $WFC $WMT $XLF $XLU

Published: Tuesday, 6 Sep 2011 | 1:40 PM ET

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By: L.   Brodie
Producer

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The Tuesday after Labor Day is rarely a happy day for school age children, but this year it’s no picnic for market pros either. In fact, chatter on the floor suggested this Tuesday after Labor Day may be remembered as the day the game changed.

Largely, the talk was triggered by a drastic move by Switzerland, which – in an effort to protect its exporters - unilaterally set a floor on the franc's exchange rate against the euro at 1.2, roiling currency markets.

The move forced a re-allocation effectively calling into question the Swiss franc as a safe haven. ”Everything is now in play,” muses Fast trader Joe Terranova. “This changes the money flows around.”

And the big issue – the game changer if you will – is what happens to the US dollar [.DXY 75.90 0.80 (+1.06%) ] in the wake of these developments. “The dollar may recapture some of its lost luster,” Terranova explains.

That may sound very patriotic but if that happens, "if the secular downtrend in the dollar reverses – if it begins to get stronger - that will have a major, major impact on stocks,” Terranova says. “That would be a huge game changer for the trading community.”

The S&P [.SPX 1158.06 -15.91 (-1.36%) ] sold off sharply on the news and the Dow [.DJIA 11080.38 -159.88 (-1.42%) ] plunged by triple digits.

If the dollar is about to get a lot stronger, how should you position?

Instant Insights with the Fast Money traders
Trader Steve Cortes explains that a stronger dollar is good for importers and bad for exporters. Because Cortes also likes companies with strong exposure to North America, he says, “I’d play it long Costco [COST 77.90 -0.66 (-0.84%) ] or long Walmart [WMT 51.26 -0.77 (-1.48%) ] and long the Southern Company [SO 41.05 -0.11 (-0.27%) ] .”

If you like the theme, but want a little more torque Joe Terranova likes long Apple [AAPL 374.04 -0.01 (0%) ] or long Amazon [AMZN 213.43 3.43 (+1.63%) ] . “Both are performing well,” he says.

If you’re not a trader but rather a long-term investors who prefers limited risk, Cortes suggests long corporate bonds (which can be played with a long position in the LQD [LQD 113.65 0.96 (+0.85%) ] ) as a bet that North America-based companies with strong balance sheets and a healthy dividend yield could become the new safe haven.


In this environment, Trader Patty Edwards is primarily bullish on stocks that offer yield. She suggests Bristol-Myers [BMY 29.1898 0.1798 (+0.62%) ] , Johnson & Johnson [JNJ 64.295 0.225 (+0.35%) ] , Kimberly Clark [KMB 68.28 0.15 (+0.22%) ] , and Kinder Morgan [KMP 68.39 -0.99 (-1.43%) ] .

On a related note, Edwards also suggests putting Nestle and Syngtenta [SYT 58.67 -4.02 (-6.41%) ] on the radar as two Europe-based companies that appear oversold on Europe concerns.

Trader Brian Kelly can’t get behind anything. Kelly. “I think we’re heading into a recession with few circuit breakers – I don’t really want to buy anything. If I had to put money to work it would be in utilities [XLU 32.9975 -0.2925 (-0.88%) ] ,” he says.

Get more on the key developments happening in the market. Check out our exclusive interview with Larry McDonald, Newedge senior director. Watch the video now!

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FINANCIALS REMAIN IN FREEFALL
Financials [XLF 12.305 -0.235 (-1.87%) ] were still stuck in freefall mode on Tuesday, despite an earlier report by the FT, which said several major U.S. banks had been offered a deal to settle claims of 'robo-signing'

What’s the trade?
Joe Terranova thinks the clock has run out. Now that we’re on the other side of Labor Day he doesn’t think money managers will make a big commitment to the sector. However, if you’re looking for individual names in the space he suggests Wells Fargo [WFC 23.94 -0.26 (-1.07%) ] , Amex [AXP 47.79 -0.72 (-1.48%) ] .

Patty Edwards thinks that if you must put money to work in the space, look at Canada-based banks such as Bank of Montreal [BMO 59.64 -1.27 (-2.08%) ] or Canadian Imperial [CM 76.09 -1.16 (-1.5%) ] .