Nov 24

To invest in oil, you don’t need to buy barrels of the stuff, though in the last bull market there was talk of hedge funds being forced to take delivery of tankers.

Here are four ways to invest in oil without dirtying your hands.

Oil ETF

An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is an investment fund traded on stock exchanges, much like stocks. You can talk to a broker about oil etfs.

Crude Oil Futures

Crude oil futures are among the most popular and widely watched futures markets. There isn’t a day without the mention of crude oil prices on the television, in newspapers or magazines. Futures for crude oil trade on more than one exchange and are available nearly twenty-four hours a day. Crude oil prices are watched widely by speculators, hedgers, and the general public since petroleum products can affect nearly every facet of our lives. However, crude oil trading involves a substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for everyone.

Stocks Of Oil Companies

If you feel buying oil futures and oil etf is too complicated for your liking you can invest in oil the easy way: Buying stock of big oil companies such as Exxonmobil, Chevron, & BP. You can buy these stock long or short, it depends on how you forecast the oil trends.

Oil exploration ventures

Oil exploration ventures buys rights to look for oil in particular areas e.g. Africa, Australia etc. Some of this oil ventures have issued shares on stock exchange and any one interested can buy the stock. Oil exploration is risky business with more bad news than good news but if a ventures strikes oil, the investors are set for a rich pay day.

Oil contractors

The oil industry relies on service contractors. The oil contractors are involved in drilling, One famous oil contractor is Halliburton. You can look up for oil contractors on stock exchange.

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Apr 04

The largest oil exchange traded fund (Oil ETF) is the U.S. Oil Fund ETF. The U.S oil fund tracks oil futures.

U.S oil fund etf has $1.89 Billlion in Assets. The $1.89 billion U.S. Oil Fund trades with the symbols (NYSEArca: USO).

The U.S oil fund etf invests in futures contracts for WTI light, sweet crude oil, other types of crude oil, heating oil, gasoline, natural gas and other petroleum based-fuels that are traded on exchanges.

The United States Oil Fund was founded in April 2006 by the Victoria Bay Asset Management along with the American Stock Exchange.

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Mar 12

One strategy to take advantage of the rolling boom in US farmland prices is buying a US farmland ETF ( exchange traded fund)

Data from US farmland prices & statistics show, since 2000, U.S. farmland prices have risen by 58% after inflation, according to the FDIC. And since 2003, they’ve risen by over 10% annually.

To put it in real numbers, the average price of an acre of U.S. farmland more than doubled from $1030 in 1999 to $2350 in 2008.

Investing In farmland Via ETF

One strategy to take advantage of this boom in US farmland prices is buying a US farmland ETF ( exchange traded fund). ETFs investing in farmland are not plentiful but they are out there.

Market Vectors Agribusiness ETF

One US farmland ETF that we are aware of is the Market Vectors Agribusiness ETF (NYSE:MOO). This farmland ETF is listed in NYSE.

It is cheaper to buy an ETF than to go out and buy a farmland.

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Feb 24

According to the most recent filing of Billionaire hedgde fund manager, John Paulson own investment firm, Paulson & Co. Inc. The following were John Paulson portfolio holding for 2010.

John Paulson Top Five Portfolio holdings

John Paulson Gold Holdings

SPDR Gold Trust

Anglogold Ashanti Ltd.

Mr. Paulson invested heavily in gold on the belief that the dollar would lose value in the coming years. His gold investments are primarily done via a gold exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Shares.

John Paulson Stock Portfolio Holdings

Citigroup

Bank of America

Anadarko Petroleum

That bet on bank stocks was perfectly timed to take advantage of the massive fiscal stimulus.

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Jan 18

If you are thinking of investing in oil in 2011, there are three ways of investing in oil,  as a physical commodity, oil ETF or in oil stocks.

Oil Stocks 2011

Buying traditional oil stocks is the easiest method to investing in oil. You can buy stocks of oil giants such as Exxonmobil, Chevron, Shell and BP. One interesting oil stock is BP. The company stock was battered in 2010 due to bad news from the Gulf of Mexico accident. But the cost of the cleanup may be less than feared and the share price has recovered some of the lost ground.

Another good thing about Oil stocks is they are known for paying generous dividend.

Don’t limit yourself to the oil giants. There are many small oil companies operating around the world. If you look far and wide you may find undiscovered gems.

Oil Futures 2011

Oil futures market as been around, for a long time it has been the only way to invest directly in oil. Investing in oil futures is done via commodities market. In places such as London, New York and Chicago. This means you must use a commodities broker to invest in them. You can find commodities brokers online at several websites.

Oil ETF 2011

Now there are ETF, exchange-traded fund. Oil ETFs are traded just like shares but reflect the price of Crude oil price.

Oil ETF investments may not be as simple as they seem. Do consult a stockbroker if you are keen on investing in Oil ETFs.

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May 15

Its never easy for a small investor to invest in Gold. There are practical problems with owning gold. It’s heavy, and not easy for the average investor to buy, sell, ship, and store. Gold involves a lot of transactional costs.

Invest in Gold ETF

One easier way for retail investors or small investor can get exposure to gold is through exchange-traded funds. The exchange traded fund is a trading platform where investors can invest in funds that track a particular investment eg. gold, oil, emerging markets etc. Instead of directly buying a commodity, you buy piece of the fund which in turns invests directly into the commodity.

For example, the SPDR Gold Trust holds actual gold bullion. The PowerShares DB Gold Fund holds futures contracts linked to the price of gold, and the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF holds stock in gold mining companies.

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