Making The Best Of A Crap Situation

But even with financial upheaval, energy supply disruptions, and a threat to global crop supplies, we can take steps to protect ourselves…and maybe even profit. March 03, 2022 [Turn on your images.]( Making The Best Of A Crap Situation The Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, and all the rest of the world can do is react. But even with financial upheaval, energy supply disruptions, and a threat to global crop supplies, we can take steps to protect ourselves…and maybe even profit. With Russian bank accounts frozen around the world, citizens caught in the middle are turning to crypto…and this might be just the boost digital currency has been waiting for. Russia’s energy sector has a stranglehold on Europe…but as the conflict drags on, it might be time for America to turn its own sector back on. Russia’s fertilizer industry nourishes crops around the world…but with that industry threatened, is the crap about to hit the fan for American farmers? --------------------------------------------------------------- [Turn Your Images On] [Crypto Finds Its Safe-Haven Footing During Russia-Ukraine War]( Shawn Ambrosino You know, I have to admit, I’m not a guy who’s overly concerned with safety. I don’t know if I was simply born with a wild streak or it was something I picked up along the way. All I really know is that if there’s been one constant in my life since I can remember, it’s been an element of danger. When I was a kid, I jumped off bridges into the Erie Canal during the summers. I would disobey my grandmother and ride down the steepest hill in town on my bike with barely-working brakes. As a teen, I was a skateboarder and a football player, and I would launch myself off ramps and then launch myself haphazardly into a scrum trying to take the running back down from my position on the defensive line. As an adult, I’ve worked at a bungee jump, gone skydiving, and made my living as a professional wrestler, and I continue to practice Brazilian jiu-jitsu to this day–and I’m almost 50! Even all of this is tame compared to my early 20s when I was a bouncer in some of South Florida’s toughest and most raucous clubs, facing down angry drunks and weapons of every kind on a nightly basis. So, to say that danger and I have a synergistic relationship may be an understatement. Now, I’m not like those guys from the Jackass movies or the extreme athletes like Travis Pastrana–but when I come to the fork in the road that says “safety” on one side and “thrills” on the other…I’ll take thrills every time. However, that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate a safe place to rest once I’ve had my fill of thrill and excitement. Safety… Last Honestly, after spending a few years running my own publishing company, taking risks and having all my own skin in the game, this job writing for Money Moves is a bit of a safe harbor… The company lets me explore the open seas whenever I so choose, which is a GREAT quality to have if you’re going to work in the corporate world. A job that gives you the freedom to create with the safety of a structure around you is a rare find indeed. When I first started writing for Money Moves, I decided to do exactly that. I wanted to create a fountain of knowledge for the vast, high-risk world of cryptocurrency. While I was definitely familiar with crypto, I knew that there was a lot more to learn, so I began a deep dive into Blockchain. I’ve done my best since[that first article]( to learn something new about this game-changing technology on a daily basis. When I first started my self-education journey into Blockchain, the one thing that I kept coming across was how cryptocurrency would be the perfect alternative to fiat money. If government-backed money failed, cryptocurrencies would be there to keep the monetary train moving. But that hasn’t been the case at all. Cryptos have acted more like high-growth stocks than asset-based alternatives. However, Russia’s war in Ukraine may have actually changed that, as it seems that cryptos are finally living up to their potential of being a safe haven for failing currencies. Cryptos Become Russia’s Safe-Haven For Wealth Following Russia’s initial invasion early last week, cryptos such as Bitcoin and others saw a bit of a surge as the attacks in Ukraine became more frequent and violent. This surge bucks the trend of cryptos acting like high-growth stocks, and investors around the world seem to be looking for safer financial havens to ride out the conflict. Cryptos gaining value while most tech stocks are getting hammered is a significant development. Assets are surging right now, not tech– so, if crypto is surging, it may be turning the corner towards becoming a true currency alternative. A lot of this is fueled by Putin’s attack on Ukraine. Russian citizens are panicking right now, and the sanctions being dropped on the Russian banking industry have many people worried about the future of their bank accounts. Putin has even put a moratorium on people leaving the country with anything more than $10,000 in Russian cash. You know it’s bad when even Switzerland drops its traditional neutral stance and freezes the assets of wealthy Russians. So, with bank lines around the block, Russian citizens are looking for the safest place to put their money–and cryptos are providing the safety they crave. Some may question this–but to be fair, the Russian people are NOT their leader. Many innocent anti-war citizens will be forced to pay a heavy price for Putin’s attack, and giving them an out with crypto seems like the only chance they’ll get. Regardless of the politics of this, it seems it took a war in Eastern Europe to force crypto to act like what it was always touted to be. While it’s terrible that it took something so extreme for it to happen, the takeaway here is that people outside of Russia will start seeing cryptos in the same light, which is good for the industry overall. It’s one of those silver linings we like to talk about, right? We have to keep our eyes on those too, because sometimes the darkness of the clouds can obscure our vision… And we still live in an amazing world. Please try to remember that. --------------------------------------------------------------- [Turn Your Images On] [What The Frack?! It’s Time To Drill, Baby, Drill!]