Oil Prices: Headed Up or Down? | <b>Investment</b> Logs

Oil Prices: Headed Up or Down?

by David Fessler, Investment U’s Energy and Infrastructure Expert

Are oil prices headed up or down? If Saudi Arabia has anything to say about it, quite possibly down. Over the past several months, the kingdom has been clandestinely raising production levels. It’s been undertaking this in advance of Wednesday’s OPEC meeting.

It’s attempting to placate American, Chinese, and European oil consumers. According to an article in the Financial Times, the Saudis want to bring crude prices down to more “comfortable levels,” i.e. $80 to $90 per barrel.

The FT says Saudi Arabia raised its May output by 200,000 bpd, and has plans to raise it another 200,000 to 300,000 bpd this month.

That would peg its overall output above 9 million bpd for the first time since 2008. With global refinery demand for oil on the rise, especially from China, the increase couldn’t come at a better time.

Why is the demand from refineries increasing? It’s the end of their annual spring refinery maintenance shutdown period, when refinery outputs are traditionally at their lowest points of the year. During outages, demand for oil lessens. Just the opposite happens when they restart operations.

But part of the rise is due to the Saudi’s own power requirements. It’s hot in the desert, and air conditioning loads go up dramatically during the summer months.

Nine million bpd is about 1 million bpd more than the low point (8 million bpd) reached when the Saudis cut demand in response to the worldwide recession back in February of 2009.

OPEC’s Contentious Cartel Meeting Coming

Wednesday’s OPEC meeting will likely be contentious and argumentative. Shady cartel characters Venezuela and Iran will likely argue for no production increases to keep prices high.

In addition, Libya is managing to send a representative, Omran Abukraa, even though its output has been reduced to a mere 200,000 bpd. He’s the former head of the country’s national electric authority.

The Libyan oil minister, Shokri Ghanem, defected last month and has aligned himself with the rebels. While they control much of the country and some of its current oil output, the rebels will have no representation at the meeting. Prior to the crisis, Libyan crude oil output was 1.6 million bpd.

Ironically, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates – both OPEC members – have openly announced their support of the rebels.

That will make for increased political tension in what was already seen to be a very difficult meeting.

What Should Investors Do?

In a word, nothing. Until the OPEC meeting is over and a production quota agreement is reached, traders are all being cautious. Investors with short-term investment horizons should exercise the same caution.

Longer term? Any pullback in the price of oil is going to be temporary. Middle East tensions aren’t slacking off, and neither is the demand coming from China. As the U.S. recovery lollygags along, demand has remained relatively constant.

Investors should use any pullback in the price of oil-sensitive refining stocks like ExxonMobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM), Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE: VLO) and Tesoro Corporation (NYSE: TSO) or big producers like Petrobras (NYSE: PBR) and Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: APC) to accumulate shares.

Skeptics will argue that Brent Crude continues to trade in the same range it’s been in for the last 4 months: $105-125 a barrel. One thing is a sure bet, though: global demand for oil will continue to head in one direction: up.

Good Investing,

David Fessler

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Are mutual funds a good <b>investment</b> choice? | Mutual Funds

Question by Entidine: Are mutual funds a good investment choice?
I’m thinking it makes sense to buy mutual funds as opposed to stocks on those $ 8-a-trade Web sites, can keep them without worrying about quarterly earnings reports and they are controlled by experts. Make sense?

Best answer:

Answer by Strategist
Mutual funds is the first investment tools I studied on when I decide to make my money work harder instead of putting it in the savings account.

I find mutual funds is a good place to start learning about investment because your money is managed by good financial experts (if you have selected a good fund management company). You can focus on analysing macroeconomics factors only and understand how they affect the respective stock markets.

But once you are able to understand how macroeconomic factors affect stock market, then it would be good to move on to investing in stocks to make your money work harder for you.

If you merely want to invest and enjoy life then mutual funds is a good investment.

What do you think? Answer below!

Faced with the threat of deflation, the Federal Reserve (Fed) may be trying to drive the dollar lower to spur inflation. As policy makers dont want home prices to deteriorate further, an alternative is to inflate the prices of all other goods and services: as a result, the relative prices of homes would be less expensive. Weakening the dollar is an effective policy tool to drive up inflation as the cost of import goes up. Just be careful: the Fed may be getting more than it is bargaining for. Fed Chairman Bernanke believes that a weaker dollar will only drive up inflation modestly; in our humble opinion, we believe he may be mistaken. Foreigners have a limit on how much margin pressure they can absorb before they have to pass on the higher cost of doing business. No country has ever depreciated itself into prosperity and the US is unlikely to be the first.
Video Rating: 5 / 5

Tags: choice, funds, good, investment, Mutual

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GCC and UAE Finance and <b>Investment</b> News: Qatar Airways IPO this <b>...</b>

Qatar Airways may bring forward its planned 2012 initial public offering to later this year, CEO Akbar Al Baker told reporters today. A successful IPO of this size would be good news for all the bombed-out Gulf stock markets.

