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As the dollars keep piling up in China, there is a need to put the money to work. So how about oil? No doubt, China needs this vital commodity as its economy continues to grow at a rapid clip. Consider that the country imports roughly 3.6 million barrels of oil a day -- and this will inevitably increase in the coming years.

To gear up for things, China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) -- which is the parent company of PetroChina (NYSE: PTR) -- secured a $30 billion loan from the Chinese government. Apparently, the interest rate was fairly low (the loan term is five years). And, yes the money will be used to buy up energy assets across the globe.

Analyst upgrades:

• Deutsche Bank upgraded HealthSouth (NYSE: HLS) and Rehabcare (NYSE: RHB) to Buy from Hold after raising its Post Acute Care sector view to Positive from Neutral. The firm believes volumes and margin leverage can drive better than expected Q2 results and 2009 guidance. The firm raised its target on HealthSouth shares to $16 from $12 and on Rehabcare to $28 from $19.
  
• Jefferies upgraded Moody's (NYSE: MCO) to Hold from Underperform to reflect stabilizing credit markets and its belief regulatory concerns are overstated. The firm raised its target on shares to $30 from $19.
  
• Keefe Bruyette upgraded Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) to Outperform from Market Perform as it finds the stock inexpensive following the better than expected results. The firm has a $195 target on shares.
• Vale (NASDAQ: VALE) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA/Merrill.
  
• CNOOC (NYSE: CEO) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.
  
• International Game Tech (NYSE: IGT) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Janney Montgomery.
  

CNOOC Ltd (NYSE: CEO) closed at $134.02. WTI Crude Futures are recently up 2.35% to $67.87, above a level of $49 in late April according to Bloomberg. CEO June option implied volatility is at 49, July is at 47; below its 26-week average of 64, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

PetroChina (NYSE: PTR) closed at $116.29. PTR June option implied volatility is at 47, July is at 44; below its 26-week average 60, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing movement.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

This post is part of a 12 articles feature on the best bets for investing in China. To see all the other recommendations in this special report, click here.

"Amidst all the concern about the U.S. economy and stock market, investors may gain some solace, as well as profits, by looking east-to China, where there are signs the huge government stimulus is bearing fruit," explains Stephen Leeb.

In The Complete Investor, he adds, "For income investors, it makes good sense to own carefully selected dividend-generating Chinese securities such as PetroChina (NYSE: PTR) and China National Offshore Oil Corp. (NYSE: CEO).

Here, the growth and income advisor reviews the two Asian energy plays.

Those surprised by the market's strength in recent weeks should be even more impressed with the rebound in China, where both their market and economy have proven among the most resilient in the world.

Global specialist Nicholas Vardy adds, "While the US markets are rising, Asian stocks are on fire." ETF expert Paul Tracy adds, "China funds have screamed to the top of the performance charts."

In large part, this strength is due to the country's stimulus program. Tracy points out, "To combat the sagging global economy, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao orchestrated a massive 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion) stimulus package.

Analyst upgrades:

• Citigroup upgraded Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) to Buy from Hold and added the stock to its Top Picks Live List. The firm believes RIMM's outlook is more secure given its unit growth trajectory and stabilizing margins. Citi raised its target on the stock to $100 from $65.
  
• Morgan Stanley upgraded Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) to Overweight from Equal Weight following the company's Q3 results it believes growth is accelerating and expectations are low. The firm raised its target on the stock to $24 from $21.
  
• Deutsche Bank upgraded Huron (NYSE: HURN) to Buy from Hold as it believes bad news is already priced in and FY09 expectations are achievable. The firm keeps a $46 target on the stock.
• Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at UBS.
  
• Quicksilver (NYSE: KWK) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Banc of America/Merrill.
  
• EIG Resources (NYSE: EOG) was lifted at Goldman to Conviction Buy from Neutral.

With all the media buildup leading up to the Olympic Games in Beijing this past summer, just about everyone and their brother was bullish on the China/India emerging market theme.

"Chindia," as it was coined, was supposed to be the next great economic wonder.

The belief that these markets did not need American demand swept international investment circles. Forecasts of double-digit GDP growth continuing for the next several years became the mantra of emerging market funds, and Wall Street analysts got caught up in the commodity bubble, which burst a month before the Olympic torch was lit.

The widely held belief of global economists was that these two sleeping giant economies would lap America in a matter of a few years, as per all the economic extrapolations and white papers published leading up to the Summer Games.

Stocks like Baidu.com (NASDAQ: BIDU), China Mobil (NYSE: CHL), China Life (NYSE: LFC), Huaneng Power (NYSE: HNP), PetroChina (NYSE: PTR), Infosys (NASDAQ: INFY) and Reliance Industries (not listed) seemed bulletproof given the revenue and earnings models being floated by the Chindia bulls.

"We sense a turn for the better coming in the oil sector," says Peter Way who tracks 'big money' investors for his Block Trader Oil & Gas Report. Here's his look at the "big block" traders.

"When we use the hedging analysis employed in our stock price forecasts, there are significant differences between some adjacent futures expirations. Here's the current picture:

"Front month (November) hedging suggests likely near-term higher prices. But the December contracts are likely to continue the past 3-month price decline – briefly.

"After that we could see crude rise over a few months into the $115-125 area or even higher, providing a bullish backdrop for most energy stocks. We sense a turn for the better coming in this sector.

"Several issues are selling at attractive prices now. Among major integrated producers, the standout prospect among the big oils is Petrochina (NYSE: PTR).

