Shale oil and gas development has completely transformed the U.S. energy outlook and has changed the prospects for several companies in the energy space. But it's not over. Advancements in technology across all forms of energy could have major potential to disrupt the way we think about energy today. 

One great example is distributed power. While many have scoffed at the idea of renewable energy for individual users, SolarCity is showing a new business model for residential solar power that could make some big inroads in the electricity generation department. 

The big spike in residential installations as well as overall growth in the solar industry could mean very good times ahead for America's largest solar company, First Solar. Learn more about this company's immense opportunity in The Motley Fool's premium research report available here.

But to focus simply on renewables for distributed power would do some other parts of the industry a disservice, because companies such as Capstone Turbine are proving that localized generation of natural gas can be just as efficient as a big centralized utility plant. This one-two punch of renewable power as the primary energy source with localized natural gas generation as a backup for when solar or wind can't generate power could be a big threat to the utilities sector.

Learn more about some of the players in this emerging trend by tuning into the conversation between Fool analyst Joel South and Fool.com contributor Tyler Crowe in the following video.

Marvel Studios owes Netflix a big thank you. Not even two days after the Walt Disney subsidiary re-signed Robert Downey Jr. to star in two sequels to Marvel's The Avengers, Netflix is making the film available to its 29 million streaming members here in the United States.

Good timing, eh? Finally. Marvel hasn't done nearly enough to help lift comic-book retailers. Odd, since most of these fan-driven shops are go-to sources for the source material that informs its multibillion-dollar films.

May's Free Comic Book Day giveaway -- which also fell on opening weekend for Iron Man 3 -- included exactly zero comics featuring Iron Man. (A prequel to the film, distributed in March, had already come and gone.) This time, fortunate alignment with Netflix's release calendar provides what should be a nice tailwind. Call it a second chance to get new readers into stores to try comic books starring the characters they've come to enjoy on screen.

We know there's interest. Judging from what I saw in my Facebook feed earlier today, more than 19,000 are already gearing up to see the film. More than 645,000 have rated it at Netflix, netting 4.3 of five stars on average.

Netflix's Avengers promo on Facebook. Source: Netflix.

How might Marvel take advantage of Netflix's Avengers release? One idea would be to steal a page from rival DC Entertainment and sponsor a special edition packaged as a reprinted Avengers story, available free at comics shops on a certain predetermined date.

Or how about commissioning two Netflix edition variant covers for an upcoming issue of the "Uncanny Avengers" comic-book series? One could be for shops, the other marketed as an exclusive available only at next month's San Diego Comic-Con, which is sure to be buzzing with news about upcoming films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Either way, this is an area for investors to watch.

Publishing may not be the big business it once was, but for Marvel and Disney, comics are R&D and fans are beta testers. A little love from the studio executives could give life to a new billion-dollar storyline.

Now it's your turn to weigh in. Will you be watching The Avengers on Netflix this weekend? What comic-book storylines would you like to see Marvel Studios turn into a film? Leave your comments in the box below.

Among America's bigger regional bankers, PNC stock can probably claim claim its priciness as its biggest distinguishing factor. Valued at 12.7 times trailing earnings, shares of PNC Financial Services cost 18% more than rival Regions Financial , and a whopping 53% more than SunTrust Banks . But is there a good reason for investors to pay up for PNC stock?

That's what we're going to try to find out today, as we examine a couple of predictions Wall Street analysts are making about the stock ... and then turn to a prediction of my own.

Prediction No. 1: Superior sales
Wall Street analysts see PNC's revenues growing to about $16.5 billion by 2015. That's about 6.3% revenue growth -- total -- across three years' time.

While that may not sound like much, it's significantly sprightlier than the expectations for either SunTrust (1.4%) or Regions (3.5%). That's particularly significant, given that PNC is already so much larger than its rivals, and might ordinarily be expected to have trouble making its already big revenue stream ... even bigger.

