Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of Darling International were looking sweeter today, gaining as much as 15% after acquiring the Rothsay rendering business from Maple Leaf Foods for $614 million.

So what: The food-waste recycling company will purchase the rendering and biodiesel segment from  Maple Leaf as the Canadian food processor has divested from a number of assets as it struggles to turn a profit. The rendering business is a high-margin unit, which recycles animal byproducts into items including oils and soaps, and its acquisition will make Darling North America's largest provider of rendering and recycling services. Rothsay is the industry leader in Canada. Darling plans to fund the purchase under borrowings from a present credit facility.

Now what: No closing date was announced for the deal as it is subject to approval from the Canadian Competition Bureau, but analysts expect the division to change hands by the end of the year. Shares of Maple Leaf jumped 9% on the deal as well, which will shore up its balance sheet. Rothsay should fit in easily with Darling's businesses, which are divided into rendering and baking, and adding its advantage over the competition in rendering can only help. Shares hit a new all-time high on the news.

Gold's shimmer is losing its luster. And as gold grows more dull, Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX) feels more and more pain. Barrick is running into considerable trouble as gold, its primary commodity, falls down from the stratosphere.

In 2012, Barrick, which is the world's largest gold miner, saw its market cap dip below that of much smaller mining company Goldcorp (NYSE: GG). At that time, Barrick's market cap was $35.30 billion while Goldcorp's cap was $35.32 billion. As both companies continue to fall, the gap is widening. Today, Barrick's cap is $18.69 billion compared to Goldcorp's $23.91 billion. Respectively, the reductions represent a 47% and 32% decrease in value.

Meanwhile, the gap in net income is also widening. In 2012, Barrick reported a loss of $0.67 billion, compared to Goldcorp's profit of $1.7 billion. Fastforward to the second quarter of 2013, and things get worse for Barrick. For the second quarter, Barrick posted a massive loss of $8.56 compared to Goldcorp's loss of just $1.93 billion

Now, is Barrick about to rebound? No. Here are three reasons that this stock isn't going to hit the jackpot any time soon.

1. Trouble in Chile

In May, the Chilean government fined Barrick $15.8 million for "serious" environmental violations at the large Pascua-Lama mine. Before handing out the fine, Chilean officials forced Barrick to suspend operations until the environmental issues are resolved. According to Barrick, there was a problem with the mine's water management plan. Today, the mine is still shut down, further delaying an opening originally scheduled for 2014.

Anytime a mine isn't running, we have a problem. But a mine of this size presents an especially big problem. With production of up to 850,000 ounces of gold per year, the Pascua-Lama mine is to count for 11% of Barrick's overall gold production. 11%. The project is huge, and the situation isn't getting better. Barrick says it will submit a new water plan soon, but how soon? Will it pass the environmental board's standards? There's just too much uncertainty surrounding this project. I don't like it.

In addition, as the opening is delayed further, costs are going up. Already the estimated costs rose 34% to $8.5 billion, and more increases are likely. Some have even speculated that Barrick may scrap the project. However, Silver Wheaton Corp (NYSE: SLW) - a mining finance company involved in Pascua-Lama - said in a statement that Silver Wheaton remains confident about the project's future.

I would say confidence is a necessity since Silver Wheaton owns a 25% stake in Pascua-Lama's silver production - an estimated nine million ounces for the first five years. For 2013, Silver Wheaton's estimated silver output is 33.5 million ounces. That means Pascua-Lama accounts for about 5% of Silver Wheaton's production, so you can bet that Barrick isn't the only one worried about the mine.

Still, I agree with Silver Wheaton. I don't think that Barrick will go as far as scrapping the project, but I do think the miner needs to accelerate the process of getting Pascua-Lama up and running again.

2. Costs down under going up

Last month, Barrick announced that it would be making significant cuts in Australia. These cuts include laying off some 50 employees and closing a Greenfields exploration unit in Perth, Australia. 50 people doesn't seem too severe, but the downsizing underscores a bigger problem: rising costs.

According to Barrick's website, the cost of producing one ounce of gold in 2013 will be between $880 and $950 per ounce. The cost is up around 14% from $803 per ounce in 2012. Australia has an abundance of gold and silver reserves, but that doesn't matter if Barrick can't extract them with maximum profitability.

