If you follow the European press and listen to politicians, you might think the oil and gas sector is off limits and no bank or financial institution would sign on to new loans. There are government agencies whose job it is to tabulate what is going on in every economic sector. In the oil and gas sector, the agency is called the International Energy Agency.

In an article from Reuters, the International Energy Agency reported in 2021, the top 25 European banks provided $55 billion to continue and expand oil and gas production. That total is a fall from $106 billion lent in 2020 and $83 billion in 2019, but above the 2018 and 2017 with numbers of $49 billion and $50 billion respectively.

The banks at the top of the list was HSBC, Barclays and BNP Paribas.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, oil and gas companies for the past 150 years have been some of the most profitable companies in the world and with world oil prices closing on $100 a barrel, they are going to stay that way. It would be very hard for a bank not to lend to oil and gas and make the type of revenues it does. When oil and gas companies lose money, the banks will lend to other sectors, until that time you can own the companies and with the dividends you have a choice of what you wish to do with the money. Reinvest in renewables, reinvest in oil and gas or other choices.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

Recently announced Cryptocurrency was part of a balanced portfolio, and it may be. For most citizens crypto is something you have heard about or something that people who try to steal your money deal with. It can be for you, because what you may have heard was some great gains were made and then losses occurred. Is the currency regulated or non regulated, is good or stay away from. Eventually you need to make your own decision about it, however there was good news reported by the US Justice Department.

In an article from the Associated Press, the US Justice Department it seized $3.6 billion in assets and arrested a couple of laundered billions of dollars in cryptocurrency from the 2016 hack of a virtual currency exchange.

The currency exchange is known as Bitfinex and the US Justice Department sent a signal to criminals cryptocurrency is not a safe haven. We can and will follow the money, no matter what form it takes deputy attorney-general Lisa Monaco said.

The couple who was arrested did not do the hack of Bitfinex, but authorities traced the stolen funds to more than a dozen accounts controlled by the couple. Court documents accuse them on relying on classic money-laundering techniques to hide their activities and the movement of money, such as setting up accounts with fictitious names and using computer programs to automate transactions.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, cryptocurrency does not pay interest it relies on capital gains, but along with capital gains is the opposite capital losses. What goes up generally comes down, so how do your protect yourself? Buying dividend paying stocks that are profitable which can increase their dividends and over time the dividends and capital gains will make you wealthier. Compounding interest is a very powerful tool to use to create wealth. If you believe you have time, then be patient.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

On stock markets around the world, there are expected and normal returns for shareholders. One significant player is hedge funds who search for value, and have money to spend, and the ability to push the shareholding system. The hedge funds have made money from America tech companies and they search for other tech companies in the world, some have focused on Japanese companies.

In an article by Makiko Yamazaki of Reuters, Toshiba announced it will be breaking up into 2 companies as opposed to 3 companies. The previous plans called for one company to focus on devices, one for energy and infrastructure and the third for its Kioxia flash memory chip assets.

Toshiba says they will only spin off the devices business by March 2024.

One has to remember in Japan, the Japanese culture encouraged conglomerates and they are supported by the Trade Ministry. The conglomerates are interconnected and as they became larger, the government issued statements such as the company possesses important technology including nuclear power and semi-conductors that are related to national security and it is important that the businesses are maintained and developed.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, companies around the world do the same thing, however depending on where the company is headquartered, the government or one of its agencies has a say in the operations or changes in the operations. Governments around the world use the phrase economic development, and the phrase means different things to different governments. While it is important to look around the world, remember there are subtle differences which can make change more difficult. Understanding the subtle differences allows you to invest around the world.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

If you think about the Great Wall of China, it is one of the world’s great construction projects however it was built with by humans with little machinery, they had tools but not machinery. How was it done? the emperor at the time brought in recruits from the lands he conquered or slave labor. For many years, people could and can do many things, but add a machine and the whole economy advances as machines enabled more to be done. If you think about farming, prior to the tractors made by John Deere, farms were generally 100 acres or less. After the tractor and other farming machinery the farms get much bigger to feed the world.

In 2022, companies across North America spent $2 billion for almost 40,000 robots to help them with record demand and shortage of bodies. There is wonderful You Tube video about how robots help build the Ford 150 truck and robots in the auto plant have been there for decades. Now robots are doing more work in companies to meet the demands of consumers.

In an article by Timothy Aeppel, the Association for Advancing Automation or A3, is the industry group for robots, reported the share of robots going to non-auto companies grew further in 2021. Some of the fastest growth in orders came from the metals, food and consumer goods category.

The number one driver for automation is the labor storage in manufacturing, said Joe Campbell, a senior manager in applications development at Universal Robots, a unit of Masschusetts based Teradyne which specializes in co-bots.

A field which has resisted robots is the construction business, but Universal sold a robot to a company that uses them to install drywall.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, business are in the business of finding solutions. Customers pay for the solution and they typically give little thought how the process works as long as the end result makes them happy. The process works till it does not, robots help companies maintain production cycles and the robots are beginning to do the more flexible jobs many thought you needed people to do. As long as people have access to income, companies will be doing more with robots and investors will like it. In your company investments, how do they use robots?