( by Shawn Ambrosino While inflation has been pushing gas and oil prices higher and higher, prices are still cheaper than they were just six years ago. Anybody you see really freaking out over how much they’re paying at the pump is likely overreacting, and they’ve paid more at some point in their lives. While inflation is a problem, it’s a problem that can be handled. However, that’s a lot easier to do when we’re not dealing with a war in eastern Europe–especially when that conflict could potentially lead to another World War. Russia being responsible for 10% of the world’s oil production really puts a crimp on the whole issue. Now, in order to control Russia’s money, leveling economic sanctions against their crude oil exports is the smart play. Believe it or not, the US is STILL the top producer of oil in the world, even with President Biden’s commitment to fighting climate change. But with policies in place to curb that oil production, there are fears that now may not be the right time to jeopardize America’s energy independence. Is It Time To Start Drilling? Do we need to address what is happening to our climate? Absolutely. But that is something that is VERY hard to do when the planet is on the cusp of another World War that could very well lead to the destruction of our society. So, instead of curbing oil production in the US by shutting down pipelines or ending fracking leases, we may want to go ahead and just “drill, baby, drill”... for now, at least. When the threat of global war has subsided, feel free to get back to the business of a clean environment. But until that time, it’s important for the US to kick production into overdrive given that we may be called upon to save the world from a coming oil crisis. The simple fact is that, if we don’t change something now, we may miss out on our opportunity to stay ahead of the trouble. The irony is that this is the same argument that environmentalists have been presenting when it comes to climate change. They’ve been saying for years that if we don’t change what we’re doing, it may be too late to reverse the environmental damage caused by man-made pollution. It’s sort of a Catch-22 scenario. Any decision made on either of these issues is going to have consequences. However, while we’re facing a dire crisis, we can’t let the stigma of being an oil-producing country stop us from doing what we can do to help the entire world. Time For The US To Flex Its Oil Muscles It’s time to get back to being the “frack-happy” oil producer we were before the pandemic rocked the world to its core. With COVID quickly becoming less and less of a problem, US oil output has rebounded sharply since the days of the lockdowns, and now we’re back to over 11 million barrels per day! But with Russia using its weight to lean on Ukraine and leverage the other nations of Europe–many of which depend almost entirely on Russian oil–we’re going to need more. Right now, the US is in an enviable position of having the most stable environment to produce and export supplies, and it may be time to act like an OPEC country and start flexing our global muscle in the oil world. Energy Expert Daniel Yergin said, “I think people just forgot about energy security. As the US went from importing 60% of our oil to becoming an exporter, we then didn’t think about it anymore. Oil demand is still increasing and is likely to increase at least for the rest of this decade and perhaps into early next decade.” That’s where we are. We need oil both as a source of energy and as a form of leverage, and right now is NOT the time to curb production. We need to step it up–and unfortunately, we’ll have to deal with whatever environmental issues this causes. Right now, it’s more important to keep our society powered. Hopefully, there are people in President Biden’s camp that understand this and are whispering in his ear as we speak. We’re going to all the leverage we can get if things get worse in Ukraine. Now, here’s the thing: oil and natural gas are going to be BIG in 2022, with some estimates predicting that natural gas companies could see record highs in stock prices. While the world waits to see if Russia backs down, the economy will keep moving, especially on Wall Street. So, I wanted to present an opportunity in the natural gas world that could help us profit while we wait. Antero Resources Corp (AR) is having a pretty good year already, and the stock that was sitting around $15 on December 1st is now hovering around $25. That’s a nice jump–but there’s more in Antero’s tank. [The StockPower rating on Antero is coming in over 80, which is enough for a “Strong Bullish” score on our system](. Take a look at the company chart: [Turn Your Images On] [(Click here to view larger image.)]