The dot-com era spawned all sorts of misconceptions about investing, one of which was that initial public offerings (IPOs) were sure-fire ways to make money.

IPO Watch: Entropic Communications; Small Cap Investor Spotlight: The Heat is On

Investing in recent IPOs is much like investing in seasoned stocks, with the noted exception of the limited availability of information.

During the technology boom and bust of a few years ago, initial public offerings (IPO's) were on the tip of the tongue of almost every investor and financial professional I met.

Could we be seeing the end of Research in Motion's (Nasdaq: RIMM) popular Blackberry? MasterCard will be going public soon. We weigh the merits of investing in Big Plastic. Thanks to Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), Broadcom (Nasdaq: BRCM), the broadband chipmaker, is getting a new lease on life.

A review of topics that we believe will be of importance for investors in 2006, including the slowing housing market, the continued strength of commodities, especially oil and gold, a renewed interest in micro cap stocks, and lastly an IPO market that looks to be solid once again. Our stock pick this week is Endeavor International (AMEX: END), an oil and gas exploration and production company that looks to parlay its drilling rights in the North Sea into profits.