In my local newspaper, I did find today an article about...

In my local newspaper, I did find today an article about "....global commodity crash", which has - obviously - a lot of references to oil.
I am only going to QUOTE parts of that lengthy article. I am in agreement with some/most of the things mentioned but also in disagreement with some others. But overall, I do find it an interesting read. Just want to share this with the "FAR community" on HC.

QUOTE

Oil is clearly putting everyone in a funk. Take the Financial Times, usually so calm and measured: "The slump in oil prices has become a rout...a crash that is outpacing increasingly frantic efforts to slash costs."
It is true, some of the data does look pretty bad. Oil industry investment amounting to maybe US$ 400 billion has been cancelled. Around 65'000 oil industry jobs have been lost in Britain alone. And the harm inflicted on some economies' trade balances is truly awesome: Russia's trade balance is more than US$ 220 billion worse; Saudi and the other Middle East oil producers are maybe US$ 400 billion worse off.

In net terms the International Monetary Fund says lower oil prices boosted the world economy by half a percentage point in 2015, and leached significant inflationary pressure out of the system.

(Note: the next paragraph contains some remarks I personally do not believe to be correct)

And we should not forget that the average per barrel oil price worldwide throughout the 1990s and up to 2005 was US$ 20 to US$ 30. The extraordinary time was when prices surged above US$ 100, and perhaps we are simply reverting towards a long-term norm. More fools those who in the past decade committed themselves to oil that cost US$ 100 a barrel or more to get out of the ground (the worldwide industry average is around US$ 62 a barrel I understand).

But beyond oil, the world's "commodity recession" is now entering its sixth year.

So what do I make of all this? On balance, I think the panic about oil prices is overdone and that low prices will actually do us some good as we try to breathe life back into the global economy. But I think the gloom emanating from the commodity economy tells a darker story, suggesting a long haul back in our step. The scale demands inside China driven by new cities, new airports, new mass transit systems, and 400 million or more emergent "middle class" consumers will in due course come to our rescue, but it will take time. Our year of the fire monkey might not quite be an outright disaster. But for most of us, it is unlikely to be fun either.

END OF QUOTE.

Personally, I do hope and expect that whilst the "fire monkey year" might not be fun for most investors and stocks perhaps, FAR will prove to be an exception to this! JIMHO, of course.

All the best to all FAR holders. (Sorry for the lengthy post!)

wasa