The airline would use the proceeds of the IPO to help finance its ambitious expansion plans. Qatar Airways has been on a buying spree in recent years. The last order was in April for $1.3 billion to add five Boeing 777s to its 97-aircraft fleet.

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MarketingSherpa and Facebook Present Webinar on Strategically <b>...</b>



Jacksonville, FL (PRWEB)

Social media is never free; itâ??s an investment of time, resources, and personnel. Learn how to drive the highest return when MarketingSherpa and Facebook join forces to present the complimentary webinar â??Strategic Social Media Marketing: Get your business or agency started with an ROI-based approach.â?

It will be held Thursday, June 9, from 1 to 2 p.m. EDT. Presenters will be Todd Lebo, Senior Director of Content & Business Development, MarketingSherpa; Zuzia Soldenhoff-Thorpe, Research Manager, MECLABS, and Tamara Rosenbaum, Client Partner, Facebook. Daniel Burstein, Director of Editorial Content for MECLABS, will moderate.

Theyâ??ll discuss:

    Six key steps to successfully launch a social media marketing campaign
How other companies are strategically using social media marketing, including case studies from Facebook
How to avoid common social-marketing mistakes
Factors to consider when calculating the ROI of social media marketing

“This webinar is going to give you practical strategies and proven tactics that have worked for companies and agencies to drive real results â?? and real revenues â?? from their social marketing initiatives,â? explains Lebo. â??If you donâ??t believe in executing random acts of marketing and are serious about using strategy in every aspect of your marketing effort, you wonâ??t want to miss this.â?

To reserve a seat, register here: http://bit.ly/imHDGj

Attendance is limited to 1,000.

Media Contact:    Bethany Caudell, MECLABS, 1-800-517-5531

About MarketingSherpa

MarketingSherpa publishes practical Case Studies, Benchmark Reports, exclusive research, how-to instructional materials and eight content-specific newsletters for more than 237,000 content, email, inbound marketing, search, B2B and consumer marketing professionals each week. In its tenth year, the marketing research publisher has been praised by The Economist, Harvard Business Schoolâ??s Working Knowledge Site and Entrepreneur.com. Along with MarketingExperiments and InTouch, MarketingSherpa is part of the MECLABS Group, which offers marketers practical research data and information, professional training and networking summits.

# # #

 Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC.
Vocus, PRWeb, and Publicity Wire are trademarks or registered trademarks of Vocus, Inc. or Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC.

Tags: Caudell, Client Partner, Daniel Burstein, Driving, Editorial Content, Facebook, Investment, Jacksonville Fl, Lebo, Marketing Campaign, Marketing Initiatives, Marketing Mistakes, MarketingSherpa, Media, Media Contact, Media Investment, Present, Prweb, Random Acts, Return, Rosenbaum, Social, Social Marketing, Strategically, Time Resources, Webinar, Xmlns

Under Facebook Marketing

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Why Tech Stocks Are Still Heating Up | <b>Investment</b> Logs

There’s a lot of talk on Wall Street right now about a new “bubble” in tech stocks.

If you’re talking about social network stocks, this may be true. Is there anyone out there who hasn’t heard how LinkedIn (NYSE: LNKD) doubled right out of the gate after its IPO last month?

But this euphoria has hardly spread to the rest of the sector. The Nasdaq is no higher than it was at the beginning of the year. And while many tech stocks are soaring, there’s no mania like the one that took place in late 1999 and early 2000. Solid fundamentals underpin the current tech rally.

That wasn’t the case in the last real tech bubble – one we called “the greatest investment mania of our lifetimes and perhaps of all time.”

Eleven years ago, the Nasdaq hit an all-time high of 5,048. Valuations hit nosebleed levels. Many tech stocks sold for more than 100 times earnings. Others didn’t even have a multiple. After all, you can’t calculate a P/E if you don’t have an E (earnings).

Things are different today. For starters, the Nasdaq, more than a decade on, trades at less than 60% of its March 2000 high.

Sales and earnings are solid and rising. Valuations are reasonable. And the outlook for tech companies remains solid…

Tech Sector Skeptics Are Ignoring These Bullish Forces

Here are just a few key indicators:

Profit margins at U.S. technology companies are near record highs.Chipmakers – who saw sales rise 28% in 2010 – are seeing stronger demand for consumer items and businesses are finally making purchases that were delayed in the recession.Respected research firm, Gartner, reports that sales of server systems are climbing, a sign that large technology firms are spending again on big tech projects. (Sales of server systems generally precede spending on other technology products, such as storage systems and software.)There’s plenty of fuel for merger and acquisition activity. U.S. corporations are currently sitting on nearly $2 trillion in cash.The Fed’s Beige Book reports that manufacturers of high-tech products are operating near maximum capacity of late.Due in part to record demand in Asia and Latin America, the market for mobile devices such as handsets and media players is expected to top $2 billion this year.International Data Corporation (IDC) estimates that worldwide IT spending will top $1.5 trillion in 2011, with spending on PCs, servers, and storage and networking gear expected to soar.Global capital spending on wireless infrastructure will rise dramatically as carriers in the developed world start deploying next-generation 4G networks.The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) reports that broadband stimulus funds will contribute to double-digit growth in backbone infrastructure spending this year and next.

