Archive for September, 2009

A small guide to Investing in the Oil Market with Online Spread Betting

In the past century many have made their fortune and generated great wealth as the late great billionaire J. Paul Getty did from black gold.

The ever increasing demands on oil supply to power today’s energy needing consumer, continues to grow globally for oil as the energy source of choice for cars, heating, machinery etc. Countries experiencing significant growth cycles such as Russia, Brazil, India and China continue with their increased consumption to fuel their growth ambitions, placing even more demand on the finite oil resources the world has.

Whilst significant oil resources still remain untapped in areas such as Canada / Alaska, extraction of the oil in these areas is only economically viable at the much higher oil prices seen in recent years.

The impact in 2008 for the retail consumer was very well covered by the world media and felt hard by us all globally as the price of oil soared from $85.42 as of Janurary 22nd 2008 to $147.27 in July 11th 2008, at that time many industry experts thought oil would continue the established trend and trade at $200 a barrel. The credit crunch and resulting cycle of wealth destruction globally during the second half of 2008 impacted demand for black gold with the price per barrel falling to $32.40 on 19th December 2008. It has been a roller coaster ride for crude oil in 2008.But it’s an opportunity for those in the know – the speculative investor – to make significant gains from trading, or on the other hand of course to have made significant losses.

While the media attention has been driven away in recent months to focus in on the demise of the banking sector, Oil has actually been making a spectacular recovery from the $32 December lows to hit $70 in recent weeks, the industry experts are now calling for $85 dollars a barrel whilst others suggest a short term correction may be in order. Whatever the future holds the oil trader and speculator has the opportunity to profit from such moves if their opinion on the direction proves to be correct.

For the retail investor gaining exposure to either NYMEX Crude or BRENT Crude at first may not seem that straight forward, whilst the opportunity to trade Oil Company stocks or purchase Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) (which can provide exposure to oil prices) has traditionally been the only obvious route through your online stockbroker, Financial spread trading and Contracts for Difference (CFD) trading makes accessing these commodity markets relatively straightforward. Investors can then take either long or short positions via the spread bet or CFD and trade the fluctuations in price in this and many other different markets. Spread Betting firms and Contracts For Difference providers also provide a wide range of market information, charting resources and trading technology which gives the retail investor access to a wide range of information. Some even provide real time market information for the relevant trading data like the weekly Crude Oil Inventories Update.

Only once a week, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) gives a small insight into what the future demand for oil is likely to be by releasing its Crude Oil Inventory numbers. Traders will look for this sort of information because the amount of oil commercial firms have in inventory impacts the price of oil in quite a predictable way when taken into account with other factors in determining future oil prices.

The Crude Oil Inventories numbver reports the number of barrals of oil that commerical firms have in inventory. Commercial firms will report their inventory levels to the EIA on a weekly basis, however the EIA must still have to take some estimates to arrive at the final number they get.

Another big organisation that has a impact on the price of oil is known as OPEC – the Organisation for Petroleum Exporting Countries.The OPEC is made up by this cartel of countries, Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela. The cartel is headquartered in Vienna and hosts regular meetings among the oil ministers of its Member Countries.

According to its statutes, one of the major goals is the determination of the best means for safeguarding the cartel’s interests both individually and collectively. It also pursues ways and means of ensuring the stabilisation of prices in international oil markets, with a view to eliminating harmful and unnecessary fluctuations; giving due regard at all times to the interests of the producing nations and to the necessity of securing a steady income to the producing countries; an efficient and regular supply of petroleum to consuming nations, and a fair return on their capital to those investing in the petroleum industry.
Something that is keenly awaited by oil traders every month is the OPEC Monthly Oil Report as well as few other bulletins.

Whilst trading oil may seem the preserve of an elite group of traders in London, Chicago or elsewhere in the globe, the price of petrol or gasoline directly impacts everyone in the developed world. It impacts the cost of transporting goods and services to every area of the globe and as we saw in 2008, this can have a negative impact both on the price we pay for personal transportation at the pump, but also the cost of basic food and services we rely on in our day to day lives. While we sat back and saw very little pull back in pump prices during the past 6 months these same experts predict a return to higher pump prices in the not too distant future which could impact us all.

Some have therefore turned to spread betting and CFDs to hedge their exposure to rising fuel costs by placing medium to longer term trades which pay out if oil prices rise across the globe. This approach is also known to be relevant for small and medium sized businesses who are exposed to oil price moves-rom hauliers, farmers and fisherman to virtually any business impacted by rising fuel costs. Giant companies have done this for many years,airlines hedging fuel costs to ensure any unexpected sharp rises in crude do not impact their budgetary plans in any fiscal year. In 2008 many haulier firms folded due to the rising cost of fuel but also due to fuel taxes in the UK remaining high – approximately 61% of the cost paid at the pump is tax revenue for the UK government, European haulier firms subject to lower fuel taxation were able to generate a significant competitive advantage against the UK haulage business at this time who were left unable to pass the full cost of rising fuel onto their customers.

