Energy ETFs Continue to Climb after OPEC+ Surprise March 5, 2021
Oil and energy exchange traded funds continue to rally, with crude prices at their highest level in almost two years, after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, or OPEC+, surprised markets by maintaining a cap on supplies despite a recovering global economic outlook.
Among the best performing non-leveraged ETFs of Friday, the
The
United States Brent Oil Fund (NYSEArca: BNO), which tracks Brent crude oil futures, were also up 3.1% and 3.4% respectively on Friday. WTI crude oil futures were up 3.7% to $66.2 per barrel, and Brent crude gained 4.1% to $69.5 per barrel.
By Jeremy Schwartz, CFA, Global Head of Research
Last week’s Behind the Markets podcast featured a debate on the merits of Bitcoin with Alex Pickard, VP of Research at Research Affiliates, and Jason Guthrie, Head of Capital Markets and Digital Assets for WisdomTree Europe.
Pickard said he first got into Bitcoin during his financial engineering graduate coursework at UCLA in 2013, but he really gained conviction to go long in 2015 at around the $500 price level. He turned a windfall profit into a startup enterprise to mine Bitcoin further.
Pickard’s experience mining led him to become much more skeptical about the cryptocurrency, however. The areas Pickard highlighted as risks include:
Q. I have a very basic health insurance plan that covers public hospitals and I also have a cash plan with HSF. Is it worthwhile keeping the cash plan in place as well or could I be over-insured?
A. These cash plans are very different to health insurance. According to broker Dermot Goode of TotalHealthCare.ie they are designed to give refunds on routine out-patient expenses such as GP, consultant fees, physiotherapy, dental, optical etc. They also give cash allowances for every night in hospital (public or private) and also for day case procedures, he says.
They are not a substitute for private health insurance cover and given that people are all likely to incur some level of out-patient expenses even for minor ailments or injuries Mr Goode recommends you try and maintain this cover in addition to your health insurance plan.