3 ETF's To Buy If You Believe Oil Is Heading Higher

Matt Thalman - INO.com Contributor - ETFs


In August of 2014 West Texas Intermediate Crude was trading around the $98 range. That was lower than the $105 range it traded in during June of 2014. Today it is trading below $40 a barrel and as oil continues to fall to new multi-year lows, some investors are wondering when the commodity will stop declining and begin once again moving higher. I recently published a piece pointing out a few ways investors can profit from oil continuing to decline. But, if you are like me, believing that the price of oil will eventually move higher from today's levels there are a few different ETF's you can buy to play a move higher in oil.

But first, let's discuss why I believe oil will move higher, sooner rather than later. Currently, West Texas Intermediate crude is trading below $40 a barrel and at that price most, of the oil producers are losing money. The average cost per barrel in the Canadian Oil Sands is somewhere in-between $50-$100 a barrel. In the North Dakota Bakken Shale, the average is around $40-$70 while in Texas it is somewhere around $40-$80 a barrel. In all of North America, only Alaska has a cost per barrel below $40. Continue reading "3 ETF's To Buy If You Believe Oil Is Heading Higher"

Are You Really As Diversified As You Think?

Matt Thalman - INO.com Contributor - ETFs


A while back I pointed out that due to Apple's (AAPL) market capitalization, a large number of ETF's were massively over-weight the technology giant. In some cases, Apple represented more than 5%, 7% or even 10% of the total value of the ETF based on how many holdings the fund actually owns.

I recently came across an ETF that is not only overweight Apple by a massive amount, with maker of the iPhone representing more than 13%, but its top 5 companies (6 holdings since Google (GOOG)(GOOGL) has two stock classes) represent more than 37% of the fund, of which might I add has over 100 holdings. Furthermore though, what makes this so interesting is that the ETF I am talking about tracks a major index, which simply adds to the myth that the fund is helping investors diversify and is a safer way to invest. Continue reading "Are You Really As Diversified As You Think?"