The global economy is doing something it hasn't done in 7 years and that has Wall Street excited

• A "global synchronous recovery" is the new talk of Wall Street bulls.
• All major markets will report strong earnings growth in 2017, predicts Citi Research, the first simultaneous upturn since 2010.

ll the major economies of the globe and the companies that make them up are picking up steam at the same time right now, the first such simultaneous recovery in years. 

This is making the phrase "global synchronous recovery" among the favorites of bulls on Wall Street.

"We expect all the major markets to report healthy EPS growth in 2017. That's the first synchronized upturn since 2010," wrote Robert Buckland, chief global equity strategist at Citi Research, in a note Tuesday.

"That's a big change compared to recent years, when we had various regions and countries moving in and out of EPS recessions," he added.

Along with earnings growth, the major markets will see decent economic growth this year as well that will carry over into next year, Citi estimates. The research analysts forecast global GDP growth of 3.1 percent this year and 3.3 percent next year.

"This eight-year global bull market may be old, but we don't think it is finished," Buckland wrote. They forecast a 9 percent return for global stocks over the next 12 months and favor technology, energy and banking stocks.

Major equity markets have already posted strong performances for the year in response to this synchronous recovery. In the U.S., the S&P 500has gained 8.4 percent in 2017, while the pan-European Stoxx 600index and the Japanese Nikkei 225 index have advanced 5.9 percent and 5.1 percent, respectively.

Emerging markets, meanwhile, have outperformed developed markets, with the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets exchange-traded fund (EEM)surging more than 17 percent this year.

The global synchronous recovery was also mentioned Wednesday in a report on commodities from UBS.

Lachlan Shaw, an analyst at UBS, pointed out in the note that purchasing managers' indexes "across key economies are synchronized and strong" and that backs up the firm's overweight position in the commodities sector.

WATCH: Forget 9-to-5. Four hour workdays are the future, says Jack Ma

The chart below illustrates the manufacturing PMIs for the U.S., euro zone, France, the U.K., Japan, Germany, Italy and China from June 2007 to June 2017.

RELATED SECURITIES

Symbol	Price		Change	%Change
.NKXQ	20081.63		49.28	0%
EEM	41.55		-0.08	-0.19%
STOXX600	379.88		-3.11	-0.81%
S&P 500	2432.54		3.53

By Fred Imbert

Source :https://goo.gl/xgL6kg

These Wealthy Figures May Be Hiding Cash Overseas, Leaked Documents Show

A treasure trove of documents were leaked to various news outlets showing where the world's richest figures hide their money.

The 11 million plus documents are from Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca, though it's unclear who leaked the files. The leak suggests some high-profile figures may be hiding money in offshore accounts.

Soccer star Lionel Messi was referenced in the documents. "We've known for a while that he's been under investigation by Spanish authorities for tax evasion," said Crawford Spence, a professor at the University of Warwick, based in the UK. "What the report says is that he's possibly been doing this via an offshore company that has been registered or at least incorporated in Panama."

Meanwhile, some of Russian musician Sergei Roldugin's finances came to light in the documents.

"This Russian cellist has a lot of money hidden offshore -- we're talking about millions of dollars," Spence said. Reports suggest Roldugin is best friends with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"Illusions have been made that this leads back to Vladimir Putin, but I haven't seen anything as of yet that directly connects this back to Putin," Spence said. Putin is not specifically mentioned in the documents.

Ian Cameron, the father of UK Prime Minister David Cameron is also referenced in the leaked documents.

"Ian has been shown to be linked to a wealth fund that's registered in Panama that hasn't paid a penny of tax on its UK profits in over 30 years," Spence added.

The report raised eyebrows as David Cameron has publicly called for the UK to crack down on those who evade taxes.

Given the murky nature of tax law, it's unclear which activities are illegal versus morally unethical.

"I don't envy the work of tax authorities and regulators because trying to unpack what is legally acceptable from what is morally acceptable is often very difficult because of the complicated nature of tax law," Spence noted.

By Scott Gamm

Source :http://www.thestreet.com/story/13517681/1/leaked-panama-documents-may-show-how-the-world-rsquo-s-wealthiest-stash-money.html

How To Play The Oil And Natural Gas Rebound

 Includes: AAV, AR, BXE, CLR, COG, CVX, EQT, FANG, GENGF, OAS, 

Summary

I attempt to evaluate some of the ways an investor could play the potential rebound in oil and natural gas prices.