China Petroleum (NYSE: SNP) has already announced that its profits were down 71% in the first half. Now PetroChina (NYSE: PTR) is getting ready to report a drop in its profits.

The culprit is China's energy policy, which is hurting investors in the Chinese oil industry. According to the AP, "While other global oil giants are reporting record profits, Chinese government price controls prevent PetroChina and other domestic refiners from passing on higher costs for crude oil to consumers." It is an excellent reason for investors to avoid these stocks.

The central government control of oil profits is a fine example of why China should not have taken many of its large companies private. China needs to keep gas and diesel prices down to control inflation and offer cheap fuel to maintain transportation costs of exports at low levels.

With oil trading around $120 a barrel, the oil refiners in China could actually swing to losses in the second half. China is driving investors out of its most important corporations. PetroChina already trades near a 52-week low. That is likely to get worse.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Over the summer, my twelve-year-old son proclaimed that he was going to be the world's first zillionaire! I had to explain to him that if he achieved that lofty goal he would be the only one because that is more capital than exists today; unless he meant Zimbabwean dollars. I suggested that long before he owned the whole planet there might be a few objections here and there.

This got me thinking about my pal Warren, a frequent topic of conversation in business and investment circles, and how he amassed such a great fortune over the past five decades.

He is a long way from owning the world but he has started to expand his horizons to the international scene. He has bought and sold PetroChina (NYSE: PTR) for a tidy $4 billion dollar profit and he has been hedging against the dollar for the last few years with mixed results. He bought an Israeli metal fabricator and he has splashed about in Europe and Asia.

If you read Berkshire Hathaway's (NYSE: BRK.B) annual reports you will find the chairmans letters, where Buffett discusses both his successes and his failures. It is his failures and the fact that he does not make the right call every time that I wish to draw attention today. BloggingStocks promotes much debate, sometimes name calling, and sometimes worse. However, it is important to understand that even the best investors make mistakes.

The stock market was down yesterday and it is down again today. Bearish sentiment is roaming through Wall Street right now, so I thought I would look back on another occasion when the market was going through similar turmoil and I wrote about the following eight stocks, which I thought would be "safe havens" in such a storm.

Six of the eight did well and two did not, and of course one of those two was a disaster. Among the losers, I do not think anyone is fretting about UPS, which is still one of the few triple-A rated companies along with Berkshire Hathaway. It has been well reported that the slowing economy and higher fuel prices have been the major culprits affecting UPS's earnings. In the case of WaMu, it's demise has also been well reported, but at the time I recommended it WaMu had a stellar reputation of growth and high yield for over two decades. There is no hiding, it turned out to be a lousy pick and an ANTI-SAFE Haven

NOT SAFE:

United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS) closed Monday at $65.30 down from $78.40; a 16.71% loss

Washington Mutual (NYSE: WM) closed Monday at $4.21 down from $45.50; a 98% loss.

Fortunately the remaining six picks have done very, very well. If you had bought the pool, the average gain over the last two years would have been 7.14%. Adding the dividends over the two years would have raised this to 13.14%.

PetroChina (NYSE: PTR) closed at $132.04 Friday. WTI Crude Futures are recently up 1.03% to $116.39 according to Bloomberg. PTR over all option implied volatility of 40 is below its 26-week average of 46 according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing movement.

CNOOC Ltd (NYSE: CEO) closed at $133.78 Friday. CEO overall option implied volatility of 43 is near its 26-week average according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional risk.

Canadian Natural (NYSE: CNQ), an oil and natural gas production company, closed at $72.72 Friday. CNQ September option implied volatility of 54 is above its 26-week average of 45, suggesting larger price movement.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

The Summer Olympics are only days away and what the Chinese had hoped would be their coming out party to celebrate all that is good, may instead become quite the opposite.

The air pollution in Beijing is so bad that even reducing automobile traffic by 50% has not helped much. China is now considering a 90% reduction according to news reports. Athletes are staying in other countries until the games begin so that they may train somewhere they can breathe. There are also reports that many athletes involved in stamina events will be forced to wear masks to protect themselves from the particulates in the air.

Now Reuters is reporting that "Some International Olympic Committee officials cut a deal to let China block sensitive websites despite promises of unrestricted access, a senior IOC official admitted on Wednesday."

So the world media will not be able to do their jobs in a manner they are accustomed to. But who are we actually referring to? Western media, of course, because half the world still limits access to information to some degree.

PetroChina (NYSE: PTR) closed at $142.29 Thursday.

WTI Crude Futures are recently up 1.71% to $129.98 according to Bloomberg.

China's longest fuel pipeline, operated by PTR, is at risk of damage from an earthquake lake that's threatening to burst its banks, said PTR.

PTR overall option implied volatility of 41 is below its 26-week average of 50 according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing movement.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

Rising commodities prices hurt markets in Asia.

The Nikkei fell 2.3% to 13,690;. Sony (NYSE: SNE) fell 2.6% to 2910 yen. Toyota (NYE: TM) fell 2.5% to 5010. Yahoo Japan rose 4.6% to 45850.

The Hang Seng sold off 2.1% to 24,196. China Mobile (NYSE: CHL) fell 8% to 115.80 yuan. PetroChina (NYSE: PTR) dropped 2.7% to 10.66.

The Shanghai Composite fell 3.1% to 3,385.

Data from Reuters.

Douglas A. McIntrye is an editor at 247wallst.com.