Russian Vice Prime Minister Igor Sechin's visit to Venezuela has concentrated on energy cooperation.  Gazprombank has agreed to offer a $4 billion loan to finance the development of minerals and other raw materials in the oil-rich nation.  The governments have also agreed to create a joint venture between PDVSA- Servicios, Venezuela's state owned oilfield services subsidiary, and Gazprom's Latin American division.  Sechin will also pursue energy cooperation in Nicaragua, where, the Russian ambassador to Managua says, 'there are very good prospects for prospecting and extracting oil on the Atlantic and Pacific shelves'.  Gazprom has announced that the Bolivian deposits it is exploring with Total SA and YPFB contain 285 billion cubic meters of natural gas.  Prime Minister Putin has proposed that VEB lend Gazprombank $2.41 billion.  Turkmenistan has promised Britain gas supplies once the Nabucco ...

Investing in Crude Oil: The Best Way to Play Oil’s Imminent Rebound

by Louis Basenese, Advisory Panelist
Senior Analyst, The Oxford Club

Billionaire investor George Soros and I don’t normally see eye to eye. He supports drug decriminalization, assisted suicide, America bashing… and a host of other off-the-reserve liberal causes.

I don’t. I’m an old-school Reagan conservative. (Full disclosure – I’m so old school, I named my first born after the late President.)

But here’s the thing. When it comes to investing, great political divides matter little. Because it’s not about getting our guy elected or unashamedly pushing a partisan agenda.

Instead, business – and by extension, investing in businesses – is only about increasing profits, as Milton Friedman put it. And based on the latest SEC filing for Soros’ hedge fund, we both agree on the best way for investing in crude oil’s imminent rebound…

Interested in Making Money

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The Gone Fishin’ Portfolio: The Right Way to Invest

by Alexander Green, Chairman, Investment U
Oxford Club Investment Director
Thursday, January 22, 2009: Issue #920

At our Oxford Club Chapter Meeting in Managua last week, I offered members a few suggestions on how they can improve their returns with our recommendations.

The first suggestion was not to cherry-pick one or two stocks. It’s better to diversify widely. This doesn’t just reduce your risk. It also gives you more opportunities to have a big winner. Diversification is an offensive tactic, not just a defensive one.

Another suggestion was to stick with our discipline. Don’t just note that we recommend trailing stops, for example. Use them. Enter the orders with your broker. If you don’t, you’re prone to start rationalizing that your stocks will “bounce back eventually.” (Not always. Ask any Wachovia shareholder.)

Yet another essential component of successful investing is

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Why These Two Investment Fears Aren’t Genuine Threats

by Alexander Green, Chairman, Investment U Investment Director, The Oxford Club Monday, January 19, 2009: Issue #919

As I write, I’m here at The Oxford Club chapter meeting at the Intercontinental Hotel in Managua. 

When we’re not eating tortillas and sipping margaritas, my colleagues and I – along with about 60 Oxford Club members – are surveying the global economy, making assessments about what lies ahead for world stock and bond markets. 

However, two of the greatest fears voiced here are not genuine threats to your financial well-being, in my view. You’re probably hearing these opinions, too. So let me give you my take on them.

The first fear, especially among folks with a particular political viewpoint, is that the incoming Obama administration and the new Democratic Congress are going to fall prey to their worst instincts to tax, spend, regulate and redistribute, further damaging

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Daniel Ortega, left, shakes hands with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kisliak during a meeting in Managua, Friday, May 18, 2007. (AP) Not long ago I somewhat jokingly predicted that the foreign desk at the Kremlin was having a really tough time choosing which surrogate state they should nudge into joining them as the second state to recognize the independence of Georgian territories Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Well it seems that the clumsy footrace back to the Soviet past was won yesterday, as the dark horse Daniel Ortega, the Sandinista president of Nicaragua, beat out his good friends Hugo Chavez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Isn't it a little problematic for Mr. Ortega, as a former guerrilla fighter and leader of a country which was occupied by the Marines from 1912 to 1933 and torn to shreds by brutal Contra militias funded by Washington, ...