The SWF Factor

Article Excerpt

Many investors look on the soaring price of oil as a major negative for the market and economy. Certainly it hurts some companies and industries. But it may turn out to be a plus of sorts for a number of stocks we recommend, and not just our oil selections. That’s because many oil-producing countries are gathering up a growing portion of their newly ballooned oil income into so-called “Sovereign Wealth Funds”, or SWFs for short. The aim of these funds is to build up and invest the profits from oil, as a reserve for the day when the oil runs out. Non-producers such as China and India are also building up vast sums. Estimates of total SWF assets now run to $3 trillion, and that number could triple in five years. Some of this wealth will find its way into the tax-haven bank accounts of well-connected individuals in these countries. But the amounts are too big for all the money to disappear. The sovereign…