Projected Revenues (in Millions)

Prediction No. 2: Premium profits
PNC's not just growing revenues, either. It's earning profits on them -- and fatter profits than either of its rivals, both on a per-share basis, and also from the perspective of how fast PNC stock is increasing its earnings.

Over the next few years, analysts see PNC growing per-share earnings by more than 43% in total. That's as compared to Regions' growth, of just a bit more than 31%. Meanwhile, SunTrust's earnings are expected to decline sharply from 2012 levels this year, and not make up the ground they've lost till 2016 at the earliest.

Projected Earnings Per Share

Prediction No. 3: Steady as she goes
Yet assuming the analysts' projections pan out, this all suggests that PNC stock -- and the investors who own it -- can expect only modest gains in the years to come. Priced at 12.7 times earnings, PNC doesn't look unreasonably expensive in light of the bank's superior 2.5% dividend yield (a full point more than either Regions or SunTrust pay), and its modest, achievable 8.4% five-year rate of earnings growth.

Yet the stock's no bargain, with the expected 11%-ish return to shareholders. This may explain why, over the past year, PNC stock has basically paced the S&P 500's returns with a 22% rise in value -- whereas both Regions and SunTrust have outperformed both PNC, and the S&P, quite handily. That's a trend that should continue, especially given that both Regions and SunTrust currently trade for about 0.8 times book value, while PNC costs a bit more than book.

Indeed, if you ask me, the best bargain in this group probably is SunTrust. Analysts see SunTrust's weak earnings this year setting up the bank for strong profits growth -- 10% annually -- over the next half-decade. With an 8.3 P/E ratio, and a decent 1.3% dividend yield, that makes SunTrust stock a better deal than PNC stock.

In a recent EIA energy conference, newly appointed Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz discussed the future of United States energy policy, and while the Secretary recognizes the vast importance of oil and natural gas production, he is also well attuned to the need of a diverse portfolio of of energy sources. While growing factions are increasingly becoming either pro-fossil fuels or pro-renewable sources, the approach going forward will fall under an "all of the above" policy. Check out the following video for more information on Dr. Moniz's energy policy, in addition to information on a few utility companies that are geared to take advantage of the "all of the above" policy approach. 

As noted in a recent Fool news article, American Express has named Jeffrey Campbell as its new executive vice president and CFO, effective later this summer. In a current SEC filing, American Express detailed Campbell's pay package, which could total as much as $20.5 million when fully vested, including salary, incentives, grant awards, and restricted stock and options.

As per the SEC filing, Campbell's compensation will include a $1 million base salary and participation in American Express' annual incentive program with a "guidance value" of $3.5 million, though that is pro-rated for 2013, in addition to its long-term incentive program valued at $2.5 million in restricted stock and options. Campbell will receive his first long-term incentive award July 31 and will be fully vested by Q1 of 2016.

An American Express "portfolio grant" is also part of Campbell's compensation package. The grant, worth as much as $1.5 million, will be awarded upon hire and will be fully vested in February 2016.

In addition to the salary, incentive, and grant, Campbell will also be given "sign-on" compensation, including a portfolio grant vesting in February 2015 and valued at $3 million, and a sign-on grant of restricted stock and options valued at $5 million when received, vesting in three years. A sign-on cash award of $4 million, payable in two annual installments beginning on Campbell's first anniversary, and participation in American Express' executive benefit plans round out his compensation package.

Are investors hitting the brakes on biotech? The biotech sector's one of the most boom-or-bust areas for investors, where fortunes can be won or lost. For most of the first half of 2013, it seemed the former was true, as the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index soared by double-digit percentage growth.

Over the past five days, however, the index shed nearly 5%, part of a 7% drop over the past month. Should investors be worried about this volatile sector, or are the past week's losses a remote event you should discount? Let's look at why some of the biotech index's big names were on the move this week.

