Displaying items by tag: energy

If a new bill in the Senate gets passed at some point, ESG investing in retirement plans may become a thing of the past. On July 26th, Senator Mike Braun of Indiana introduced The Maximize Americans’ Retirement Security Act (S. 4613), legislation that would clarify that the fiduciary duty of plan administrators is to select and maintain investments based solely on “pecuniary” financial factors. Based on the legislation, pecuniary factors are defined as any factors that a fiduciary prudently determines are expected to have a material effect on the risk or return of an investment. The bill, which was co-sponsored by seven other GOP senators, would curb the Department of Labor’s efforts to make it easier for plan fiduciaries to consider ESG factors when selecting plan investments. ESG investing has become a hot political topic as of late, and its recent underperformance during the bear market has only further added to the scrutiny.

Finsum: With ESG becoming a hot political issue, GOP Senators introduced a bill that would curb the DOL’s efforts to make it easier for plan fiduciaries to consider ESG factors in plan investments. 

Oil prices have begun to stagnate just a hair, but they are still high enough to spur lots of production. U.S. oil output is expected to be 12.86 million barrels a day according to East Daley Capital, which is a 23% increase from their December forecast. Most of the increased production will come from shale Fields in the Permian Basin, as elevated prices can sustain drilling and production here. Additionally, supply chains are relatively more lubricated, the Russia-Ukraine conflict looks ongoing, and a massive Covid resurgence seems like a small probability. The Dallas said profits are more than sustainable to continue drilling in the Permian Basin and other shale sites.

Finsum: This increased production could be enough to finally cap the upward moving gas prices, but that effect could take some time.

Oil prices have begun to stagnate just a hair, but they are still high enough to spur lots of production. U.S. oil output is expected to be 12.86 million barrels a day according to East Daley Capital, which is a 23% increase from their December forecast. Most of the increased production will come from shale Fields in the Permian Basin, as elevated prices can sustain drilling and production here. Additionally, supply chains are relatively more lubricated, the Russia-Ukraine conflict looks ongoing, and a massive Covid resurgence seems like a small probability. The Dallas said profits are more than sustainable to continue drilling in the Permian Basin and other shale sites.

Finsum: This increased production could be enough to finally cap the upward moving gas prices, but that effect could take some time.

Oil demand isn’t diminishing anytime soon, and while Russian Oil companies may suffer from sanctions and political pressure other oil companies are in a position to benefit. Goldman upgraded three oil companies that could capitalize. The first is Diamondback Energy from Texas; they have strong production and great revenues/earnings. Next up was Ovintiv which moved from Canada to the US two years ago but also has strong revenues and a half dozen consecutive quarterly gains in earnings. Rounding out the bunch is Hess which is a hydrocarbon extraction company which will benefit from the elevated prices in its shale search.

Finsum: These options look promising, remember fringe producers really benefit the most on the margins from elevated prices.

Goldman Sachs swiftly raised its one-month projection for Brent to $115 a barrel, a $20 price increase from their previous projection. Not only that they say there are still lots of upside risks if there is further disruption or escalation. The only thing that could hold higher oil prices off would be a complete deterioration of demand by the US and Western Europe. More sanctions are upcoming from the west as Russian banks will be banned from SWIFT payment systems. Commodities are also facing higher price pressures with both threats to payment methods for Russian goods and restrictions to Russian commodities to the wider West. On top of all of this shale supply will fail to compensate for the current demand and OPEC+ will have to step in if there is to be any relief in oil prices.

Finsum: This is a good time to by energy bonds as payment streams will surely be in supply with higher gas prices.