Two articles concerning shale gas have caught my attention this morning. “The Death of Coal” reflects the view of some that under current EPA policies coal will continue to lose ground to natural gas as the fuel of choice for electricity generation. Cheap and relatively clean natural gas is eating into the demand for coal […]
Today’s news that Chesapeake (CHK) is going to sell $12BN in assets in response to continued weak natural gas prices looks like good news. Depending on the buyers, it’s possible that the new owners could have a sufficiently long horizon that they won’t need to drill just to generate near term cashflow to finance debt payments. […]
As I’ve watched the ongoing saga in Europe, the discussions of sustainable Debt:GDP and other elements of the “Maastrict Criteria” I’ve often been puzzled at why these figures were so important. The U.S. represents a large single currency union, and although different states have incurred different levels of indebtedness there is no Federal law dictating […]
We continue to like using a short Euro position in combination with risky assets. In our Fixed Income Strategy we’re invested in senior loans through closed end funds such as BlackRock Defined Opportunity Credit Trust (BHL) and ING Prime Rate (PPR). They’re both at a modest discount to NAV of around 5%, and yield over […]
This looks on the surface to be good news across the board. Private payrolls up almost 100K greater than consensus; increased hourly workweek, and a drop in the Unemployment rate in spite of an increase in the labor force. Not a 4% GDP type of number, but good enough to reassure that the 2-2.5% type […]
It’s hard to watch JC Penney’s CEO, Ron Johnson, give his presentation yesterday without feeling a tinge of excitement that we’re at the beginning of something new in retailing. His absorbing performance promises a new paradigm in retailing. Turning around JCP won’t just be a question of spending ad dollars more wisely or weaning customers off perennial […]
Bloomberg TV invited me back on this morning – the sorry results of hedge fund investors are just too incredible to be believed and so they asked to produce a chart illustrating how fees have been split. It turns out that if you calculate how much money hedge funds generated BEFORE fees from 1998-2010, and […]
To make any money in natural gas E&P stocks you need to look carefully at balance sheets and production costs. Natural gas prices have been collapsing because of oversupply and a mild winter. The success of shale drilling is hurting many natural gas E&P companies whose activities have led to an abundance of cheap gas. […]
The Euro has been a good hedge on a portfolio of long stock recently. Equities are attractively valued for a long-term investment; the equity risk premium remains high. But who can think about investing in stocks for the long run and shunning bonds when the Euro sovereign debt crisis rolls on. For us, the solution was […]
Today’s interview on Canada’s Business News Network.