Even biotechs can't escape Bernanke
To be fair to biotech investors, the entire market took a beating this week behind Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's announcement that the central bank could explore tapering back quantitative-easing bond buying later this year if the economy continues to improve. That won't affect the biotech market much, but in a classic overreaction from Wall Street, the sector fell with every other one on Wednesday and Thursday.

Onyx Pharmaceuticals' fall this week offers one example. Onyx shares plunged more than 9% over the past five days despite little news from the company. In fact, Onyx had been doing quite well with a double-digit gain year-to-date before this week; the company commands two strong oncology drugs that it's partnered on with Bayer in kidney cancer treatment Nexavar and colorectal cancer therapy Stivarga, the latter of which Onyx predicts will reach blockbuster status, with peak sales in excess of $1 billion. All this week's drop means for investors is a dip to buy this promising stock cheaper.

That's not the case for the week's biggest loser, however. Idenix Pharmaceuticals shares plunged by more than 31% this week after Friday's 30% nosedive, completely wiping out this stock's year-to-date gains. Thank the FDA for this one. after the agency requested more safety information from the company's developmental hepatitis-C oral drug IDX20963. The drug's still in preclinical stages, but the FDA put clinical holds on two of Idenix's drugs last year, making this a very unwelcome trend at the company as competitors move ahead in the oral hep-C market.

Medivation shares also were hit hard this week, falling 7.8% over the past five days. Shares fell 8% alone on Monday, after Johnson & Johnson agreed to purchase Aragon Pharmaceuticals in a $1 billion deal. It wasn't a game-changer for J&J, considering Aragon's developmental prostate cancer therapy ARN-509 is in phase 2 trials, although if the company can advance the drug to a regulatory victory down the road, it could one day fill in for J&J's current blockbuster oncology drug Zytiga after its patent expires.

Analysts think the drug can one day become a rival to Medivation's recently approved prostate cancer pill Xtandi, however. J&J expects the prostate cancer market to grow over time, perhaps allowing both drugs to co-exist -- a view supported by Citi analyst Yaron Weber, who expects Xtandi eventually to command 40% of the market. In all, the acquisition, even by a company as powerful as J&J, isn't a deal-breaker for Medivation.

Here we go again. It was only a couple of months ago that the White House announced that the Small Business Health Options Program, or SHOP, national online health insurance exchanges included in Obamacare wouldn't be fully ready until 2015 due to "operational challenges." At that time, the administration stated that the exchanges would still be functional on schedule in October of this year, but small businesses would only be able to select one insurance plan option for their employees.

Now, the Government Accountability Office, or GAO, which serves as the watchdog for federal agencies, says the situation might be worse. According to the GAO, implementation of the federally operated SHOP exchanges in 33 states and individual exchanges in 34 states is behind schedule. Whether the exchanges can be successfully launched in October "cannot yet be determined," in the GAO's opinion.

Flailing
The GAO found that, as of May, a whopping 44% of key activities needing to be done were behind schedule. Here's the kicker: That number reflects only tasks that were scheduled to be completed by March 31, 2013. In other words, nearly half of the things that needed to be done three months ago still weren't finished as of last month. I loved the response from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, on this. CMS said "it had revised many target dates and other delays were not expected to affect exchange operations." In other words, they're behind, but they changed the deadlines, so there's no problem.

To be fair, the missed schedules aren't all CMS' fault. But 40% of them are -- at least according to the GAO. Most of these problems stemmed from instances where CMS changed deadlines where it had "improved the specificity of new targeted completion dates." (Full disclosure: I have no earthly idea what that really means.) In other cases, CMS simply didn't give states the information needed to complete their activities. The GAO says that the individual states dropped the ball in the other 60% of late tasks.

The Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS, was given the opportunity to review the GAO's report before it was released and provide feedback. HHS "emphasized the progress it has made" since Obamacare was signed into law and "expressed its confidence" that everything will be in good shape for the exchanges to be operational by Oct. 1. 

