The equities markets have experienced large swings, mirroring the uncertainty in the global economies. Nevertheless, exchange traded fund investors can play two major global macroeconomic themes: rising food and energy prices.
Jim Lowell of Forbes ETF Advisor highlights the world’s growing energy needs and the greater demand for agricultural commodities as two key key long-term trends.
For instance, the Associated Press recently reported that Northern India’s power grid, the size of the U.S., shut down on July 30, “halting hundreds of trains, forcing hospitals and airports to use backup generators, and leaving 370 million people—more than the population of the United States and Canada combined—sweltering in the summer heat.”
“The blackout, the worst to hit India in a decade, highlighted the nation’s inability to feed a growing hunger for energy as it strives to become a regional economic power,” according to the Associated Press.
Lowell points to the iShares DJ US Oil Equipment and Services (NYSEArca: IEZ) as a potential investment opportunity that provides exposure to everything related to locating, pumping, processing, shipping and building sources of energy.