UNG Forum Topics
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- Friday Outlook: Commodities, Emerging Markets [view article]
- Does Al Gore Finally Get It? [view article]
- Bespoke's Commodity Snapshot (7/23/08) [view article]
- Is Natural Gas Down for the Count? [view article]
- Natural Gas Volatility Spiking [view article]
- Thursday Outlook: Commodities, Emerging Markets [view article]
- Best and Worst Performing ETFs This Week [view article]
- Implementing Pickens' Plan for Public Energy Policy [view article]
- Managing Duration for Commodity Funds: Which Strategy Is Best? [view article]
- The 'Peak Oil' Myth: New Oil Is Plentiful [view article]
- The Realities of Natural Gas [view article]
- The Death of Natural Gas [view article]
loading ...Recent UNG Articles
- Friday Outlook: Commodities, Emerging Markets
- Bespoke's Commodity Snapshot (7/23/08)
- Thursday Outlook: Commodities, Emerging Markets
- Natural Gas Volatility Spiking
- Is Natural Gas Down for the Count?
- Does Al Gore Finally Get It?
- Managing Duration for Commodity Funds: Which Strategy Is Best?
- Best and Worst Performing ETFs This Week
- For ETFs, First Half of 2008 Was All About Commodities
- The Death of Natural Gas
- Full List of Articles »
Does Al Gore Finally Get It? [view article]
Fitzman- My understanding is that you can't file for the 15% foreign tax credit if it is held in a retirement account ( not sure if that includes a Roth IRA). Do you know if that is true? regards. ReplyBespoke's Commodity Snapshot (7/23/08) [view article]
What declines? Producers are still playing catch up to last year's increases.only one of the above charts is lower year over year, the wheat contract only provides 7 months of activity. Reply
Is Natural Gas Down for the Count? [view article]
Please keep in mind while you argue about how much money you can make off of N.Gas that most of the northern half of this country heats with N.Gas and heating costs have aready tripled in the past 5 years. 80,000 customers in Minnesota had their utilities cut off April 1 this year because they couldn't pay their bills over the winter months. Combined with higher (auto)gas and food prices, the number of cut offs could be in the millions next winter. The same goes for home heating oil. Elderly people on fixed incomes don't the room for high heating costs, I believe that N.Gas should be off limits for investors looking to make a fast buck, stick to messing with the other commodities. Replyts
Natural Gas Volatility Spiking [view article]
Huge spike down today on the storage numbers. Looks for all the world like a blow-off bottom in the price and corresponding blow-off top in the volatility of NG alluded to above. ReplyDoes Al Gore Finally Get It? [view article]
Fitzman,Thanks for the detailed reply.
There are not too many options to store electricity effectively from wind or solar sources. There is already a shortage of key elements (i.e. lithium) used in battery production for hybrid cars (e.g. the Prius), so batteries are not a good option on a large scale. Ultracapacitors might be a good energy storage medium, but I believe the technology is still in its infancy.
I do enjoy your articles, keep up the great work !!
I look forward to your Pickens article. Reply
Does Al Gore Finally Get It? [view article]
longoil: thanks for your feedback. wrt hydrogen, i have seen some system designs where wind energy is used to generate electricity which is used to electrolysis which then generates hydrogen, at least in areas where water is cheap and available. hydrogen of this form could be used for many things:1) it effectively "stores" the energy created by wind for use in those times when the wind doesn't blow
2) it is a potential for transportation, yet today, i agree is not cost effective or very user friendly.
to ignore an "energy" element like hydrogen, that is in such abundance in the universe, would be a mistake IMHO
wrt drilling: i didn't want to drill either, and i didn't want to use nuclear either. the problem is, we as a country have wasted sooo much time getting an energy plan together and implemented, we are facing economic ruin. from my analysis, we are going to need every bit of energy, from all sources (including nuclear and CS oil) in order to keep the economy from imploding. perhaps i am just a pesimist on the matter, but i started this rant 4 years ago, and everything i have seen (falling US dollar, an S&P500 that has been dead money, rising inflation, and of course, skyrocketing energy prices) simply reinforce my condidence that i am correct. it helps that pickens, mulva, and the CEO's of royal dutch, hess, and dow chemical are now saying similar things.
wrt respect to al gore, your comments and others to this thread effectively prove the point of my article: al gore and his advocates for whatever reasons are divisive - many people just don't buy it due to al himself, the science which they question, or whatever reason. the foreign oil economic argument is something more people will respond to. read my latest submission to SA to see why the pickens approach is better (if they publish it).
let's just agree to disagree on al. were it not for his efforts to publicize this crisis (i.e. a doer), alot of us might still be in the dark, or at least many years behind. look how far behind we are in spite of all his work. also, i am sure pickens has a big house or two himself :) Reply
Thursday Outlook: Commodities, Emerging Markets [view article]
Anyone who shorts POT need to see a psychologist. Today is a great buying opportunity for POT 1-09 calls. ReplyThursday Outlook: Commodities, Emerging Markets [view article]
David WhiteCramer attributes the lack of buying interest in POT after the earning report as due to the perception by hedge fund managers that an end to the ethanol mandate is likely and that would invalidate the projections of future earnings. Your POT forward PE estimates would be too optimistic under their scenario.