Maybe HHS' rose-colored glasses indeed provide 20/20 vision. However, it seems questionable in the light of the GAO's observation that "certain factors, such as the still-unknown and evolving scope of the exchange activities to be performed in each state by CMS, and the large numbers of activities remaining to be completed -- some close to the start of enrollment -- suggest a potential for implementation challenges going forward." Umm, yeah, if the scope is still unknown and evolving for a massive project involving lots of different players only three months before a complex system is scheduled to be implemented, I'd say there might be potential problems ahead.

Flourishing
While the federal Obamacare exchanges flail, private health insurance exchanges are flourishing. For example, Mercer announced in April that several large insurers -- including Aetna, Cigna, Humana, and UnitedHealthcare -- would be part of its Mercer Marketplace private exchange. Mercer Marketplace allows employers to contribute a defined amount for its employees to use on health coverage. Employees use the system to shop around for the insurance plans that best meet their needs.

Towers Watson wasn't far behind in announcing several large health insurers signing up to participate in its OneExchange private health insurance exchange. Participating insurers include Aetna, Anthem, Kaiser Permanante, and UnitedHealthcare. Towers Watson also recently bought Extend Health, which runs the largest private Medicare exchange in the nation. 

AON Hewitt, the human resources business unit of AON , successfully enrolled more than 100,000 employees across the U.S. in health insurance plans last fall through its Corporate Health Exchange product. The company's survey of enrollees found that nearly 80% "felt confident they chose the health plan that offered the best value for them and their family." 93% liked being able to choose from multiple insurance carriers.

More good news appears to be on the way for AON, Mercer, Towers Watson, and other private health exchange companies. A study by Accenture concluded that participation in private exchanges will catch up with public exchanges established by Obamacare by 2017. After that point, enrollment in theObamacare exchanges will grow slowly, while private exchange enrollment will increase rapidly. Accenture says that more than a quarter of employers in the U.S. are considering moving to a private exchange within the next three to five years.

Another study by Booz & Company found that around 80% of employers would rather allow employees to purchase insurance through a private exchange than through a public exchange. What were the reasons given for this strong preference? Better product choices, more flexible benefit designs, better customer service, and "a general wariness of government-run entities."

Taking stock
I suspect that if the federal government was a publicly traded entity, its stock would be in a free-fall right now. On the other hand, the stocks of the three private exchange companies mentioned earlier are doing pretty well. Mercer is up 13% over the last year. Towers Watson shares have climbed nearly 30% during the same period. Aon's stock jumped nearly 35%.

HHS is talking about its "confidence" amid what looks to be a fiasco in the making, judging from the GAO report. Meanwhile, private companies are making real progress. The employers in that Booz study might be on to something with that wariness of government.

Microsoft and Google messed up, and in a few months they may start paying the price. When Microsoft's Xbox One fails to gain traction the way its current video-game console did -- and when the high-tech Google Glass specs falter at the retail level -- there will be no shortage of scapegoats.

Microsoft angered gamers with restrictive policies, and that sentiment's going to stick even if the restrictions did not. Google Glass probably hit the market at too high a price for the first wave of wearable computing products. Xbox One priced itself for too much more than the rival PS4 and Wii U platforms. Google Glass was overrun by early-adopter hipsters that few would want to emulate.

All of this can be remedied. Microsoft can be more generous. Both companies have the financial flexibility to slash prices aggressively. Shipping out Google Glass to a few dozen celebrity tastemakers would turn momentum back toward mainstream appeal.

However, the one thing that can't be fixed also happens to be the real reason Xbox One and Google Glass will have a wall of worry to scale when they roll out. In the end, it's really just unfortunate timing for both products.

Xbox One and Google Glass came out at the worst possible time.

Consumers are upset about being spied on. As Prism, NSA, and Edward Snowden become household words, folks are having Orwellian fears about any devices that seem to make surveillance any easier. Microsoft and Google have been snowed in -- wait for it -- by Snowden.