Investing in Technology: A Smart Business Move

With the economic recovery weak and consumer spending soft, most businesses aren’t willing to hire in a big way right now or commit funds to major building projects. But they’re eager to cut costs in order to maintain or increase corporate profits.

That makes investing in technology a smart business move. And that, in turn, indicates that business for many tech firms will keep rising in the months ahead.

Right now we’re sitting on more than a dozen double- and triple-digit gains on the tech stocks in our paid advisory portfolios.

Outside of social networks, we see no tech bubble. Quite the opposite, in fact. Leading technology firms should see rising sales, earnings and share price appreciation in the months ahead. In our view, the best is yet to come.

Good investing,

Alexander Green

Article courtesy of WallStreetDaily.com Original Article

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<b>Investment</b> Companies » Best Online High Return <b>Investment</b> Company

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Whether or not you’re a novice or an experienced investor, the first location you are going to take a look at when seeking a fantastic investment opportunity will be the Net. Believed it could get less difficult? Feel once again! If you lookup the web for a great expense organization, that which you see are countless pages that enlist a significant quantity of expense firms.

Deciding upon the best provider from all of the out there choices may be quite an overpowering job. This bit of producing aims to provide you with some beneficial recommendations about tips on how to pick the best expense business. Lookup the web for an on line investment organization. Out of the umpteen quantity of pages that you get as your lookup outcome, focus on the very first two pages, as the results often turn into a little wayward when you go farther.

Do not restrict your focus only to these names which you recognise from tv or radio commercials. There may well be numerous other internet websites that provide excellent investment possibilities. Prior to signing up with the investment business, you have to assess your personal option of expense. In case you want a varied portfolio to boast of, then go in for the corporation that offers a vast array of investment options.

In case your option of expense is only stocks or mutual funds, then go in for an investment provider that solely offers with these groups. You have to also have a look at the minimum first investment that an online provider needs from you and regardless of whether you might be able to offer that type of funds or not. Certain companies require you to open a cheque or personal savings account together with the banking institutions that they are related to.

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African business that more us investments - voice of America

Scott Stearns. Lusaka

African business leaders say that the United States can do more to encourage investment on the continent. Obama administration is in agreement. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton should close a meeting in Zambia on U.S. trade preferences.

The African Growth and Opportunity Act has been the cornerstone of the investment on the American continent for over ten years. But the vast majority of goods imported duty-free is textiles and oil.

African producers met in Zambia want to diversify exports and that the Government of the United States can do more to help.

Chungu Mwila, the Director for the development of the private sector in the common market for Eastern and southern Africa, says the trade preferences known as AGOA would be more valuable with the more direct U.S. investment.

"If American companies to invest in Africa and to strengthen our production capabilities, and then, in our view, AGOA would become more significant,"said Mwila.

With most U.S. foreign direct investment still go in Latin America and Asia, Mwila said that the Obama administration should do more to bring American companies in Africa.

"I think that there is much more that the United States, the strongest economy in the world, can make by assisting in the strengthening of the capacities of our industries, by ensuring that certain US companies come and look around." "After all, Africa is no longer a place of risk," said Mwila.

The Obama administration accepts and asks Congress to extend trade preferences of AGOA for ten years. Assistant American Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson, said that there should be a greater tax incentives for compensation of U.S. from investments of AGOA.

He said "the AGOA already provides savings substantial tariff business U.S. importers of eligible products from Africa, but there is not other types of tax incentives provided under the law,". "We recommend that the Government of the United States support to eliminate U.S. tax on revenues in returnees from us companies that invest in factories in Africa who manufacture eligible products to the AGOA.".

Carson, said he is encouraged by the progress of Africa, but the rest of the continent economically challenged and continues to need programs like the AGOA to provide incentives for greater growth.

"Although AGOA has reached a certain amount of success, it has not solved the challenges economic, financial and trade in Africa and the region has not undergone fundamental economic transformation that we seek for Africa as a whole," he said. "" "". Africa continues to struggle to compete in an increasingly competitive global economy. »

Carson, says the Obama administration wants U.S. legislators to extend beyond the next year a provision allowing nations AGOA eligible materials materials textile source of third countries.

Mwila says that this extension and renewal of AGOA as a whole, will bring more business to a continent which is more attractive for investors.

"We have very liberal economic regimes," Mwila said. "Our fundamental economic macro is implemented." For example, the rate of inflation fell. Exchange rates are stabilizing. And the economic growth rate is among the highest in the world, around five or six per cent. You will not even to the United States. »

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to close this forum of AGOA Friday before the meeting with Zambian President Rupiah Banda.

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