Beyond hedging, spread betting and CFDs also allow investors the opportunity to trade on oil companies’ stock prices – from the Exxons, Shells and BPs of this world to the smaller exploration outfits, drilling as Getty did over half a century ago for that next 20,000-barrels-a-day oilfield and the opportunity to make serious money.

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Prescription Drug Help For Those Without Prescription Insurance in The United States

Anyone is entitled to receive prescription medication at a cut-rate price regardless of their pay, age or pre-existing conditions. There is a innovative prescription medicine discount card accessible to any person that wishes it, and it is free of charge! For too long, people with no coverage have been paying full retail prices for their medicine  but with this innovative plan they will now have somebody on their side. Prescription Assistance Programs have been around for many years.

Rx Help began the program to trim down the price tag of prescription to those people without healthcare insurance. This has developed into a nationwide program with cardholders in the entire 50 states. These prescription drug discount cards are accepted at over 50,000 local and national pharmacies.

Several non-profit organizations and clinics hand out the cards as a means to fill a need and help out their community in difficult times. The discount cards have been mailed to regional United Way agencies, clinics, physician offices and pharmacies in addition to district community health centers. These cards are not insurance, nevertheless they can lower the price of your prescriptions by up to 25 % or more. The patient merely presents their card to the pharmacy and they are guaranteed that they will pay either the discounted price or the pharmacy’s retail price, whichever is lesser.

There are persons that are saving $10 -$60  on prescription drugs and that is money they can make use of to get groceries, pay apartment rental or pay the light bill. They are in addition able to get the drugs they urgently need. The cards are available at no charge to any person and there is no cap on how frequently they can be used.

A different technique that Rx Help is able to assist uninsured persons is through Prescription Assistance Programs. These programs are operated by all drug company and every one is a little different. If a patient qualifies however, they will obtain their medication at no charge. To be eligible you need to be uninsured and your household wages can not top a variety of guidelines.

There is a vast need for prescription medication assistance right now, in particular since a bunch of citizens continue to lose their jobs. A bunch of citizens want assistance at this instant more than ever.

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What is so great about a day trading robot

When the economy started to decrease, the stock marked decreased as well which caused my portfolio to collapse. I remember staying up late at night going over the numbers dozens of times believing that I had been somehow swindled. But the truth was that I had simply been caught off guard and I had paid dearly for my ignorance. Yes, I was ignorant, like most part time investors.

But it is not only our faults. I was taken in, just like millions of other Americans, of a “surefire method” to make money by the hucksters, phony experts and snake oil salesmen who make their claims on cable tv. And since easy money is better than any other kind, I went along with the plan. I listened to the advice of these so-called experts and I invested in hot stocks and did little to create a well-balanced portfolio.

Then when the market collapsed, my portfolio went down like the Titanic. I lost more than half of the value of my investments, and my wife was understandably upset. In fact she was downright livid. We had several heated arguments where I tried to defend my actions, even though I was clearly in the wrong. I also knew that money problems are the number one reason why couples split up and I worried that my wife would leave me. You see, the money in our portfolio was for our children’s college fund and we had both contributed to it.

At that point I honestly never wanted to invest in another stock again. This is prior to a colleague talking to me about buying a day trading robot. I listened attentively though it had an odd name. {I was still terribly embarrassed by my previous investing failures and I was hoping to redeem myself in the eyes of my wife.|I was still feeling burned by my prior failures and did not need to further embarass myself.}

“I am not interested in anything that promises wealth in a hurry”, I remarked to my friend.

He assured me that a day trading robot was a proven method that had made savvy investors tens of millions of dollars over the past few years. I asked him to go on and he told me that the robot was really just software that helped competent investors locate bargains and deals in the market.

Day trading,” he said, “can be risky, and even the best of the best need help to avoid risk.”He explained that day trading didn’t bring the big bucks in one day. Rather, it was about making small profits dozens of times a day that added up to a solid, steady supplemental paycheck. And this, he told me, is the usefulness of a day trading robot.

The most helpful thing that day trading robot software can do is to help take emotion out of the equation. Oftentimes, new and even experienced day traders get emotionally invested in a stock and do not want to admit that they were wrong about it. As a result they lose money by hanging on to it for much to long. But the robot software does little more than recommend stocks that are trading for discounts to the market and tells you when to move in an out of them.

A lengthy discussion with my friend made me lay my hand on day trading robot I bought one online and began to use it very cautiously. I made a few mistakes but then the cash started rolling in. And now my wife no longer makes me sleep on the couch, because in under a month our portfolio has increased almost ten percent. I owe all of my success to a robot that completes my day trading for me.

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