Check out the Xbox One's Kinect camera. It's always on, by default. The sensor is perpetually monitoring visual and audio information that it uses to make gesture and voice prompts easier to use. These are features. They can be disabled if the user turns off the sensor or pauses it, but the whole thing is just too darn creepy in theory.

Google Glass is even creepier, because it's someone else who may be recording you. Forget about the unsavory notion that someone may be watching a funny cat video or furniture porn while having a conversation with you. That person can be recording you at the bus stop from across the street or looking up Foursquare check-ins while scanning the pub.

The creepiness factor is high at the worst possible time for Microsoft and Google. They thought they were raising the bar with their products, but at a time when the public is concerned about the kind of information that both companies are already collecting, don't be surprised if the Xbox One and Google Glass debuts find protestors shooing away the adoring fans.

Source: Wikimedia Commons.

The following video is from The Motley Fool's weekly Tech Review, in which host Chris Hill talks all things tech with Fool analysts Eric Bleeker and Lyons George.

The battle between DISH Network and Sprint Nextel over Clearwire , a company owning a large amount of LTE-enabled broadband spectrum across the country, seems to be drawing to a close. In this segment, Lyons tells investors about Sprint's most recent offer for Clearwire and DISH's decision not to offer a counterbid, and what that will mean for Sprint going forward from here.

The relevant video segment can be found between 3:13 and 5:35.

For the full video of this edition of the weekly Tech Review, click here .

Put another wild week on Wall Street into the record books. Going into the last day of the week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had an eight-day streak going in which it closed higher or lower by more than 100 points. But although the index was up nearly 100 points around 3 p.m. ET on Friday, it broke the streak and closed higher by a mere 41 points. But considering the Dow lost more than 550 points the two previous days, Friday was viewed as a big win, even though the index lost 270 points, or 1.79%, this past week over fears that the Federal Reserve's stimulus programs will soon come to an end. The other two major indexes also lost big time this past week, as the S&P 500 fell 2.1% and the Nasdaq lost 1.93%.

This past week was slightly unusual, as 27 of the Dow's 30 components ended the week in the red. On a typical week, or even in one where the market makes a big move lower, we tend to only see a little more than half of the components in the red. For example, last week the Dow fell 1.16%, but only 21 stocks were lower, and in the last week of May, it slid 1.22% and only 17 stocks fell.

Before we hit the Dow losers, let's look at this week's best-performing component. Shares of Cisco rose an astounding 0.53%. On Thursday, when its fellow components were tanking, it lost only 0.99% of its value, making it the best Dow performer that day. The company announced this week that it will purchase Composite Software for $180 million this past week. Composite makes software that takes data from multiple storage locations and presents it to a user in a way that makes it seem all the data came from the same place. This technology will help Cisco grow its cloud computing offerings in the future.  

The big losers
Shares of AT&T fell more than any other Dow stock this past week, dropping 4.47%. The telecom giant slid on a few different news-related stories this week, including the Fed's announcement. The first mover came on Monday, when rumors began swirling that AT&T may be interested in purchasing Spanish telecom company Telefonica. The $93 billion price tag probably caused some shareholders to nearly faint, and then promptly sell their shares. The other big news came on Wednesday, when it was reported that DISH Network was officially pulling out of the race to buy Sprint Nextel. This move opens the door for SoftBank to move in and buy the company, which is bad for both AT&T and Verizon, since SoftBank will be able to provide adequate capital to Sprint, which it will probably use to update its network and fight to win market share from the top two U.S. telecoms, AT&T and Verizon.  

Alcoa moved lower by 3.03% this past week, making it the eighth worst Dow component. Shares fell from the beginning of the week until the end, and nearly the whole drop can be blamed on China. The country is currently experiencing a slowing economy,and this past week the government announced that it will tighten its credit policy. These events will hurt Alcoa, since it needs strong capital spending and large construction projects to sell its aluminum to. But a slowing economy and tight credit aren't conducive to an environment in which we'll see massive building projects.