3. Gold stumbles

A mining company is only as valuable as the commodity it provides. Unfortunately for Barrick, gold is no longer climbing. A look at the SPDR Gold Trust ETF  shows that gold fell 25% since October of 2012. Following the recession, gold went steadily upward as investors clung to its stable value and feared inflation. Now, as markets begin to improve, investors are loosening their grasp on the commodity and returning back to income producing assets. As a result, the price of gold is slipping.

Take a look at how closely Barrick's stock price is tied to the value of gold. Using the past 20 trading days as the input, the current correlation is .93.

However, note the operating leverage inherent in the mining sector. Every dip the Gold ETF took, Barrick took more severely.

Final Thoughts

When a stock is trading as low as Barrick's, it's tempting to snap it up and hope for a turnaround. I say wait. Barrick may turn around eventually, but first the firm needs to regroup and do everything in its power to get Pascua-Lama back on track. Barrick may not be able to control the price of gold, but the miner should be able to keep its own operations running smoothly. Moreover, if Barrick does end up scrapping the project, the stock could descend even further.

I'm not saying Barrick is finished, but there are too many uncertainties to justify a long position. The miner could turnaround at some point, but in the meantime, stay bearish on Barrick.

Just as gold lost its shimmer, Barrick is ceasing to shine. 

Sales of new single-family homes took a big 13.4% month-to-month nosedive to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 394,000 for July, according to a Commerce Department report (link opens a PDF) released today. That's the lowest pace in nine months.

After hitting an unrevised recovery high in June, this latest report shows volatility remains. July's numbers came as a surprise to analysts, who had expected another solid month of sales at an annual rate of 487,000.  

Source: Census.gov. 

On a regional level, the West, South, and Midwest all took major month-to-month dips. Sales in the West dropped 16.1%, the South cooled off 13.4%, and the Midwest recorded a 12.9% decrease. Northeast sales tapered off 5.7%. Despite this month's dip, national sales of new homes have still managed a 6.8% increase over the past 12 months.

At the current rate of sales, there is an estimated 5.2 months of supply, compared with just 4.3 months in June. The median sales price of new homes dropped $1,300 to $257,200 for July. The average sales price was $322,700, a month-to-month increase of $20,500.

This latest report follows on the heels of a National Association of Realtors report thsi week that recorded a 6.5% increase in existing-home sales in July and a report from Freddie Mac showing mortgage rates rising.

Though new homes represent only a fraction of the housing market, they have an outsize impact on the economy. Each home built creates an average of three jobs for a year and generates about $90,000 in tax revenue, according to industry groups.

-- Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of Chinese social networking specialist Renren advanced more than 10% Friday morning after it was announced that it agreed to sell a 59% stake of its group-buying Nuomi subsidiary to search engine giant Baidu.com for approximately $160 million.

So what: The deal is expected to close sometime in the fourth quarter, and confirms last week's report from the tech news outlet section of Sohu.com that Baidu was interested in acquiring the unprofitable daily deals site, and that negotiations between the two companies had been in progress for at least two months. At the time, the news drove shares of Renren up more than 12%.

Now what: On one hand, this is great for Renren, helping remove at least some of the burden of running the cash-burning Nuomi business. Shares of Baidu, on the other hand, fell slightly during Friday's trading as investors worried whether the company had paid too much for its stake, with the sale price valuing Nuomi at a premium of around 10 times sales.

However, if Baidu can use its deep pockets to ultimately turn Nuomi profitable, this could end up being a big win for both companies.

The U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress Friday of plans to sell the government of Saudi Arabia a package of follow-on support and services for Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) aircraft and associated equipment, parts, training, and logistical support.

Specifically, DSCA notes that the Saudis are seeking maintenance, logistics, repair, and other services for their arsenal of military aircraft, for the engines that power them, and for the weapons that arm them. In total, the parts and services being sought are estimated to be worth $1.2 billion.

DSCA notes that "there is no prime contractor involved in this proposed sale." Given that the sale concerns RSAF aircraft, it would appear that the likely beneficiaries of this contract would include the contractors who built the planes being maintained and serviced. In this vein, and among others, the RSAF air fleet comprises:

• transport, fighter, and airborne early warning aircraft from Boeing
• Lockheed Martin transport planes such as the C-130 Hercules
• old F-5 Tiger fighter jets (now used primarily for flight training) from Northrop Grumman .

