If you believe a few respected money managers, there's opportunity aplenty in stocks now. If you find that surprising, wait until you hear where they think the bargains lurk: big blue chips that almost always fetch premium prices.

Legendary bear Jeremy Grantham of GMO LLC in Boston says the U.S. faces "seven lean years" of meager growth, but he has been pounding the table about blue chip bargains with big dividends. Steven Romick of FPA Crescent predicts rising taxes and an economic malaise but is singing the praises about "bigger is better" stocks now, too.

"If you're worried about a feeble economy you want to own companies with strong balance sheets," says T2 Partner's Whitney Tilson, who is loading up on big, multinational companies though he doubts the market will rise much for a while. "The beauty today is those companies are on sale."

Blue chips are always in the news. They're widely owned by pension funds and by individual investors in index funds, and heavily covered by Wall Street analysts. They're the companies that sell beer and medicine. They're the banks where people put their money. They make tractors and computer software. And they typically trade at premium prices, so sometimes are shunned by contrarians like the three above who have been bearish when others are bullish.

Documents obtained by The Associated Press showed that Pacific Gas & Electric submitted paperwork to regulators that said a section of the same gas line -- about two and half miles from the blast -- was within "the top 100 highest risk line sections" in the utility's service territory.

The federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration classified the 30-inch diameter transmission line as a "high consequence area" requiring more stringent inspections called integrity assessments, agency spokeswoman Julia Valentine said.

Nationwide, only about 7 percent of gas lines have that classification, she said.

The official death toll from the blast was four Sunday, and San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault said they're still trying to confirm whether more remains found are human and identify victims. Police have said five people are missing.

Securities regulators are probing "fund-of-funds" firms that channel investors' money into hedge funds, looking at supervision of client assets and potential conflicts of interest, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The probe is part of a sweep of about a dozen firms by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, the source said, declining to be named because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

An SEC spokesman declined to comment.

The move is one of the SEC's broadest examinations yet of the fund-of-funds industry, which manages some $735 billion in assets, according to hedge fund data tracker InvestHedge.

Fund-of-funds firms typically collect fees of 1 to 2 percent and hand over investors' money to multiple hedge fund managers that they claim to carefully select. The industry has come under scrutiny in the past few years after several firms faced huge losses from investing with convicted Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff.

The SEC inquiry, first reported by The Wall Street Journal on Friday, will investigate whether the firms are properly supervising their clients' money and working to avoid potential conflicts of interest.

The newspaper said the SEC's initial inquiry involved mid-sized fund-of-funds firms overseeing $100 million to $15 billion in assets, and that it could be expanded to include alternative investment advisers focused on private equity and other registered advisers catering to pension funds. The Journal cited people familiar with the matter.

The mixed ruling in Delaware's Chancery Court gave no clear victory to either of the companies, whose relationship turned from cozy to competitive and ended up in court in 2008.

Still to be litigated is a lawsuit Craigslist filed in San Francisco against eBay alleging its larger rival used its board seat to glean confidential information about the classified ad business.

EBay sued its smaller rival in 2008, claiming a rights plan Craigslist adopted diluted eBay's stake from 28.4 percent to 24.85 percent.

"More fortunate than Goliath, eBay leaves this field with only a gash across its forehead; less fortunate than David, Craigslist leaves this field with something less than total victory," wrote Chancellor William Chandler III of Delaware's Court of Chancery in his opinion.

EBay, which has estimated Craigslist's value at several billions of dollars, has always maintained that the courts would reinstate its true stake.

Craigslist, meanwhile, has been anxious to protect its decision-making and trade secrets after eBay launched a competing ad site, and Thursday's ruling will keep eBay out of the classified company's boardroom.

EBay claimed victory in a statement released on Thursday which did not mention the board seat.

"EBay brought this suit to protect its own shareholders and preserve its valuable investment in Craigslist," it said.

Investors that have purchased leveraged or inverse ETFs through a brokerage account or managed account offered by Merrill Lynch, a subsidiary of Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), Morgan Stanley Smith Barney (NYSE:MS), Wells Fargo Advisors (NYSE:WFC), Ameriprise Financial (NYSE:AMP), UBS (NYSE:UBS), LPL Financial, Raymond James (NYSE:RJF), Edward Jones, or other brokerage firms and have sustained losses should contact the attorneys at the Securities Arbitration Firm of Menzer & Hill, P.A. to determine if they have a claim for a recovery of losses.

Leveraged and inverse ETFs can be volatile and investors may have realized or unrealized losses in the following ETFs year to date, including but not limited to:

For a free case evaluation or to discuss any other investment losses, please contact the Securities Arbitration Firm of Menzer & Hill, P.A., at 888-923-9223, or visit us on the web at www.suemyadvisor.com.