For the second week in a row, Microsoft has found itself on the list of the Dow's top losers, as shares declined 3.25%. Two weeks ago, the stock lost 3.61%, after the company announced that its new Xbox One gaming console won't be available in Asian markets until sometime in late 2014. This week the company made a few changes to its policies by making the device more user-friendly, including a removal of restrictions on the resale or trade of games. But the overall negativity in the market this past week, along with the rumors that Microsoft was in talks to purchase Nokia, sent shares tumbling.

The other Dow losers this week:

(For more information on why shares of these other losers were lower this past week, click on the links.)

• 3M, down 1.54%
• American Express, own 0.86%
• Bank of America, down 3.2%
• Boeing, down 2.25%
• Caterpillar, down 1.21%
• Chevron, down 1.76%
• ExxonMobil, down 1.38%
• General Electric, down 1.18%
• Hewlett-Packard, down 2.46%
• Home Depot, down 3.16%
• Intel, down 3.04%
• IBM, down 3.74%
• Johnson & Johnson, down 2.09%
• JPMorgan Chase, down 2.75%
• McDonald's, down 1.34%
• Merck, down 1.46%
• Pfizer, down 2.33%
• Procter & Gamble, down 0.89%
• Travelers, down 4.13%
• United Technologies, down 2.12%
• Verizon, down 2.59%
• Wal-Mart, down 2.01%
• Walt Disney, down 1.83%

Cyprus is moving ahead with its plan to become one of Europe's rare bright spots in a nat-gas boom that's largely passed it by. Earlier this week, the bailed-out island nation's Cabinet moved ahead with a preliminary agreement to allow Noble Energy and its Israeli partner Delek Drilling (and its subsidiary Avner Oil Exploration) to build a natural gas processing and export facility to take advantage of the major offshore discovery Noble revealed in late 2011. The $13.4 billion plant (roughly the cost of Cyprus' bailout) would be operational by 2020 to handle an estimated 7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas that Noble discovered two years ago.

Will it be enough to revive Cyprus and move Europe along the path to energy independence? On its own, probably not -- but it's a pretty good start.

The cache under Cyprus
Before this discovery, Cyprus didn't even register on the charts of the world's most gas-rich nations. The European Union borders on some of the richest -- Russia and Iran had the two largest national nat-gas reserves in the world in 2011 -- but the EU itself had approximately 175 trillion cubic feet beneath its member nations at the end of 2011.

Seven trillion cubic feet of nat gas is enough to rank Cyprus in a tie with Britain for third among EU member nations, behind only Norway's 73 trillion cubic feet and the Netherlands' 39 trillion cubic feet of reserves. That number could grow quite a bit larger after more exploration, as the Cypriot state oil and gas agency estimates that there may be up to 60 trillion cubic feet of nat gas in its territorial waters. More importantly to Cyprus, its tiny population relative to the rest of the EU's producer nations means that there's a greater potential for liquefied natural gas export, and thus a greater long-term net economic benefit, than there might be for either the Netherlands or Norway, both of which have about 20 years of production left at current extraction rates.

Noble and Delek control the current find, but there are several other promising blocks leased to France's Total and Italy's Eni , both of which could also participate in developing the export terminal. This would be a more lucrative proposition for Cyprus than it might be in the U.S., because present nat-gas prices in the EU are more than four times as high as they are in the United States:

European Union Natural Gas Import Price data by YCharts

This price represents a million BTU, which is roughly equivalent to 1,000 cubic feet of natural gas. At current prices, the raw EU import value of Cyprus' proven reserves, largely controlled by Noble, is about $86 billion, or more than 3.5 times its national GDP. But it will take time for this potential to become reality -- the International Energy Agency's best-case scenario doesn't expect more than $3 billion in economic benefit by 2020, with about a third of that in tax revenue. That's a long time to wait for a country already headed toward a depression in a region that's been rather economically unforgiving over the past few years.

