Primary Energy Consumption in BRICs 2014

Posted by David Hunkar on 30 June 2015, 2:09 am

The primary energy sources for the BRIC countries are shown in the chart below:

Click to enlarge

Source: Gasoline and Diesel Pricing Reforms in the BRIC Countries: A Comparison of Policy and Outcomes, The Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, University of Oxford

In Russia, China and India oil is the second most important energy source. In Brazil it is the most important energy source. Though China has the highest primary energy consumption, in per capita terms Russia has the highest energy consumption since the population of Russia is small compared to China which has the highest population in the world.

Coal is the top source of energy consumption in India and China. Oil is only the second important energy source. Russia depends most on natural gas followed by oil.

Russia is a net exporter of oil while Brazil is self-sufficient as its production almost equals consumption.China and India are both net importers of oil. Hence the decline in oil prices in the past few months is most beneficial to these countries than Brazil or Russia.

US Electricity Production By Fuel Type

Posted by David Hunkar on 29 June 2015, 10:39 am

The U.S. depends on fossil fuels for much of the production of electricity. Coal and Natural Gas are the two major sources of power generation followed by Nuclear power.

Shale gas is slowly eroding the consumption of coal. For example, since 2007 the use of coal in power production has been declining. The U.S. is still the second largest coal market in the world and consumed 832 Mt (metric tons) in 2014. The decline in crude oil prices is also allowing companies to switch to natural gas thus further reducing the dependence of coal as a fuel source. The use of coal for electricity generation fell from 50% in 2008 to 38.7% in 2014 and is projected to dip further, according to the EIA.

The following chart the sources of electricity production in the U.S.:

Click to enlarge

Source: US Coal Exports:The Long Road to Asian Markets, The Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, University of Oxford

The Ten Largest Equity ETFs by Assets

Posted by David Hunkar on 28 June 2015, 10:19 am

The ETF industry has grown exponentially in the past few years with hundreds of funds trading the market today. A few of the funds that were unable to garner enough assets or liquidity have died. However every month new ones continue to be created.

ETFs are available for every type of investor need.Wall Street has sliced and diced all the equities into various types based on asset, sector, country, region, market cap, environmental/social, etc. It seems that at this rate companies may eventually run out of letter combinations and may end up going to numbers to accommodate yet more funds. It should be noted however that many of the funds do not become successful but still languish on the market with low asset sizes. Some of the funds tend to have assets in the billions while many barely have a few million or even less. For investors looking to enter the world of ETFs it can be a daunting task to sift thru all the funds available on the market.

In this post, let us review the ten largest equity ETFs based on assets held. Though these funds have asset sizes in the billions, investors continue to pour more into them.

The Ten Largest Equity ETFs based on Assets are listed below:

S.No.	Fund Name	Ticker	Assets (in $ billions)	Expense Ratio	Launch Date
1	SPDR S & P 500 ETF	SPY	178.00	0.09%	1/22/1993
2	iShares Core S & P 500 ETF	IVV	68.00	0.07%	5/15/2000
3	Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF	VWO	66.00	0.15%	3/4/2005
4	iShares MSCI EAFE ETF	EFA	62.00	0.33%	8/14/2001
5	Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF	VTI	57.00	0.05%	5/24/2001
6	PowerShares QQQ Nasdaq 100	QQQ	39.00	0.20%	3/10/1999
7	Vanguard S&P 500 ETF	VOO	32.00	0.05%	9/7/2010
8	iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund	EEM	29.00	0.67%	4/7/2003
9	iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF	IWF	29.00	0.20%	5/22/2000
10	Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF	VEA	28.00	0.09%	7/20/2007

Source: WSJ and respective providers

The largest fund is the SPDR S & P 500 ETF(SPY) which tracks the S&P 500 index. As the index is the barometer of the US equity market, it is not surprising to see that the fund tops the list with an asset base in excess of $178 billion. Funds targeting the broad emerging markets and developed markets are also in the list as investors try to gain exposure to these markets in a simple and easy way. The PowerShares QQQ Nasdaq 100(QQQ) has been a perennial favorite for years for investors focused on investing in tech stocks.

In terms of fees, most the of the above funds have very low expense ratios making them extremely attractive to investors.

Disclosure: No Positions

The 8 Largest and Most Powerful Greek Companies

Posted by David Hunkar on 28 June 2015, 6:25 am

Every year the Forbes magazine publishes its annual list of Forbes Global 2000 list. These companies represent the largest and most profitable firms from around the world. From the 2015 report:

The FORBES Global 2000 is a comprehensive list of the world’s largest, most powerful public companies, as measured by revenues, profits, assets and market value. We use a composite score that weighs those four metrics equally, as one barometer alone would present a biased and incomplete account (read our methodology here).

This year’s Global 2000 companies hail from 60 countries and account for combined revenues of $39 trillion, profits of $3 trillion, with assets worth $162 trillion, and a market value of $48 trillion. Thanks to a bull market, the total market value of Global 2000 companies grew 9% year-over-year, the most among the four metrics.

In order to review which publicly-listed Greek firms are the largest and most powerful I referred to this list. The following eight Greek companies appear in this ranking for 2015:

S.No.	Company	Sales	Profits	Assets	Market Value
1	Bank of Greece	$1.6 B	$868 M	$124.8 B	$206 M
2	Public Power	$7.8 B	$121 M	$21.8 B	$1.4 B
3	National Bank of Greece	$8.5 B	$88 M	$139.7 B	$4.2 B
4	Motor Oil	$12 B	$-110 M	$3 B	$834 M
5	Alpha Bank	$5.1 B	$-437 M	$88.3 B	$3.7 B
6	Hellenic Petroleum	$12.6 B	$-484 M	$9.3 B	$1.2 B
7	EFG Eurobank Ergasias	$2.5 B	$-1.6 B	$91.4 B	$1.9 B
8	Piraeus Bank	$5.4 B	$-2.6 B	$108 B	$2.3 B

Source: Forbes

Bank of Greece, Public Power and National Bank of Greece (NBG) made profits last year with Bank of Greece earning $868 million. However Bank of Greece is the country’s central bank. Five of the eight firms above are banks.All these banks have billions in assets which are loans held on their books. For example, National Bank of Greece had nearly $140 billion in assets last year but had a market value of just about $4 billion.

The full list of Greek stocks trading on the US markets can be found here.

Disclosure: No Positions

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