If the giant swirling radar images and wind-blown TV live shots weren't enough, Isaac appears ready to do what Alberto, Beryl, Chris, Debby, Ernesto, and others could not. And that is, to boldly make the case that hurricane season is upon us, along with a host of weather-related investment themes that look to put the power of nature into your portfolio.
But before you get caught up the tide, Drew Kanaly, CEO of Kanaly Trust in Houston, says there's at least one perennial play you'd be wise to steer clear of.
"It'll take more than a storm to fix natural gas," this Houston native predicts in the attached clip. As much as natural gas has had a great spring, it has noticeably weakened in the past few weeks, shedding 16% so far this month, and is down over 40% since it touched a $4.00 high last November.
"What you're trying to do is to create a market for natural gas that didn't exist before," he explains, "and that takes a long time to do." Until it does exist, he says it's sheer fact that the supply curve is way ahead of demand curve.
While Nat Gas is not a trade Kanaly Trust is currently recommending to clients, their CEO says it gets attractive somewhere around $2.00.
In the meantime, he's also not ruling out a short-term, storm-disrupted run in crude price that could take oil back above $100 again (for the first time since May).
Still, long before Isaac turned into the Gulf, the Energy Sector (XLE) was leading the market's mid-summer charge and, in the eyes of Kanaly, will continue to be a good place to invest — storm or not.