The end result could be a bonanza for Noble that comes too late to revive a floundering Cypriot economy. The country's best bet for the near term might be to front-load the return on this and future discoveries, but that might be dangerous for both the nation and its principal corporate energy partners if the situation winds up destabilizing, as it has been in Greece of late.

If you're in the macro know, there's no beating around the bush: Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's statements this week were major market movers. But as the Dow dipped and the S&P shuddered, long-term investors have a huge reason to celebrate. Here's why.

Bernanke's big mouth
Analysts couldn't care less about financial forecasts and official press releases. When it came to this week's Federal Reserve statements, every eye was on Bernanke's Q&A session. Here, the man behind the money would be forced to leave his script and give off-the-cuff remarks to potentially revealing questions.

Did Ben burst into tears? Did he hint that his heyday was over? Did he recommend Bitcoins? Hardly. But he did make mention of a potential end: "In the next few meetings, we could take a step down in our pace of purchases" of mortgage-backed securities and long-term Treasuries.

That statement was enough to send bears roaring to the market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.35%, while the S&P 500 slumped 1.39% by the end of the day.

Source: Wikimedia Commons. 

But in his hurry to readjust, Mr. Market may have lost its long-term focus. An equally important statement, and one that received little financial fanfare, went a little something like this:

To support continued progress toward maximum employment and price stability, the [Federal Open Market Committee] expects that a highly accommodative stance of monetary policy will remain appropriate for a considerable time after the asset purchase program ends and the economic recovery strengthens. In particular, the Committee decided to keep the target range for the federal funds rate at 0 to 1/4 percent and currently anticipates that this exceptionally low range for the federal funds rate will be appropriate at least as long as the unemployment rate remains above 6-1/2 percent.

Buybacks or not, the Fed is in it to win it and will keep its monetary policy in place as long as it takes for our economy to legitimately pull itself out of its recession rut. And while Mr. Market might've ignored this news, it creates a unique investing opportunity for long-term investors.

Take a walk down market memory lane
The last time the U.S. unemployment rate dropped from 7.6% (our current rate) to 6.5% (the Fed's point of retreat) was between September 1992 and December 1993. In that 15-month period, the Dow Jones increased 14.9%, the S&P 500 soared 16.4%, and Michael Jordan scored his 20,000th career point. Not a bad year for positive numbers. But some of our most beloved blue chips headed even higher.

As retail sales rose 9.8%, McDonald's shares jumped 35%. As the Purchasing Managers Index increased 11.9%, General Electric shares grew 41% while Intel rocketed 110% on 42% sales increases.

MCD data by YCharts

What happened in 1992 and 1993 was no financial fluke. Unemployment rates are a crucial economic indicator, and the Federal Reserve's recent statements underline that fact. As short-term Wall Street investors pocketed their profits and walked away from Wednesday's market, long-term investors know there's a lot more in store.

Learning from our past
Past markets are no predictor for future movements, but in this case, a 20-year-old history lesson helps put things in perspective. The Federal Reserve may back off on buybacks, and that will undoubtedly hurt the market. But Ben's only going to pull the plug if the markets are well on their way to making returns magnitudes higher than any one-day drop. And when that happens, long-term investors will sit back and enjoy the slight slump on their double- or triple-digit profits.

Other than the occasional short squeeze, nothing drives Netflix stock so much as exclusive content. But don't take my word for it. Witness what happened after House of Cards and Hemlock Grove pushed viewing hours to new highs. (More than 4 billion, according to the latest data.)

Netflix stock has more than doubled year to date and is up nearly 250% since last summer.

NFLX Total Return Price data by YCharts.;

If original content is at least partially responsible for the rally, then the natural question for investors is: What's next? We know Jenji Kohan's Orange Is the New Black is on the way. Other in-development projects include a second season of House of Cards and Sense8 from the Wachowskis and J. Michael Straczynski of Babylon 5 fame.

And after that? Surely there are other small projects in the works, plus a rotating schedule of exclusive content that includes a big deal with Walt Disney for rebroadcasting of the highly successful Marvel films. (The Iron Man franchise alone already accounts for $2.4 billion in worldwide box office receipts.) 