On a percentage basis over the past month, money has flowed most out of oil & gas and basic materials, and into health care and financials. (online.wsj.com/mdc/pub...) While the fundamentals for potash and agriculture appear sound for the long term, the short term demand for POT shares could decline more before sentiment turns back in favor of basic materials.
Reply
Programmer
Is Natural Gas Down for the Count? [view article]
This article is ridiculously short term. You're basing your investments on the reasons for NG prices LAST WEEK?!? And whether the coming months will be hotter or not? For the next decade or two, NG is the replacement for coal utility plants. The number of coal plants being built has been drastically reduced, and many plans for them shelved in favor of NG plants. Demand will be significantly up in the next few years. ReplyDoes Al Gore Finally Get It? [view article]
Fitzman,I have read your energy policy and I am in agreement with 95% of it.
1) I disagree with your advocacy of Hydrogen. I put it in the same boat as corn ethanol. Both have a negative EROEI.
2) I don't think drilling ANWR and the US coast is a good idea for now. Drilling those regions is a short term solution and would create a false sense of security. I think continuing the ban would strengthen the focus on long term solutions like conservation, higher CAFE standards and alternative energy sources. I think it is better to keep those regions for future use and let Saudi Arabia and other ME countries drain their reserves.
My last Al Gore comment on this blog trail.
T. Boone Pickens is "Doer" and Al Gore is a " Talker"
I do believe climate change is a real, I just don't like Al Gore (in his 10,000 sq ft mansion) getting rich off it.
Reply
Does Al Gore Finally Get It? [view article]
longoil: well, sorry, i disagree with you on this matter. i believe both al gore and t. boone pickens are Americans who care deeply about their country and their world, and both are working in causes which i too think are important: al gore educated the world on the causes of global warming and his warnings that we do something to stop the trends. pickens is working on solving the US energy crisis that American government, media, and citizenship are in complete denial about. as my article suggested, i believe pickens' approach solves both problems, although wind energy isnt the entire solution. my energy policy is much broader is pickens. i salute them both. as far as gore contributing "zero value", that would only be the case if he was wrong on the issue. i, along with the scientific community and nobel prize committee, believe he is and has been correct on the matter and there really isn't any serious debate on the matter any longer(except perhaps on this blog) :)Reply
again
Thursday Outlook: Commodities, Emerging Markets [view article]
David White writes:FNM and FRE own over half of the mortgages. We cannot afford for them to go under. Certainly some of the banks reported bad earnings. But even those seemed to forcast improvement in the near future (for example Wachovia).
So I have several questions for you:
Why can't we let them go under? We let real industries go under all the time and they create real wealth unlike fred/fani. Isn't letting bad companies fail the idea of free markets? Or are we now the new soviet union? And if they are too big to fail how is making them bigger good for the tax payers?
Also on bank's earnings: Why would you trust the banks forecast from the same banks that not long ago said all was well we need no new capital?
Reply
Thursday Outlook: Commodities, Emerging Markets [view article]
Damn,Dave...take achill pill.. ReplyThursday Outlook: Commodities, Emerging Markets [view article]
Brian in Montreal: Actually I think the whole oil situation is being handled particularly badly by the US. Much of the US trade deficit is now due to oil. The US needs to produce more and use less. It hasn't made appreciable inroads in either of these areas.I am not at all sure Obama will be elected. McCain is clearly the most experienced in foreign affairs (and with the military). Obama may understand minority US citizen point of view better than McCain. However, I am not at all sure that will translate into a better understanding of terrorists, especially Middle Eastern ones. The US seems to slowly be turning the housing crisis around. It seems to be saving the banks (and its citizens) from disaster. It still needs badly to address its oil crisis. It uses too much, and it produces too little. Both of these things have to change as quickly as possible. Reply
Thursday Outlook: Commodities, Emerging Markets [view article]
If the price increase announced by Canpotex doesn't really effect prices until Sept. 1, much of the increase will be in Q4. This may mean the increase is a greater than 50% increase per quarter (if mostly due to price). $2.50 in FY EPS spread over only 4 months amounts to about $.60 per month. This might mean +$1.80 for the Q4 estimate (and further quarter estimates). Reply