QVM Group

War in Georgia: How Markets May Feel the Effects

Since August 7, the Russian Ruble is down 3.21% versus the USD. Their stock market indicated by the exchange traded fund RSX is down 4.35%, and the country's foreign reserves (measured in Dollars) is down 2.74%. The US stock market indicated by SPY is up 0.62% in the same period.


These comments from the BBC August 22,2008 describe the foreign reserves status.

Investors pulling out of Russia

Russia has seen foreign reserves decline, a sign that the market is more nervous about investing in the region since the recent conflict in Georgia.

Central Bank figures show reserves were sharply down in the week ending 15 August, marking a fall of $16.4bn (£8.8bn) from $597.5bn a week earlier. ...

... "Investors are realising that the bear has put its paw on the pipeline, and geopolitical risk is likely to remain a theme for the next month or so," said Justin Urquhart Stewart, investment director at Seven Investment Management.

The Ins and Outs of Terror-Free Investing

Mr. Potato Head,

You view is similar to mine as expressed in a follow-up article:

www.qvmgroup.com/inves.../

Richard Shaw

Fuel For Thought: Which Integrated Oil Company Should You Own?

This corrects an error in my text concerning the debt level of BP.

Here is a table of LTD-to-Equity ratio of the larger oil companies dicussed in this report:

TOT 31.0%
CVX 11.6%
COP 29.5%
BP 12.4%
CVX 11.6%
RDS-A 7.5%
XOM 5.5%