For the week ending on 2/22/23, neutral remained the top sentiment (39.8%; high) & bullish became the bottom sentiment (21.6%; very low); bearish became the middle sentiment (38.6%; above average); Bull-Bear Spread collapsed to -17.0% (very low). Investor concerns: Inflation (moderating but high); economy; the Fed; dollar; cryptos; market volatility (VIX, VXN, MOVE); Russia-Ukraine war (52+ weeks, 2/24/22- ); geopolitical. For the Survey week (Th-Wed), stocks were down sharply, bonds down, oil down sharply, gold down, dollar up. BIDEN visited Ukraine; PUTIN withdrew from SALT nuclear treaty. #AAII #Sentiment #Markets
https://ybbpersonalfinance.proboards.com/post/942

In emerging markets--really any market--there are all sorts of country risks. If a fund doesn't invest in China or is light China, it will likely overweight India instead. With India, one of the big risks is an escalation with Pakistan, which has been ongoing for decades. India-Pakistan is viewed as one of the most likely regions for a nuclear war to occur. Of course, developed markets like our own are facing our own crises.

As with star ratings or any other magic numbers, one needs look behind the numbers to better understand what they represent.
Somewhat like SRI funds that set very stringent de minimis thresholds on investing in "bad" companies, the sites I suggested grade on severe curves. Invest more than a little in "bad" companies, and your score goes down rapidly. It's still monotonic - the more a fund invests in "bad" companies, the worse its score. But it's a nonlinear scale.
To take ICLN as an example - fully 1/8 (12.49%) of its portfolio is invested in utilities selling or using fossil fuels. Half of that alone (6.22%) is invested in ConEd. Seriously?
Sure, ConEd has a "clean energy" subsidiary, ConEd Solutions. They used to offer me clean electricity as an ESCO, but that ended years ago. Now, all I can buy from ConEd as an electricity supplier is this mix (as of Dec 2020 - the latest info provided):
Biomass <1%
Coal 2%
Hydro 9%
Natural Gas 47%
Nuclear 36%
Oil <1%
Renewable Biogas <1%
Solar <1%
Solid Waste 3%
Wind 3%
Emissions relative to NYS average
SO2 113% of average
NOx 112% of average
CO2 113% of average
Needless to say, I buy electricity from a third party, not ConEd.
Carbon footprint? ICLN is off the charts, as measured by direct and indirect carbon emissions per dollar invested. You may disagree with FossilFreeFund's figure, but even MSCI's figure for the fund (also direct and indirect emissions), is still very high (nearly double that of the S&P 500 (IVV), per MSCI).
https://www.blackrock.com/us/individual/products/239738/ishares-global-clean-energy-etf

Thanks for all the useful information
@msf
NALFX available at Schwab without a load.
NEE has an enormous portfolio of renewable energy so it can really not be considered as fossil fuel dependent as other utilities.
I have not found ESG calculations at M* very useful, as they are too inflexible. "G" is so widely defined almost any tech company qualifies.
Making money on the alternative energy ETFs seems dependent on when you buy them, and the price, as always. That is one reason why I think an active fund has advantages.
A lot of the performance of many of these funds recently is dependent on how much TSLA they own. Active management can cut back large positions like this when they price gets too extreme, but even funds without TSLA have gotten burned last year. ZGEIX for example held onto Beyond Meat as it crashed but sold it before the third quarter.
There are other sources of information but most cost a lot. For example, "Thunder Said Energy" sends out daily emails about their extensive engineering based research, but charges $500 a report. The free charts are very useful, however. As an example, they list projected Lithium demand, or requirements to upgrade the electrical grid. This lead me to GRID, for example, which has number of positions that are critical to upgrading the power grid, many of them in other funds.
The jury is still out on the environmental impact required to implement alternative energy infrastructure. Minerals, steel cement are all needed in much greater quantities than traditional oil and gas extraction.
One point the people at Thundersaidenergy make over and over again, is that the "transition" to decarbonization will require A LOT of energy and fossil fuels. I think it is short sighted to eliminate all oil companies from your investments because they will do well in the near term.
I have small positions in PWO, LIT, REMX,GMET,TAN,FXC NLR as water and minerals and nuclear power will have to assume greater roles than oil and coal in the years ahead.