Sifting through the carnage requires hard work, but it could provide some of the most lucrative opportunities.

Buying the best risk/reward E&P companies that will survive is the key.

The oil price is in the dumps. It has declined 77% from the top in June 2014.

There isn't a single E&P company in North America that's making money if you include full cycle finding and development cost. So the question is, how can you make money from this selloff?

Option 1: Buying USO or OIL. The worst way to do it

If you considered buying an ETF like the the iPath S&P GSCI Crude Oil Total Return Index ETN (NYSEARCA:OIL) or the United States Oil ETF (NYSEARCA:USO), then I can say that that is the worst way to play the rebound. As many of you may know, WTI currently trades in contango, which means forward prices are much higher than current prices. This creates a negative carry which means that the longer it takes for prices to rebound, the higher the potential for permanent impairment of capital.

Option 2: Buying oil majors like Chevron and Exxon

This is the option many people have been choosing as it's probably the safest way to play the rebound. What's not talked about is how insulated the majors have been relative to the magnitude of the oil selloff.

Both Exxon (NYSE:XOM) and Chevron (NYSE:CVX) are pricing in a recovery of oil to the $55-$60 level, so if you expect WTI to rebound to that level, the likelihood of appreciable gains for the risks taken aren't very appealing.

The risk/reward isn't skewed to the investor's favorite.

Option 3: Buying Russia or countries correlated to the price of oil

One very attractive alternative is to buy non-oil related companies in countries that are tied to the price of oil. Russia (NYSEARCA:RSX) is a great example where price appreciation for the whole index would rise if the price of oil recovers as the Ruble would strengthen relative to the Dollar.

What's also intriguing about this play is it offers a sort of idiosyncratic risk as the potential of the sanctions being lifted could play a positive catalyst for both Russian equities and the Ruble.

Option 4: Buying the best risk/reward E&P companies that will survive the downturn (Most attractive)

Option 4, in my opinion, is the most attractive option as it offers investors the highest risk/reward. There are a lot of companies that can survive the downturn within a reasonable time estimate (3-5 years), and some that won't have any risk of insolvency.

I have highlighted a few investments that I thought were particularly attractive and written them up here.

Peyto (OTCPK:PEYUF), Advantage (NYSE:AAV), Bellatrix (NYSE:BXE), Painted Pony (OTCPK:PDPYF), Gear Energy (OTC:GENGF).

Notice how many of these are mostly Canadian natural gas producers? What I find is that during the commodity selloff, natural gas producers sold off along with oil producers thanks to record warm winter and storage levels that also caused natural gas prices to tank to historical lows.

The selloff in natural gas combined with oil depressed many of the E&Ps in my list, and I've set out to look for the most appealing ones out of the bunch.

Some of the U.S. names I particularly like include Cabot Oil (NYSE:COG), Antero (NYSE:AR), EQT (NYSE:EQT), and Range Resources (NYSE:RRC), which are all mostly natural gas as well.

On the oil side, I have found very few superior operators, and when I did, their share prices have detached from the selloff in oil as market participants went into these companies as safety nets. Raging River (OTC:RRENF) and Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) are good examples of a high quality oil companies.

Some of the more distressed opportunities I have found to be appealing include Continental Resources (NYSE:CLR) and Oasis Petroleum (NYSE:OAS).

Concluding Thoughts

The best way to play the rebound in oil and natural gas prices is to find the companies with just bad enough balance sheets where the market rips them apart (falling share prices), but well capitalized and low cost enough to be able to live through the downturn.

For information or help with regards to E&P investing, please consider subscribing to Hedge Fund Insights Premium Research as we set out to help investors navigate through the carnage and to avoid some of the common pitfalls made by investors. We have also written how-to articles to help investors look at E&P companies. We hope you can join the community!

Disclosure: I am/we are long BXE, AAV, PEYUF, PDPYF, COG, AR, RRC, GENGF, EQT.

By Hedge Fund Insights

Source: http://seekingalpha.com/article/3941486-play-oil-natural-gas-rebound