Justifying the proposed sale, DSCA advised Congress that Saudi Arabia is "a friendly country which has been and continues to be an important force for political stability and economic progress in the Middle East," and that Saudi Arabia "needs this follow on maintenance and logistical support to sustain the combat and operational readiness of its existing aircraft fleet."

DSCA assured Congress that "this proposed sale ... will not alter the basic military balance in the region," nor will it adversely "impact on U.S. defense readiness."

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Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over daily movements, we do like to keep an eye on market changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

Explosive news out of Microsoft has sent the stock soaring today, knocking out what's been an otherwise lackluster day from the markets. The stock's blown away the Dow Jones Industrial Average , which has gained around 20 points as of 2:15 p.m. EDT after an up-and-down morning kicked things off. Outside of the tech company, blue chip stocks are fairly evenly mixed between risers and losers on the day. Let's get caught up on all the action you need to know.

Ballmer's big news
Microsoft unloaded a bombshell this morning when CEO Steve Ballmer, the company's leader since taking over for Bill Gates back in 2000, announced he will retire within the next 12 months. The company has no successor in place now, but Ballmer said he'll stick around until one's found. Investors rallied on the news, propelling Microsoft's stock higher by an astronomical 7.1%.

Ballmer's been a Microsoft mainstay for years, having joined the tech leader way back in the 1980s. However, shareholders have grown antsy with his tenure lately as Microsoft's misfired on several major attempts to innovate. The firm's Surface tablets notably failed to impress: The tablet generated only $853 million in revenue since the start of the year, according to the company's most recent quarterly filing, and Microsoft's absorbed a number of costs as it's had to lower prices.

Microsoft's also faced tough competition in that time, and Ballmer's attempts to fight back haven't gone quite as planned. The Surface itself failed to compete against Apple's iPad and other tablets -- the Surface's sales in 2013 didn't even hit 5% of the more than $25 billion that the iPad rang up over that time. Coupled with the lackluster launch of Windows 8 (and the older flop of Windows Vista, which also released under Ballmer's tenure), perhaps today's stock surge is the sign that Microsoft needs to take a fresh new direction on its leadership. Ballmer's had some successes, but it hasn't been enough to keep Microsoft ahead of its fast-charging rivals in the tech world.

Outside of Microsoft, Home Depot's having a tough day on the other side of the Dow. The home improvement retailer's stock has fallen 0.7% to lead the Dow's contingent of laggards lower. Home Depot's performance is heavily tied to how the ups and downs of the housing market, and bleak news out of new home sales today has pared investor optimism.

New home sales for July fell more than 13% since June to plunge to the lowest rate of sales since October. Still, it's important to keep the housing market's overall rebound in perspective: Today's report was a big drop from June, but year-over-year new home sales were still up 6.8%. The housing market's going to suffer some bumps and hurdles as it works its way back from its lows, and as long as it keeps its upwards trajectory over time, Home Depot will be one of the best plays you can buy on this rebounding sector.

Steve Ballmer, who has been with Microsoft since 1980 when the company only had 30 employees, and who has been the company's CEO for the past 13 years, has announced he will be retiring within the next 12 months. With the decline of the PC market over the past few years, Microsoft's business is in flux at the moment. Ballmer recently announced a major reorganization within the company, and now that he is stepping down, the market reacted very positively, with shares up nearly 7% today.

In this video, Motley Fool Million Dollar Portfolio analyst Ron Gross sits down with host Alison Southwick, to discuss the market's reaction to the announcement. As Microsoft seeks to find its way in today's changing marketplace, the company's incredible balance sheet combined with the right kind of leadership coming in could take Microsoft in exciting new directions.

Ron talks with Alison about who some of the likely new CEO candidates could be, and also looks at some rather unlikely but very interesting picks. He also tells us what kind of leadership style he's going to be looking for, and why he still sees a lot of upside to the stock today.

