We finally got some much anticipated snow here in Western Canada. A lot of snow certainly can be a problem for cities because it slows down traffic, can be costly, cause accidents, school closures, etc. But a little snow is fun, and doesn’t hurt anyone. There are lots of international people in the city who have never seen snow before.
From an investment point of view, I love snow. This winter so far has been relatively warm in North America. The US only had one snow storm that I’ve heard about and Canada hasn’t gotten much snowfall either. This means that temperatures have been warmer than historic averages. This leads to people not using as much heat in their homes, which lowers the demand for natural gas (ಠ_ಠ )
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I have been, and still am, a big advocate of natural gas which is a cheap and relatively clean source of energy. I’ve invested over $4,000 into this sector. Winter is usually a good time for natural gas but not so this year. New technologies like fracking have increased the supply of gas, combined with the lower than expect demand, it snow wonder the price of gas has been falling like crazy. So I’m glad we are finally getting colder temperatures outside. They say winter is coming this year with a vengeance. Fellow Vancouver residents, prepare yourself for a freezing week ahead. Icy that other places in the country are also reporting colder weather in their forecast. Maybe we’ll see a change in natural gas prices soon. But I am investing for the long run so I’m not worried either way. If gas becomes cheaper I will invest more into gas producing companies.
Definitely feeling the chill over here in Calgary as well!
How are you invested in the natural gas sector? The only exposure I've had to the sector was gambling on HNU a couple years back and I got burned pretty badly.
UGh the snow around these parts has been a nightmare for me. I live in the fraser valley and commute into GV every day – the snow makes my 60 minute commute into a 115 minute commute!
I heard Calgary is minus thirty right now. Brrrrr. I'm mainly invested through EnCana, a nat gas producing company. But I have a feeling it will trade lower before it starts coming back up again. However, it does have a nice 4.7% dividend. I also have some shares in Suncor which also develops and markets gas.
That sounds frustrating, not to mention dangerous. Good thing you guys are moving closer to the city.
I've liked TSE: AVF for quite some time. I've had 200 units and it consistently has paid a beefy +9% dividend. Bruce Campbell came on BNN and ruined the suprise which drove the price up. It was $5.15 when I bought 200 units and yielding 11%. (While only paying out 65% FFO) Now the price has risen to $5.60 for a yield of over 9%.
It's a small oil/gas (liquids rich gas) producer in Canada.
I bought my position in June-2011. I'm looking to add more.
Thanks for the tip Mr. Starving Artist. I don't know too much about AVF but it looks like a pretty good company with room to grow. I think once nat gas prices stabilize we're going to see gas companies do well again. I'm thinking about picking up some more EnCana myself.