T. Boone Pickens, the legendary corporate raider and oilman believes that water is the new oil. A recent BusinessWeek article discusses his investment and and his convictions on the water supply opportunity and his company, Mesa Water’s plans. This is an interesting story, microcosmic of the critical issue and opportunity in water that is bubbling up globally.
Here are a couple of excerpts:
Into this environment comes Pickens, who made a good living for a long time extracting oil and gas and now, at 80, believes the era of fossil fuel is over. So far he has spent $100 million and eight years on his project and still has not found any city in Texas willing to buy his water. But like many others, Pickens believes there’s a fortune to be made in slaking the thirst of a rapidly growing population. If he pumps as much as he can, he could sell about $165 million worth of water to Dallas each year. “The idea that water can be sold for private gain is still considered unconscionable by many,” says James M. Olson, one of America’s preeminent attorneys specializing in water- and land-use law. “But the scarcity of water and the extraordinary profits that can be made may overwhelm ordinary public sensibilities.”
“Water is a commodity,” he says. “Heck, isn’t it like oil? You have to come back to who owns the water. The groundwater is owned by the landowner. That’s it.” When it comes to potential buyers, Pickens cares about only one thing: how much they’re willing to pay. “Do I care what Dallas does with the water? Hell no.”
Stephen Briese, a highly regarded commodities trading expert, independent commodities analyst, author of The Commitments of Traders Bible (2008), editor of http://www.commitmentsoftraders.org/, and an advisor for JovInvestment Management’s Horizons Global Contrarian Fund, says, for example, that large investors are sitting (naked) on roughly 200-days worth of crude oil, and the CFTC (Commodities Futures Trading Commission) knows it.
GreenLightAdvisor.com interviewed Stephen Briese, and here is an excerpt. You may hear the entire interview by clicking the link below.
“I follow the Commitment of Traders reports and what we see there is that the producers and users who are hedging in the market, the ‘negative feedback traders’ - the higher prices go, the more they sell [of the commodities], and they were selling at record levels last September, indicating that they were fully hedged.” Briese says. “Now those hedged traders have continued to sell all the way up, and historically they have defended their markets by doing that, but I think that all of the price increases since September have been speculative.”
Under CFTC rules however, large investors who are not handling the commodities are not entitled to an exemption allowing them to trade in the commodities. Commodity Index Funds, such as the popular S&P GSCI (S&P Goldman Sachs Commodity Index) have gotten such exemptions, allowing investors to pile in this way.
Briese says the unwinding of these positions could have dire consequences for investors, large and small.
LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW: , 9 min. 18 sec.
About the Commitment of Traders reports: The Commitments of Traders (COT) report is a very useful tool to use when trading commodities, yet most traders don’t know how to properly use this gem of weekly information. Steve Briese is considered an expert in this field of study and he gives the readers of The Commitments of Traders Bible a logical understanding of how the professionals move the commodity markets and how you can take advantage of those opportunities.
June 24, 2008 - Courtesy of Bespoke Investment Group - The recent selloff in equities has really spared no one. As shown in our trading range charts below of 22 major country indices, the trend has been down across the board in recent weeks. Even Brazil, Mexico and Russia, who had all held up relatively well this year, have sold off quite a bit. Currently, 19 of the 22 countries are trading in oversold territory (Canada, Japan and Russia are neutral). European countries like France, Germany and Italy have really taken it on the chin, while China and India remain the biggest losers in 2008. After forming short-term uptrends off of the March lows, global equity markets have now lost most of their gains and are looking to move back into downtrends.
Donald Coxe: Capitalism Faces its Greatest Challenge
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Donald Coxe, Chief Investment Strategist, BMO Capital Markets has just released his latest instalment of Basic Points, 'Capitalism Faces its Greatest Challenge' for Nove
Worst Oil Bear in Decades
The 53% decline in oil prices since September 22, 2008, without a 20% rally is the biggest since 1986 (based on available daily data). The week of Sep. 16 to Sep. 22, oil rallied 20%+ after dropping 37% from the July 3, 2008 high.
In all, the pric
Year to Date World Stock Market Returns
Is this a buyer's market or what?
Look at Russia; although most folks aren't interested (but should be) Russia is not only off by -64.5%, its valuations have compressed to 4.3 times trailing earnings. China stocks are down -64.3% is fetching 14.55
Hugh Hendry Interview: Invest in Long Government Bonds
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This week's issue of Barron's features an in depth interview with Don Coxe, Chief Investment Strategist, BMO Capital Markets. Mr. Coxe is best known for his highly read monthly newsletter, 'Basic Points,' as well as his bi-weekly conference calls. Hi
New Audio Resource at GreenLightAdvisor.com
Now you can listen to the Investment Outlook and Commentary from Bill Gross (PIMCO), Vanguard Funds' Portfolio Managers, and others on GreenLightAdvisor.com's Audio Resources page.
This month, Bill Gross presents his latest investment outlook,
Risk of Default at Large Financials
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Commodities Snapshot
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Heebner and Holmes on Emerging Markets
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Ken Heebner, CGM Funds, and Frank Holmes, US Global Investors, discuss emerging markets in the context of the Fed's 50 bps rate cut last week. Both their
Wise Words
Be as smart as you can, but remember that it is always better to be wise than to be smart. — Alan Alda
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Wall Street Journal's What's News, Nov. 18, 2008by The Wall Street Journal
Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang will step down and Senator Harry Reid has pledged to press ahead with legislation to help automakers
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