Teen-targeted clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch gave investors a heaping pile of disappointment on Thursday upon releasing its 2013 second-quarter earnings -- a report that saw bottom-line earnings come in at nearly half of Wall Street's expectations. Though the important headline numbers were nearly all depressing, there are signs of an aware management team -- one that is taking steps to address market conditions and leverage the better-performing areas of the business. Falling nearly 20% after its earnings release, is Abercrombie in oversold territory? Let's see if earnings can give us a clue.

Rough report
For the second quarter, investors in Abercrombie & Fitch had little to celebrate. Net sales dropped a rather negligible amount, from $951.4 million in the same quarter of 2012 to $945.7 million in this year's quarter. Unfortunately, analysts were expecting just under $1 billion in sales.

Things got worse, though, as the company's comparable sales, across all three of its brands -- Abercrombie & Fitch, abercrombiekids, and Hollister, declined 6%, 3%, and 13%, respectively. On the whole, company total comparable-store sales dipped down 10%.

As opposed to some retailers, who can blame weather or acts of God, Abercrombie management chocked up the weak performance to poor sales figures in the women's fashion segment and low store traffic. Something is clearly awry with Abercrombie's merchandising.

There were a few positives though, to consider in deciding whether this is an inflection point for the troubled retailer.

Tides of change? 
What Abercrombie is selling, and apparently Hollister even more so, is not jiving with domestic audiences. Who knew the cargo short and cheesy T-shirt combination wasn't going to be a lasting style among American youths?

A cheap joke, yes, but in reality, the company does seem to have some traction with its merchandise overseas. During the quarter, international sales rose 15% -- not enough to offset the terrible domestic business, but important given management's latest efforts to turn things around.

In the coming year, A&F management is closing between 40 and 50 underperforming domestic stores. This is the "low-hanging fruit" of retail cost-cutting and will, without doubt, help things in the short to medium term. On the flip side, the company is opening a flagship store in Seoul, South Korea, along with 20 other international locations under the Abercrombie and Hollister names.

As international sales become a more important mix of the total sales figures for the company, expect those aforementioned sales gains to carry more weight. Coupled with decreasing domestic costs and further operating efficiencies, Abercrombie may not have deserved a fifth of its market cap sliced off the top.

Of course, there remains considerable risk in the business as, again, there is clearly a disconnect between American consumer preferences and the products on the shelves.

Investors interested in the turnaround effort and looking for a medium-term hold should take a closer look at Abercrombie & Fitch.

After snapping its six-day losing streak the Dow Jones Industrial Average was a little choppy in early trading, dropping early but fully recovering by noon EDT. Since then the Dow has been trading mostly flat, up just 25 points or 0.17%. Economic news was slow but U.S. new home sales came in 13.4% lower in July from the prior month. The seasonally adjusted annual rate of 394,000 was lower than expectations and notched the lowest sales rate in nine months. Only time will tell if this will create doubt among investors regarding the housing recovery. 

In other news; It was a fairly quiet day for Dow components, except for the tech giant Microsoft which increased 6.67% as of 2:25 p.m. EDT. The surge was due to an unexpected announcement from CEO Steve Ballmer who plans to retire within next year. Even without a named successor the news was enough for Microsoft's stock price to come within a couple dollars of its 52-week high.

Like many businesses that thrived during the PC era, Microsoft still has challenges to face. Bullish investors still believe that Windows 8 will recover from its initial lukewarm response and help the Windows OS franchise compete with mobile devices. In addition to that, bulls expect Microsoft's strong server and tools business to continue gaining market share while the market continues its growth.

Intel Corporation is the world's largest semiconductor company but has struggled of late, down roughly 12% over the last year amid PC weakness. The key Dow component was increased to neutral from underweight at Piper Jaffray recently and is up 1% today. Bullish investors have faith that its heavy investment into R&D will help the company keep its position at the center of technology innovation. Intel currently owns roughly 80% of the microprocessor market and its huge budget for capital expenditures should allow it to maintain its cutting-edge technology and market share.

Home Depot reported a fantastic quarterly report earlier this week. The company posted a 17.2% increase in net earnings to $1.24 per share which easily beat estimates, and its comparable store sales in the U.S. surged 11.4%. Despite management even raising guidance for the year the stock has traded completely flat all week and is down 0.81% today, suggesting that the housing recovery may already be priced into the shares. In addition to that, today's weaker than expected new home sales could give investors reason to hesitate buying shares of the home improvement retailer. 