( This could be a great opportunity to profit as the world waits to see what happens in Ukraine. Oil and gas are going to be the BIG story for 2022 (outside world events, of course), and it’s time to put yourself in a position to take advantage of that. Desperate times call for desperate measures. --------------------------------------------------------------- [Turn Your Images On] [The Crap’s About To Hit The Fan! War In Ukraine Will Have Biggest Impact On Fertilizer Industry]( by Ryan James This morning, when I first woke up, I told myself that I wasn’t going to write anything on the war in Ukraine today. I was just hoping to have a nice smooth day where we talk about hotlist stock picks, earnings reports, and profitable investments. But just when I thought I was out of the war coverage routine, the consequences of the conflict dragged me back in. [Turn Your Images On] Earlier this week, I wrote a piece about potential disruptions to the [wheat market]( from the Ukrainian war. Prices for grain are expected to rise because nearly one-third of the world’s wheat is shipped from the Black Sea region. I would love to sit here and tell you that things are looking up…but that wouldn’t be true. In fact, today’s developments are doubling down on the bad news. Now, it’s not just crops abroad that will be impacted; even our own domestic produce is about to take a hit thanks to this war. The fertilizer market is about to suffer a massive blow, and the longer the war in Ukraine rages, the worse it will get. You might be saying to yourself, “why should I care about fertilizer?” Well, good question, and it is an important one at that. See, to plant crops, you need fertilizer—a no-brainer to anyone who’s ever had a garden. And the modern fertilization methods used in crop production go far beyond cow manure, which is only a fraction of the fertilizer market. For all non-manure fertilizer needs, the sh*t is about to hit the fan…literally. [Turn Your Images On] There are three primary sources used in the production of fertilizer: nitrogen, potassium, and phosphate. And guess which country is the world’s primary exporter of all three. If you guessed Russia, you are correct! Your prize for getting this question correct is… massively higher food prices. According to the Wall Street Journal, “Russia and Belarus are the second- and third-largest potash [potassium] producing countries in the world. Russia was the top exporter of nitrogen in 2019, constituting 17% of global market share, and was the third-largest phosphate exporter.” And here is another pertinent fact: nitrogen fertilizer is made by using air (which contains nitrogen) and natural gas. Natural gas…which as you know by now, Russia produces by the crap-ton (I’m pretty sure that’s a unit of measure on the metric system). Here’s a quick science lesson. Transport yourself back to high school chemistry class, Bill-Nye-the-Science-Guy-style. Nitrogen in its natural form is a gas, not a solid. To turn into fertilizer, it must be extracted from the air and combined with hydrogen-based natural gas—which Russia produces— which then becomes ammonia and is combined with nitric acid to create the final product, ammonium nitrate, to be used as fertilizer. [Turn Your Images On] Finding The Good In The Bad Sorry to have gone all “mad scientist” on you there for a moment, but you now get why this whole war thing is important to our domestic market. American farmers are about to plant their crops, and this is going to severely affect their harvest yields. Corn and soybean farmer Ben Riensche was interviewed on Wednesday night by Fox News’ Tucker Carlson. What he had to say was chilling, and is worth relaying here: "Soaring fertilizer prices are likely to spike food prices. If you're upset that gas is up a dollar or two a gallon, wait until your grocery bill is up $1000 a month. And it may not manifest itself in terms of price, it could be quantity as well. Empty shelf syndrome must just be starting." "The price of growing my crops, or the major crops, corn, soybeans, wheat, rice, cotton are up 30 to 40%. They are on my farm. And most of it is fertilizer. Nitrogen prices are up 3 times from the left crop we put in. Phosphorous and potassium have doubled." "The planting season in the northern hemisphere is just weeks away. There is no miracle technology that can cut that in a half or a third.” Told you this was some serious stuff. But fear not, Money Movers. That’s why we are here. Our goal is to help you make money and have fun along the way, especially in perilous times such as these. This is also where services like [Green Zone Fortunes]( come into play. Using every tool at our disposal, our financial gurus Adam O’Dell and Charles Sizemore will help guide you through these troubled waters and make sure we all come out on top. Ain’t no fertilizer shortage going to keep us from making profits! --------------------------------------------------------------- For more quality content like this, and to learn more about the Money Moves team, visit us at [( Privacy Policy The Money & Markets, P.O. Box 8378, Delray Beach, FL 33482. To ensure that you receive future issues of Money & Markets, please add info@mb.moneyandmarkets.com to your address book or [whitelist]( within your spam settings. For customer service questions or issues, please contact us for assistance. The mailbox associated with this email address is not monitored, so please do not reply. 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