The pictures are not specific but he looks like he was a big guy and maybe overweight? Certainly his job was stressful and probably contributed to his early death. He "retired " at 37 with millions but had to go back to work!
"Running a global firm requires extensive travel. In 2015, Minerd spent time in the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, and other countries. His favorite travel destination is his beachfront home in Los Angeles: “If I can get the opportunity to be at home, I look forward to it. I already have a beach house, I just don’t get to spend any time there.”
When he is on the road, Minerd follows a detailed regimen that includes a full arsenal of supplements such as Zicam (a cold remedy) and Pedialyte to prevent dehydration during his intense travel schedule. The entire time, he keeps his must-have “football” close. While the President of the United States is always accompanied by a military aide carrying a “football” including launch codes for nuclear weapons, Minerd’s “football” comes in the form of his Bloomberg Terminal, allowing him to monitor, analyze, and trade from wherever he happens to be at the time."

Tesla/China and China in general. First, IMHO, is credible reporting from the State controlled government.
NOW, the Covid thing. China appears to have begun relaxing policies of locking down the 'public'. Were they truly concerned with the recent 'riots'? Perhaps. Reportedly, they have deactivated the National Covid tracking app.; and travel restrictions have been reduced.
With these and whatever other changes have been made and will be made; is the State going to take a chance on what will become of Covid?
And what happens to this country internally and global supplies of whatever from China???
Because of closures of many facilities with their previous Covid lock down policies, shortages exist in many production areas. I'm sure there are many, that in some fashion affect the U.S. in supply chain issues.
One area that is critical for the U.S. and globally, are some medical products. In Michigan, there has existed a 'get on a list' for injection products (dyes and nuclear medicine) used for body scans to detect cancer formations and related. Patient schedules have had to be adjusted until a particular hospital received their allotment. GE Health in China was and I believe is still closed for production; and shifted output increases to Ireland.
I'd be worried by a lot more than Tesla in China. One may choose to 'watch' what becomes of Covid in China; and ramifications in many areas.
China's large travel period celebrating the New Year is scheduled for January 22, 2023 and traditionally is for 15 days.....the country shuts down factories and such and a large portion of the citizens travel to be with family(s). What will take place in 2023???
My 12 cents worth (inflation adjusted).

Don't forget about major recessions, jobs loss, unstable banking systems due Feds potential over corrections, lots folks won't be able to pay for houses and cars along w job loss (triple whammy).... I think Ukraine Russian issues are priced in unless nuclear arsenals are used. Oil Xle would be worst asset to hold going forward next 12 18 months due to high rates. US dollars, Ust be very careful, it's too high now w high RSI ( except ust 10 yrs or 20yrs extremely cheap).
We are still young and don't know how to time market well. Could be stagnation for 12 24 months (look at high rates high inflation, high unemployment environments in 1990s downturns stagnation conditions for quite a long time).
We Keep buying stocks while cheap hope hold for 15 20 yrs til retirement hopeful 3x by then 2035. Been dca into growth, techs stocks, emergent markets, US Sp500, and 401k still at 90/10 distributions.
Unless near retirement would be in lots Corp Bonds ust cash cd and less riskier assets, maybe 40% stocks. Friend 70 yo has 70% stocks unclear why but that her monies. Mama retired portfolios 70s% fixed asset and safe vehicles, she loss about 17% last 12 months but made some back. Biggest holders: Fidelity 2015 tdf, fbnd, and lots Corp bonds
Happy holidays

https://theoregongroup.com/the-uranium-bull-market-and-the-coming-of-the-second-atomic-age-the-oregon-group-special-report/?utm_source=Twitter&utm_campaign=TwitterGeneralNoSubscribe&utm_id=Uranium&twclid=2-447nm4f8viiut65oyg7lbhld2
Uranium is at the start of a 10-year bull market, according to our new report. The Oregon Group forecasts the uranium market will be positively impacted by a large net increase in global nuclear reactors, which require uranium as fuel.***
Many yrs bull Uranium??
Very volatile
Maybe looking adding more UEC URA or $Urnm maybe 0.5% of portfolio

I don’t think it is funny that my 85 year old Vietnam ( LBJ’s War] veteran father and a man with a masters degree in Special Education with diagnosed with dementia is more verbally with it than a man with a finger on the nuclear trigger. There is no troll like than a liberal in self denial about putting a man in power who has obviously has cognitive decline and attacks everyone else who has eyes and ears to see it. God Bless America and it’s working class blue collar people .

Near the end of that song: “When the air becomes Urania …” - I was waiting for him to rhyme that with “Crimea” which would have worked lyrically. Missed opportunity.

May be nuclear attack by Russia.
That rich investor may be Elon Musk> Elon Musk supports Russia keeping Crimea—because he’s worried about nuclear escalation and World War III ('Fortune.com'.)

Could be. Musk could than use his “winnings” to hasten completion of his Mars spaceship. With some incredibly good luck, he just might escape this planet in the nick o’ time.