There are lots of opportunities in the energy industry, but several oil services companies are looking past the borders of North America for their profits. National Oilwell Varco has 92% of its rig backlog dedicated to international customers, and Nabors Industries is pulling some of its rigs out of the U.S. to be used overseas. 

Rig companies and other oil services providers are finding that the expertise and equipment that was developed in the U.S. to make oil and gas exploration more efficient is now in demand abroad. Companies are looking to lend their expertise to others and pull in a hefty profit along the way. Tune into the video below where Fool.com contributor Tyler Crowe takes a look at some other companies planning to dedicate more business to international customers, and asks what value they would offer.

Curis and Roche Group 's Genentech unit have stopped a hedgehog -- not a spiky little beast, but a signaling pathway that could be the key in developing next-generation network-targeted cancer therapies. The hedgehog signaling pathway transmits information to embryonic cells that help them properly develop, and the proteins that move along these pathways regulate cell growth, differentiation, and survival.

However, if the pathway is improperly activated, it can cause a variety of cancers, most notably basal cell carcinoma, a common type of skin cancer. BCC is not usually fatal, but it can cause disfigurement and tissue destruction. In the United States, 30% of Caucasians are at risk of developing BCC, with 80% of cases occurring on the head and the neck.

Stopping the hedgehog generates strong sales growth
Curis and Roche's hedgehog pathway inhibitor program's greatest accomplishment, Erivedge, is an orally administered small molecule hedgehog pathway inhibitor. It attempts to interrupt the hedgehog pathway signal within the cells, disrupting the growth of advanced BCC. Erivedge was approved in January 2012, becoming the second skin cancer drug to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration following the approval of Roche's melanoma treatment Zelboraf in August 2011. Erivedge also gained Australian approval in May and a conditional EU approval in June.

During clinical trials, Erivedge had a 43% success rate at shrinking BCC for locally advanced patients (when BCC grows deeper into the skin), and a 30% success rate at shrinking BCC for metastatic patients (when BCC spreads to other parts of the body). The treatment costs $7,500 per month for an average treatment period of 10 months.

Last quarter, higher sales of Erivedge fueled Curis' 24% year-on-year increase in revenue to $5.4 million, as its adjusted EPS loss narrowed from $0.04 to $0.02 per share. Those figures exceeded the consensus estimate for revenue of $4.43 million and a loss of $0.05.

Other hedgehogs are crawling through the pipeline
Although inhibiting the hedgehog signaling pathway is a new approach to treating BCC, other competitors are already emerging. Novartis AG's LDE-225 is the most noteworthy one, a hedgehog pathway inhibitor that is currently in clinical trials for treating BCC. It is also currently recruiting participants to test LDE-225 against Temodar for the treatment of brain cancer. LDE-225 is also undergoing preclinical studies in possibly inhibiting the growth of prostate cancer stem cells.

The wide variety of applications that LDE-225 is being tested for indicates that hedgehog pathway inhibitors could be used for an ever wide variety of purposes. Exelixis, which discovered XL139 (BMS-833923), a small molecule inhibitor of SMO (a component of the hedgehog signaling pathway), licensed the compound to Bristol-Myers Squibb . Bristol-Myers is now testing XL139 in a phase 1b trial in combination with dasatinib, a tyrosine kinase inhibiting leukemia drug, for the treatment of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia.

Bristol-Myers has been followed by Pfizer, which also has an experimental hedgehog pathway inhibitor, PF-04449913, undergoing phase 1 trials for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia. These leukemia treatments from Bristol-Myers and Pfizer could further improve the quality of life for leukemia patients. Over the past decade, leukemia patients have been helped significantly by tyrosine kinase inhibitors such as dasatinib, which have eliminated or reduced the need for traditional chemotherapy.

The Foolish bottom line
It's clear that the approval of Erivedge has piqued other pharmaceutical companies' interest in the hedgehog signaling pathway. New drugs from Novartis, Bristol-Myers, and Pfizer might be the dawn of a new age of cancer treatments.

