Founded in 1901 after striking oil in Persia, London-based British Petroleum (BP) is one of the largest integrated oil and gas companies in the world today with operations in over 70 countries. Impressively, BP's daily output of 3.7 million barrels of oil exceeds the yield of all but a handful of nations. Like other oil giants, BP partakes in all aspects of the fossil fuel business. The company's upstream segment (60% of 2018 pretax profit) explores for and produces oil and natural gas, a business which is sensitive to the price of oil. More stable cash flow is generated by BP's downstream activities (31% of pretax profit), which include operating gas stations, refining, and manufacturing petroleum-based products used in packaging, textiles, building [...]

Another quarter, another disappointment. That's been 3M's (MMM) story for much of the past two years, and the trend continued earlier this week. 3M reported fourth-quarter earnings on Tuesday, sending its shares falling by about 6%. The company's stock price is nearly unchanged since 2015, and 3M's dividend yield sits near its highest level since the financial crisis.

Chevron (CVX) was born from the discovery in 1879 of an oilfield near Los Angeles that yielded 25 barrels of oil per day. Today, Chevron is one of the largest oil companies in the world and produces nearly 3 million oil-equivalent barrels each day. The firm's upstream operations (77% of 2018 earnings) explores for, produces, and transports crude oil, natural gas, and liquefied natural gas (LNG). Chevron also owns refineries that use crude oil to make petroleum products such as gasoline, jet fuel, diesel, lubricants, additives, and petrochemicals. The company's downstream operations were responsible for 22% of earnings in 2018. With major operations in over 30 countries and non-U.S. profits accounting for about 68% of the firm's bottom line, Chevron is a [...]

America's first enclosed mall was built in 1956, and the nation hasn't looked back. About 1,500 malls were built in the U.S. from 1956 through 2005, providing hubs for social gathering and shopping throughout America's booming suburbs. By 1975, malls accounted for 50% of U.S. retail dollars spent, representing an impressive 13% of GDP. So much property was developed that by 2017 America  had an estimated 26 square feet of retail for every person in the country, compared with less than 3 square feet per capita in Europe, according to Time. But now, in the age of Amazon, many areas of brick-and-mortar retail, including malls, are being forced to right-size their footprints.