Trying to keep a track of party political policies these days is becoming a serious challenge.
First there was Labour’s U-turn over Hips. Now we’ve had David Cameron’s back-flip over grammar schools. “We won’t build more grammar schools – my parents had to buy me a decent education and I don’t see why all those middle-class scroungers should get one for free. What do you mean, that’s elitist? Fine, we will build more grammar schools.”
But these have been put in the shade by possibly the biggest about-turn the planet has seen in recent history – President Bush is now a true believer in global warming…
President Bush has decided that global warming is an issue and needs to be dealt with. Amid the various newspaper columnists proclaiming indignantly that “it’s about time”, we rapidly realise that America’s big U-turn doesn’t actually amount to much. The US’s big contribution is to suggest that everyone should sit down around a table and talk about long-term cuts in carbon emissions – something that the rest of the world did with the Kyoto treaty, that the US failed to endorse. It also won’t back a global carbon trading regime.
But regardless of how you feel about global warming and what‘s behind it, the move by Bush shows more firmly than ever that the green movement isn’t just going to go away. There are lots of good reasons for that. Reducing our reliance on oil would be a great thing in itself, even if the planet positively thrived on fossil fuel emissions – we’d stop being dependent on volatile and undemocratic regimes in hostile countries, for one thing, as well as avoiding having to answer the question of what to do when the black stuff runs out.
And most people would genuinely prefer to live in a less wasteful, less polluted environment. Less packaging means less litter. Fewer emissions means cleaner air. Recycling is just a high-tech version of what our parents and grandparents might once have described as “thrift”.
We suspect that the real objection of most “green” sceptics is to the hectoring bullying tone adopted by arrogant politicians and snotty journalists, most of whom have a much wider personal carbon footprint than the rest of us could muster between our extended families.
(By the way, if you do want to read the closest thing you’ll get to a rational summation of the evidence for climate change, without the political rhetoric and posturing, New Scientist recently published a good article on the topic which is worth seeking out. You’ll probably take two things away from the piece – that global warming is more than likely caused by human beings; but also that the science of climate change is very very complicated, much more so than the shrill tones of our ‘elites’ would have us believe).
Anyway – the point is that the green boom is here to stay. And in this week’s MoneyWeek, out today, we’ve a piece from Nigel Milton (who’ll soon be writing an exciting new email service for us), telling you how you can profit from the hunt for renewable energy.
If you’re not yet a subscriber, you can get access to all the content on the MoneyWeek website and sign up for a three-week free trial of the magazine, just by clicking here: Sign up for a three-week free trial of MoneyWeek.
Oh, and just before we go, we’ve news of a conference which may well be of interest to Money Morning readers. Halkin Services, the international risk analysis and asset allocation service, is holding a conference on Thursday June 7th at the Rubens Hotel, on Buckingham Palace Road in London SW1W. The conference runs from 10am to 2pm, and among the speakers will be Phillippe Rohner of Pictet Asset Management talking about an investment we feel very bullish about – water.
If you’d like to know more on how to get tickets, email halkin@halkinservices.co.uk.
Turning to the stock markets…
In London, miners helped the FTSE 100 to a close of 6,621 yesterday, a gain of 19 points but off session highs. Mining stocks Xstrata and Anglo American topped the FTSE leaderboard with gains of over 4%. And Kingfisher was the day’s biggest loser as investors as investors reacted to a cautious statement relating to the outlook for the UK market. For a full market report, see: London market close.
On the Continent, the Paris CAC-40 added 61 points to end the day at 6,104, whilst the Frankfurt DAX-30 added 118 points to close at 7,883.
Across the Atlantic, US stocks ended the day mixed but with strong gains over the month of May as a whole. The Dow Jones hit a record high of 13,673 in intra-day trading but went on to end the day 5 points lower, at 13,627. The tech-heavy Nasdaq added 11 points to close at 2,604. And the broader S&P 500 gained a fraction of a point to set a new record closing high of 1,530.
In Asia, the Nikkei added 83 points to end the day at 17,958 with gains led by exporters including Toyota and Canon. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng rose 158 points to close at 20,793.
Crude oil was slightly higher at $64.09 this morning, whilst Brent spot was at $68.52 in London.
Spot gold had risen to $663.00 this morning and silver was up to $13.47.
In the foreign exchange markets, the pound was at 1.979 against the dollar and 1.4721 against the euro. And the dollar was at 0.7347 against the euro and 121.92 against the Japanese yen.
And in Russia today, the Natural Resources Commission looks set to revoke BP‘s Russian venture’s licence for the Kovykta oil field in Siberia. BP currently relies on Russia for a quarter of its production and on fields such as Kovytka – which has enough natural gas to supply Asia for 5 years – for future growth. In other news, the UK government announced that it raised over $2.08bn from the sale of part of its stake in British Energy. The money raised will be used to pay for the decommissioning of nuclear reactors. Shares in British Energy had risen by as much as 2.4% today.
And our two recommended articles for today…
How green energy is fuelling inflation
– There is one factor often overlooked amidst all the talk of house prices and interest rates: the knock-on effect of the biofuels craze. To find out why this alternative energy source looks set to make all our lives more expensive, click here: How green energy is fuelling inflation
Warren Buffett’s $5bn investment contest
– Warren Buffett has just announced a $5bn investment contest to find his successor at Berkshire Hathaway. But such competition is neither the best way to find a new recruit – or the best returns. For more on Buffett’s on the hunt for Buffett’s ‘Apprentice’ – plus what it can teach ordinary investors about the pitfalls of ‘competition-style’ investing, click here: Warren Buffett’s $5bn investment contest