Although Curis is still unprofitable, the company is edging closer to profitability and has a robust lead product. In addition to Erivedge, Curis also has other lucrative drugs in its pipeline. One of these treatments is CUDC-247, which inhibits the IAP proteins which can help cancer cells survive. The other two treatments are CUDC-907 for myeloma and lymphoma, and Debio 0932 for advanced lung cancer.

Although Curis is still a tiny player in the biotech world, it has created a fascinating new treatment backed by the world's largest oncology treatment company, Roche. That makes Curis and the hedgehog pathway inhibitors that it has developed a lucrative area that biotech investors should keep a close eye on.

DuPont CEO Ellen Kullman affirmed, "We love all our investors," during a CNBC Squawk Box interview when asked about billionaire investor Nelson Peltz's big stake in the company.

Although Peltz hasn't confirmed his stake, CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin said he had confirmed that Peltz was continuing to buy a large stake in the chemicals giant. Peltz, head of Trian Fund Management, reportedly wants the company to split off tje Performance Chemicals division. Kullman confirmed the company is already seeking to sell the division.

The stock is trading near 52-week highs, rising almost 5% since its second quarter results in July. DuPont offers a 3% yield, and several analysts prefer it as an agricultural play to Monsanto (NYSE: MON). Last week, UBS added it to its acronymic mouthful QGARP list (quality growth at a reasonable price) with a price target of $64.00.

Break up and we'll love you more

The market seems to love the idea of a sale, and short interest has been declining. Return on investment is at 18.8%, more than twice that of the industry, and higher than the company's five-year average of 14.3%.

If, and this is a big if, the company can jettison the Performance Chemicals business, that would leave the agriculture segment contributing over 75% of revenue. DuPont's estimated growth rate of over 13.99% for the rest of the fiscal year would be extremely profitable without the drag of performance chemicals. Gross margin is at 33.9%, higher than the industry average at 27.20%, and could expand dramatically. This segment also has competition from Huntsman and Dow Chemical.

DuPont operates in several divisions besides Performance Chemicals. The others are: Agriculture, Electronics and Communications, Industrial Biosciences, Nutrition and Health, Performance Materials, Safety and Protection, and Pharmaceuticals.

The company has already started sloughing off weaker divisions with the sale of Performance Coatings to the Carlyle Group for $5 billion. And DuPont is focusing more on its Chemical and Seed division with a recent 80% stake in Pannar Seed of South Africa. Aside from Agriculture, the only divisions that posted income growth in the first quarter were Performance Materials and Industrial Biosciences, both at 5%.

How much do ya' love shareholders, DuPont?

The company consistently raises dividends and easily covers with a payout ratio of 36%. The dividend for 2010 and 2011 was $1.64, raised to $1.70 in 2012, and $1.76 for 2013. One would hope Peltz would agitate for a significant dividend hike after the sale of Performance Chemicals. 

Since 2010, Monsanto has raised its yield four times including a 14.7% increase (announced August 6). Monsanto is also a Dividend Aristocrat, having raised the dividend for 25 or more consecutive years. Assuming a DuPont divestment of Performance Chemicals, Monsanto and Syngenta (NYSE: SYT) would become its most direct competitors.

While DuPont's price to sales isn't bad at 1.47, you are paying more than the chemicals industry average of a $1.26 for a dollar's worth of the company's sales but less than Monsanto's 3.43 price to sales - higher than its agricultural product industry average of 2.35. You'll pay $2.60 for $1.00 of Syngenta sales. Jettisoning DuPont's Performance Chemicals would have a DuPont price to sales at lower than the ag industry average

While Monsanto's yield may not be as high, its payout ratio at 31% is lower. It is also buying back $2 billion worth of shares over the next three years. DuPont announced last December it would buy back $1 billion worth of stock in 2013. DuPont has the lowest corporate governance risk rating with a shareholders rights of 1 (very good) according to Institutional Shareholder Services.

Time to change partners?

Monsanto reported third quarter results affirming its guidance for 20% plus earnings growth. This makes its third year of earnings growth and is guiding 14% for 2014. Monsanto operates in two segments: Seeds & Genomics and Agricultural Productivity. Sales for both were up in the first nine months of its fiscal year.

Syngenta is interesting as it gets little press or analyst coverage. Only four analysts cover Syngenta (2:30 a.m. EST conference calls are probably a factor) with a median price target of $83.02.  It offers a 2.10% yield, (higher than Monsanto), and at a 36% payout ratio like DuPont.

