Despite volatile crude prices, we continue to advise all investors to maintain some exposure to the oil and gas industry. That advice reflects oil’s huge importance to global economic growth even as governments impose new regulations to cut carbon emissions.


We also recommend investors stick with well-established producers like Cenovus....

The profitability of banks is determined by a variety of factors including their business mix, lending profit-margins, loan and deposit growth, bad debts, and cost management. The top-performing banks consistently find the right balance between these factors, leading to strong results and stock market performance.


Lending margins drive profits


A key driver of bank profits is their net interest margins—that’s the difference between the interest rate that a bank charges on loans it issues and the interest rate that it pays to depositors and other providers of funds to the bank.


In a rising interest rates environment, banks normally manage to increase their net interest margins—as long as the increase in the cost of funding lags the higher pricing of their loans to customers.


Banks that derive a large portion of their revenues from their lending activities benefit relatively more from improving their lending margins....

The performance of energy services companies is highly dependent on the willingness of their oil and gas production customers to spend money on exploration and new infrastructure. Note, energy producers spend more readily when they generate strong profits and cash flow.


Meantime, the higher oil and gas prices that prevailed for most of 2021 are now creating a return to pre-COVID-19 capital spending by many producers.


Energy producers are inclined to expand their operations and upgrade their facilities when they become more profitable....

This month we highlight an ETF that provides short exposure to the highly popular “disruptive growth” ARK Innovation ETF. We also look at a fund that aims to use a quantitative model to pick the top dividend-paying stocks.


TUTTLE CAPITAL SHORT INNOVATION ETF $43.66 (Nasdaq symbol SARK) provides an inverse (short) exposure to the stocks held by the popular ARK Innovation ETF (New York symbol ARKK).


This fund uses derivatives to let investors profit from a decline in the potentially overvalued and unprofitable “transformational” companies held by the ARK Innovation ETF in the electric vehicle, genomics, next-gen Internet and fintech segments.


This ETF effectively holds short positions in companies such as Tesla, Roku, Teladoc, Zoom, Coinbase and Spotify.


The fund launched on November 9, 2021; it charges a management fee of 0.75%....

Fortune magazine annually lists the top 500 global companies, based on various measures.

In 2021, seven Indian companies made the list, of which six are also held in the iShares India Index ETF. Top conglomerate Reliance Industries as well as several major Indian banks, were included on the list.
But India is also home to a number of highly ranked global information technology services companies—Infosys, Wipro, HCL Technologies, and Tata Consultancy—to name but a few of the largest firms included in the ETF portfolio.


These companies have been highly successful in reaching a global market.


Infosys, for example, now derives 60% of its revenue from North America, and Tata Consultancy, 50%.


The offshore outsourcing model (whereby well-qualified, but less expensive Indian workers deliver services to higher-priced developed markets) provides an attractive business model....

Apart from the immediate challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, India faces a weak health-care system, poor infrastructure, and is only very slowly implementing much-needed economic and political reforms.


Still, the country is home to a number of top global companies with bright futures....

Banks and other financial services firms suffered in early 2020 as the pandemic took hold. But most have since bounced back—and many have hit new highs. Meanwhile, once economic activity returns to normal, the best of these should continue to be strong performers....

Canadian ETFs had another outstanding year in 2021. By the end of the year, there were 1,177 listed funds with a total asset base of $323 billion. On both counts, these were all-time highs.


The long-term growth in the industry continues to accelerate. Ten years ago there were only 236 ETFs listed in Canada, with a total asset base of $44 billion....

BMO COVERED CALL CANADIAN BANKS ETF $23.26 (Toronto symbol ZWB) holds shares of Canada’s six largest banks (CIBC, TD Bank, Bank of Montreal, Bank of Nova Scotia, Royal Bank and National Bank).


The fund started up in January 2011....

Oil and gas prices are up strongly as the U.S. and other economies continue to recover. That has now prompted oil and gas producers to boost exploration to meet rising demand. In fact, demand should remain elevated for several years to come as the world continues to rely on fossil fuels even as it shifts to more-sustainable renewable energy sources.


Here are two energy-services ETFs that stand to gain from what should be an expanding drilling market....