May be nuclear attack by Russia.
That rich investor may be Elon Musk> Elon Musk supports Russia keeping Crimea—because he’s worried about nuclear escalation and World War III ('Fortune.com'.)

makes my blood boil to read all of this. But it's no surprise. And how many talking heads are now touting "clean" nuclear lately, with prices up, and the energy crunch in Europe? Let them talk to my nuclear-waste engineer friend at the Savannah River Project. Shit. what a bunch of junk. "Clean" nuclear. LAUGH.
...If it weren't so serious.

It's been my expectation the stock market retreat would bottom somewhere close to it's current level. But, the Fed waited for something to break in a major way before beginning to raise rates. Perhaps it will wait for something (what?) to break in a major way before easing up on their rate increases. Or, perhaps Russia will decide to go nuclear. If so, a 40%+ decline may be on the horizon. I moved about 3% from cash into stocks in late spring but have just been watching since then. The year-end distribution from my investment account has been mostly set aside. But, making a full annual distribution is not a done deal yet....
Tracking the Coming Economic Storm

Worth reading: https://theconversation.com/what-are-tactical-nuclear-weapons-an-international-security-expert-explains-and-assesses-what-they-mean-for-the-war-in-ukraine-191167

One cannot rule out Putin's use of nuclear weapon, as he gets desperate. Now is the time to see how the China's "no limits" support really is.

It’s interesting that as of yet the media has not picked up on Putin’s war as a contributing factor to the demise of many global markets. I’ll cede that Fed actions / rising rates are largely to blame. But Putin’s calling up 300,000 conscripts, holding “elections” in occupied parts of Ukraine in order to annex those territories to Russia and waving his nuclear wand have to be having some chilling effect on the investment climate.
Maybe their goal is KISS / Keep the messaging as simple as possible for their audience.

Interesting proposition. Thanks @JohnN for the post. Beyond my pay grade. I do think that as a “hedge” against a total wipe-out in equities and other assets he may be right. Nobody really knows. Returns on different assets are all relative - depending on the particular macro environment. Macro worsened today. Not only the Fed moves, but also Putin’s nuclear saber-rattling.
Personally, I’ve held GNMAs in lieu of cash past few months. Didn’t work. Lost a bit. Not giving up.

From the Al-Jazeera article: the "gotcha"-

"hydrogen is not necessarily carbon-free: only “green hydrogen”, produced using renewable energy, is considered sustainable by experts.
Other, more common manufacturing methods exist, but they emit greenhouse gases because they are made from fossil fuels".

The great preponderance of hydrogen manufactured today is "grey"- that is, a significant amount of carbon is released during the manufacturing process, which involves the conversion of natural gas. "Green" hydrogen requires using electricity made by a non-polluting source- hydropower, wind, solar, or nuclear to power the electrolysis of water.
The net effect of the whole scheme then is simply to use hydrogen as a method of storage:
electricity > hydrogen > electricity.
Unless the electricity used to make the hydrogen is generated by a non-polluting source, the whole thing is of questionable value from an environmental standpoint.

@hank
It's not just the comments in Barron's, though that was surely most recent. Jamie Dimon chipped in also with a comment unlike him....economic "hurricanes" and whatnot. This current bump up looks to me simply to be a bear market rally.
In February of this year I posted about how Putin's army sitting on the border of Ukraine was my biggest concern for 2022. Well, that's unresolved. And that needs to be resolved prior to the weather turning in Europe before the gas situation turns deadly. Not to be a complete buzzkill...but Putin's getting his ass kicked. Normally, this might be a cause for celebration, but unfortunately he does indeed have a nuclear arsenal at his disposal. Perhaps he'll stray too close to one of those dangerous open windows Moscow is famous for.

"Mutants For Nukes" is a fraternity of which I'm a member. Our logo is a happy face with ONE ear. Ya. You get the point. I have a friend who is a nuclear guy, working at the Savannah River Project, dealing with NUCLEAR WASTE. There are quarter-mile-long bladders buried underground, full of the stuff. One way to make the nuke waste inert is to insert it in the mix, and make GLASS. But how much GLASS do ya NEED? It's a big issue. I lament that the Europeans are so committed to nuclear power. And look at the situation in Ukraine, with the Army of the Poot-face occupying the biggest nuke plant in all of Europe! Bad. From every angle. They don't know what to do, so they're staffing the place with Ukrainians who DO know what to do. Nuclear sucks. It's fine, until something goes wrong. And when it goes wrong, the fallout is not rather temporary. It's not like an oil spill that does damage, but can be cleaned up and Nature is restored in a generation or two. When bad nuke shit happens, it will outlast the next 40 generations, or longer. Let the military use it. Keep it away from civilians like me.