Like Monsanto, the Basel, Switzerland headquartered company is a pure agriculture play. Its sole focus is on products to enhance global crop yields and food quality. Three year dividend growth, while not as robust as Monsanto, is still a healthy 17%.

One advantage over Monsanto is less headline risk, as pointed out by fellow Fool Mathew Frankel, noting the company was honored by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index as an environmentally responsible chemical company. Unless you've been hiding in a fallout shelter, you are probably aware Monsanto has been in the headlines for its GMO seed traits and pesticides. DuPont has managed to skirt most of this unfavorable press. Like DuPont, Syngenta has purchased an African seed company, (MRI Seeds of Zambia), in an effort to expand its reach into emerging markets.

So choose an ag already

According to Syngenta CEO Michael Mack, "There is broad acceptance of the need to double global crop production by 2050 in order to meet rising demand from population growth, dietary change and biofuels."

DuPont is a buy if you believe it will sell off Performance Chemicals (and possibly Electronic and Safety Protection). If you really loved your shareholders, you would do it, DuPont.

Monsanto has many good qualities: better growth, rising yield, and a global agriculture focus. Headline risk casts it as the bad boy of this investing triangle.

Halliburton today announced the results of its $3.3 billion modified "Dutch auction" tender offer to repurchase shares that was originally commenced on July 25 and expired last night. There were a total of approximately 100.2 million shares that were offered in the tender.

As a result of the tender offer and response, Halliburton said it expects to repurchase 68 million shares of common stock at $48.50 per share, for a total buyback of $3.3 billion excluding related fees and expenses. That total will represent 7.4% of its outstanding common shares. As of this writing, shares were trading at $48.50, which represented a roughly 42% gain over last year.

In a Dutch auction, shareholders can decide how many shares they want to sell and at what price, within a specified range. The company then determines the lowest per-share price within the range that lets it buy the amount of shares that it wants.

Halliburton has also secured its right to buy back additional shares of its common stock on the open market contingent on market conditions. However, Halliburton is restricted by securities laws from purchasing any additional common stock until Sept. 6. That decision will be dependent on "the market price of the shares, the final results of the tender offer, Halliburton's business and financial position and general economic and market conditions," the company said.

In July, Halliburton announced it had repurchased 23 million shares for a total cost of $1 billion throughout the second quarter of 2013.

-- Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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As the fourth richest person in the world today -- even after giving away roughly $24 billion of his shares in Berkshire Hathaway so far -- it's no surprise that Warren Buffett has his every move followed so closely by investors around the world.

Sure, a simple Web search makes it easy to figure out what Buffett has been up to over the past few years. But the real challenge is determining what the Oracle of Omaha will (or won't) do going forward.

Here are three Buffett predictions, then, for the remainder of 2013.

1. Buffett will be a net seller of stocks
First, though retail investors currently seem to be piling into the market in droves, I think this is exactly the time Buffett will decide to put the brakes on his own equity purchases.

Of course, that doesn't mean there aren't deals to be found picking individual stocks, but it's no mystery that Buffett prefers to buy "when there's blood in the streets" -- and it's hard to argue that's currently the case, with the stock market currently trading near all-time highs.

Then again, as fellow Fool Matt Koppenheffer pointed out last week, there was some easy-to-miss language in Berkshire's recent SEC filings indicating that Buffett probably made an enormous, undisclosed purchase last quarter. However, the last time that happened was back in 2011, when Buffett unveiled his enormous 5.5% stake in tech giant IBM , which most recently stood as Berkshire's third-largest position and was worth more than $13 billion at the end of last quarter.

But the fact Buffett almost certainly put additional billions to work in a yet-to-be-named stock in Q2 only reinforces the notion he'll be more likely to build his cash position going forward, all as he waits patiently for the next market meltdown to occur. 

2. Berkshire won't announce Buffett's successor
Next, though Buffett already confirmed during Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholder meeting in May he knows who his successor will be, don't count on hearing him share who it is before 2013 comes to a close.

After all, considering Buffett has already stated that he and Berkshire's board are comfortable with their choice and "100 percent in agreement as to who [his] successor should be," there's no reason they would want to create an unnecessary distraction by disclosing that information while the capable-as-ever Buffett is still at the helm.