But it'll take years to get all those movies. In the meantime, resuscitating popular but recently canceled television shows could become a catalyst for Netflix stock even as Amazon.com sharpens its focus on five originals: two adult comedies (i.e., Alpha House and Betas) and three kids' shows (i.e., Annebots, Creative Galaxy, and Tumbleaf).

To be clear, I'm not talking about doubling down on Arrested Development. I'm talking about newer shows with a niche following, such as The Killing. Here are three canceled shows whose earlier seasons are already available on Netflix:

1.  
   Among all the things I saw at Denver Comic-Con earlier this month, nothing surprised or delighted me so much as getting to meet Eddie McClintock, who plays Agent Pete Lattimer in this soon-to-be defunct SyFy channel show about hunting down and "bagging and tagging" powerful artifacts for storage in a mysterious warehouse located in the South Dakota wilderness. (Netflix ratings: 886,436; IMDb stars: 7.3)

2. Terriers 
   A seedy, funny, and surprising detective series starring Donal Logue as a recovering alcoholic P.I. operating without a license and whose partner and best friend is a former thief played by Michael Raymond-James. (Netflix ratings: 115,593; IMDb stars: 8.1)

3.  
   Another Joss Whedon show canceled early -- (cough) Firefly (cough) -- that starred Eliza Dushku as one of a number of programmable "dolls" for hire through their employers, a network of corporate-controlled "dollhouses." (Netflix ratings: 863,535; IMDb stars: 7.3)

Skeptics will argue that Netflix would do better developing entirely new properties. Trouble is, promoting new shows isn't cheap. Netflix spent $129 million on marketing in the first quarter alone, about even with last year's Q1. A rush of newer originals could make it harder to keep a lid on costs.  

Cult hits such as Warehouse 13 don't need the same marketing support. Think about it: McClintock and co-stars Joanne Kelly, Saul Rubinek, and Allison Scagliotti have already won over the more than 800,000 who have rated the show on Netflix. That's a powerful tailwind, one that might prove better at boosting Netflix's bottom line than would investing in an untested idea. 

Now it's your turn to weigh in. Would you have Netflix bring back any of these shows? Leave a comment to let us know what you think, and whether you would buy, sell, or short Netflix stock at current prices.

In the fast-paced, dog-eat-dog world of big tech, fortunes come and go quickly. One such example is the fallen star of French telecom equipment, Alcatel­-Lucent . The company's been through the wringer since its merger several years ago. With its shares having skyrocketed over the past several months, investors are hoping the company has finally regained its mojo after struggling through a harrowing turnaround process. However, it might not be that simple, as our tech and telecom analyst shows in the following video.

The following video is from The Motley Fool's weekly Tech Review, in which host Chris Hill talks all things tech with Fool analysts Eric Bleeker and Lyons George.

Chinese company Xiaomi is one that tech investors should be aware of. It has not only carved out a lucrative niche for itself in the Chinese Android smartphone market, but it also has a set-top box similar to Apple TV, though it's been tangled up in regulatory problems. Now, however, a leaked factory photo has come out showing a 47-inch TV with features very similar to the company's Xiaomi box, offering connectivity to China's many online streaming sites. Could this be the first smart TV to hit the market? In this video, our analysts discuss why a company such as Apple will be watching this development closely.

The relevant video segment can be found between 3:49 and 7:12.

For the full video of this edition of the weekly Tech Review, click here .

The outcome of the Fed's FOMC meeting on Wednesday sparked a downdraft in stock and bond markets worldwide. Since Tuesday, the S&P 500 and the narrower, price-weighted Dow Jones Industrial Average have both fallen around 3%. Meanwhile, volatility, as measured by the VIX Index has shot up to its highest level year to date.

In the following video, Motley Fool contributor Alex Dumortier asks: Given markets' short-term reaction to the news, is the Fed's announcement detrimental to equity investors?