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

Alphabet is one of the largest tech companies and if you own an index fund whether it is tech related or index of the market it is likely there and that is good. Alphabet’s is a very profitable stock and when you look at its divisions, there are 7 divisions that are billion dollar divisions. People use Google search as they shopped on line and advertisers followed shoppers with larger budgets.

In an article by Paresh Dave and Nivedita Balu of Reuters, Google beat expectations with sales jumping 32% to $75.3 billion in the 4th quarter for a third straight quarterly sales record.

Consumers used Google’s search for apparel and hobbyist items, while retail, finance, entertainment and travel advertisers raised marketing budgets said Google’s chief business officer Phillip Schindler.

Analysts said, Google generates more revenue from internet ads than any other company. It seems the growth will continue to move upwards.

Shares of Alphabet rose after the company announced it will be splitting 20 for 1 share on July 1.

For the full year, Alphabet’s sales rose 41% to $258 billion.

You Tube’s revenues increased, Google Cloud increased quarterly revenue by 45% to $5.5 billion.

Alphabet’s quarterly profit was $20.6 billion or $30.69 a share.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, a company similar to P &G with its numerous divisions of over $1 billion allows dividends to be increased for decades. Alphabet will be one of those companies as it continues to be a very profitable company. It is company to buy and hold and buying before the split is a good thing to do.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

Branding exercises are some of the most aspects to any company, for all companies the owners look at what the brand means to them and hopefully the rest of the world. Branding can be the greatest element of a company or it can not seem to work or need a reboot. If you are a NFL football fan, the Washington Football Team changed their nickname from Redskins to Commanders. Perhaps it will work during the season.

In an article from Reuters, Daimler AG is changing their name to Mercedes Benz Group AG to unlock shareholder value. The car maker was originally called Daimler Benz, changed its name to Mercedes and then changed to Daimler now back to Mercedes Benz.

CEO Ola Kaellenius said they have reach chance to raise the multiple.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, branding is a very important exercise and over the years everyone has seen it work and not work, even with the best paid consultants. Most people including me have worked for companies who rebranded and then went back to the old brand. It is an art, not a science, however when it works it works very well. Hopefully the companies you invest in have great brands and are not changing them anytime soon.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

At one time, it was relatively easy for mining companies to go into any country around the world to extract minerals. In the name of economic development and some benefits flowing to the host government, mining companies operated and the rest of the developed world benefited from the mining companies.

In an article by Clara Demina of Reuters, perhaps the scenario is changing a bit. Rio Tinto is one of the largest mining companies in the world based in Britain and Australia (where it is largest iron ore miner), as goes the economy of China goes the fortunes of Rio Tinto.

Rio Tinto was expecting to invest $2.4 billion in a mine in Serbia to extract lithium which is needed for battery production of EV vehicles. The country’s leaders cancelled the project. One can easily imagine a $2.4 billion project in Serbia would be good for their economy. It should be noted there is an election looming, perhaps after the election the government will review their decision.

Rio Tinto found the lithium in jadarite which is only found in Serbia’s Jadar Valley and Rio Tinto has spent $450 million figuring out how to extract the lithium and become Europe’s biggest lithium mine producing 58,000 tonnes of refined battery grade lithium carbonate a year, enough to power 1 million electric vehicles.

Rio Tinto being a global miner has other options such as an mine in Argentina which it paid $825 million to buy. Rio Tinto is working through the court system to build one of the world’s largest copper mines in Arizona.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, at one time the phrase economic development was one of the world’s most important phrases and many projects were done to increase economic development. Now days, both sides of every issue has similar information and able to use public relations in similar fashion, some battles will be won, some will be lost. Ideally, the company you invest in has potential investments to do which will lead to good profits to pay dividends.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

If you a smart phone it will either be an android (google owns the insides) or apple. If you own an apple then the apps will be tailored to the apple insides. Apple’s value went over $3 trillion, although the tech selloff in January means the worth is slightly below $3 trillion.

In an article by Danielle Kaye and Paresh Dave of Reuters, Apple reported its 4th quarter results and as an investor, you would like the results.

Often we talk about the holiday season we refer to the US holiday season, but a company such as Apple which sells phones around the world, people look to China. According to research firm Counterpoint Research, Apple’s smartphone market share in China reached 23% where it was the top selling vendor for the first time in 6 years. The iPhone 13 led to worldwide phone sales revenue of $71.6 billion a 9% increase from 2020.

Apple’s services business which covers paid apps, Apple TV, Apple Music, Apple Fitness, saw revenue rise 24% to $19.5 billion. The company has 785 million paying subscribers across its platforms an increase from 620 million a year ago.

For Microsoft, Amazon and Google cloud services are a major revenue generator, not so much Apple.

iPad sales were down 14% to $7.25 billion; sales for Macs rose 25% to $10.9 billion.

Overall, revenues rose 11% to $123.9 billion with profit of $34.6 billion or $2.10 a share.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, if you think about Apple, you tend to think about the iPhone, but they have 3 distinct revenue sources the iPhone, Macs and Services. The Services component is growing because Apple’s infrastructure is in house and when a great app comes out, the Apple equivalent is soon added. People do not have to miss out and are happy owning Apple products which means they will be repeat customers or upgrading their phones on a consistent basis.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.