Come to think of it, provided the 82-year-old CEO doesn't encounter an insurmountable health crisis in the near future, I wouldn't be surprised if Buffett withheld the name for at least the next several years.

That said, for those of you who still feel the need to guess, Buffett did confirm in a June email to the Omaha World Herald that his successor is male, ruling out speculation that Berkshire's young rising star in Tracy Britt would soon fill his shoes.

3. See's Candies will be just fine
Finally, and on a sweeter note, I'm going to step out on a (very short) limb to predict that Berkshire's See's Candies subsidiary will be just fine in spite of last week's significant chocolate recall.

But don't get me wrong: The recall was indeed unsettling, considering a customer reported having a severe allergic reaction to See's Dark Chocolate Blueberries, which was pegged down to milk -- an ingredient that had been omitted on the label.

OK, I admit this isn't much of a "prediction." It is, however, a perfect opportunity to highlight the fact that, through thick and thin, Buffett sticks by the companies Berkshire acquires. Remember, Buffett purchased See's Candies through Berkshire way back in 1972, and the company has long stood as the poster child for Uncle Warren's undying approval.

But that loyalty doesn't stop with See's. In 2008, Buffett described the companies he buys as works of art, using the following quirky analogy:

You can sell it to Berkshire, and we'll put it in the Metropolitan Museum; it'll have a wing all by itself; it'll be there forever. Or you can sell it to some porn shop operator, and he'll take the painting and he'll make the boobs a little bigger and he'll stick it up in the window, and some other guy will come along in a raincoat, and he'll buy it.

Apart from invoking the undeniable urge to wash your hands, that description makes it all too clear that despite any short-term missteps, See's Candies -- and every other company Berkshire owns, for that matter -- should have no problem surviving and thriving for the foreseeable future.

Things appeared to be going swimmingly for the housing market this week. Until Friday, that is.

On the final day of the week, the Commerce Department reported that new-home sales plummeted in July. According to its estimates, sales of new single-family homes decreased during the month by 12.4% on a seasonally adjusted annual basis relative to June. Compared with last year, however, they were up 6.8%.

The typical explanation for the month-to-month drop is that mortgage rates are finally making their way through to the housing market. "It's definitely a rate shock," Fannie Mae's chief economist told Bloomberg News. "You could see another month or two of weak sales, or it could go longer. ... Along the way, there will be some hiccups. This is certainly a hiccup."

Since the beginning of May, the interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has shot considerably higher as bond investors begin to contemplate a future with less help from the Federal Reserve. Over the past 16 weeks alone, they've gone from below 3.4% to above 4.5%. This past Thursday, Freddie Mac estimated that the national average was 4.58%.

The nation's largest mortgage originator, Wells Fargo , added fuel to the fire when it reported on Thursday that it's laying off 2,300 members of its mortgage department. The bank has looked to a robust refinancing wave to spur seven consecutive quarters with more than $100 billion in home loan origination volumes. But now, with refinancing activity down more than 60% over the past few months, the lending giant is finding it necessary to scale back.

That being said, it's nevertheless my opinion that any fear is premature. In the first case, for every negative data point that one can cite, there's also a positive one.

Just this week, the National Association of Realtors released its monthly report showing that existing-home sales skyrocketed in July, up by 17.2% compared with the same month last year. And while the Mortgage Bankers Association acknowledged on Wednesday that overall mortgage applications fell again last week, purchase-money mortgage applications actually climbed by 1% relative to the previous week.

Adding to this optimism were the quarterly results from the nation's largest home-improvement retailers. On Tuesday, Home Depot said that sales at stores open at least a year were up by 10.7% over the same quarter last year. One day later, Lowe's reported comparable sales of 9.6%. Both companies also notched dramatically improved earnings and revenue figures.

According to the former's CEO, Frank Blake, "The second-quarter results exceeded our expectations as our business benefited from a rebound in our seasonal categories, continued strength in the core of the store, and the recovering housing market in the U.S."

The point is that while it may appear as if mortgage rates are taking a significant toll on the housing market, the most recent evidence is nearly evenly split. In other words, it's still simply too close to call.