By Justin Brill

Saturday, September 2, 2017

The numbers are nearly unfathomable...

25 trillion gallons of water... That's roughly how much rain Hurricane Harvey dumped on the Houston area in fewer than five days.

And the 51.88 inches of rainfall measured outside the city is the most ever recorded from a single storm in the continental U.S., according to the National Weather Service.

This is more rain than typically falls in six months there... and enough water to supply New York City for more than 50 years, according to ABC News. More than 40 people have died as a result of the storm, and at least another 30,000 have been forced from their homes.

While the worst of the rainfall has passed, flooding is expected to continue for weeks – even months, in some areas. Some estimates suggest the damage could total as much as $190 billion. That would rank it as the most expensive natural disaster in U.S. history by far.

The loss of life and property is tragic and heartbreaking... We know many Stansberry Research readers live in Houston and the surrounding areas. We hope you and your loved ones are safe... Our thoughts are with you today.

What comes next?

Houston is the fourth-largest city in the country... And of course, it's a critical hub in the U.S. energy sector. That industry is suffering its share of the colossal damage done by Harvey... According to the latest estimates from news service Reuters, Harvey has knocked out as much as 4 million barrels per day – or about 20% – of U.S. oil-refining capacity.

This has quickly rippled through energy markets...

In August, the price of West Texas Intermediate ("WTI") crude oil – the U.S. benchmark – fell 6%, including about 1.5% after Harvey made landfall last week. This isn't unexpected...

Crude-oil inventories have remained stubbornly high, despite significant production cuts from oil cartel OPEC. This decline in refining capacity only adds to these woes. A big source of domestic demand has suddenly disappeared, and inventories could be headed even higher in the near term.

Likewise, less refining means less gasoline and other fuel production. And flooding has closed several ports and shut down pipelines that enable these fuels to be shipped across the country.

We'd expect gasoline prices to rise in anticipation of tightening supplies. And that's exactly what has happened... U.S. gasoline futures have jumped to more than $2 a gallon for the first time in more than two years.

Investors are left to wonder, how long will these disruptions last?

What will be the long-term effects on the energy markets? And how will they impact various sectors like refiners, pipelines, exploration and production, and oil services today?

Our colleague C. Scott Garliss of the Stansberry NewsWire team recently spoke with our resident energy guru Flavious Smith to answer all these questions and more. Flavious is the editor of our new Commodity Supercycles advisory.

No one is more qualified on the subject... He's a 35-year veteran of the energy business who has worked on nearly all of the most important onshore oil and gas basins in the U.S., including Anadarko, Appalachian, Denver-Julesburg, East Texas, Gulf Coast, Hugoton, Permian, Powder River, Uinta, Wind River, and Williston.

Flavious led the development of both the Marcellus and Barnett assets for EOG Resources (EOG). As longtime readers may recall, EOG is the "best of breed" firm that pioneered the use of the next-generation technologies that unlocked vast quantities of shale oil in the U.S. And he later served as the chief oil and gas officer and executive vice president at Forestar Group (FOR), building and leading the company's oil and gas operating segment.

If you have any money in the energy sector, you don't want to miss this short interview. Click here to watch it now. And if you're interested in receiving more great content like this from the Stansberry NewsWire team – including morning market "snapshots," evening market recaps, and up-to-the-minute news, research, and expert commentary throughout the day – we urge you to take a closer look. You can sign up for FREE right here.

Elsewhere, it appears the top China fund manager agrees with Steve Sjuggerud...

Dawid Krige manages the best-performing China-equities mutual fund in the world this year. His Cederberg Greater China Equity Fund is up more than 46% year to date.

What's his secret? According to Krige, when he finds a great idea, he likes to make a big, concentrated bet and hold it as long as possible. Just 10 stocks account for more than 70% of his fund's holdings. And he has bought only three new stocks this year.

Why do we bring this up? Because two of Krige's latest bets should sound familiar to regular DailyWealth readers. As Bloomberg reported recently...

In a market where swings are notoriously large and gains can be dominated by a handful of companies, it helps to double down on your picks and sit tight. Two of Cederberg's new investments this year were Tencent and Alibaba, which have both treated the fund well, jumping more than 70%.

"Good ideas are scarce," Krige said in an interview from London. "It is easier to identify a wonderful company and own it for the very long run, especially in a place like China where there will be multiyear winners."

Cederberg only started buying Tencent and Alibaba this year, as well as Hong Kong-listed Beijing Tong Ren Tang Chinese Medicine, which is flat this year. With regard to the two Internet juggernauts, it's better to be five years late than 10 years late, Krige said. The fund's performance compares with a 40% gain in the MSCI China Index.

"They're immensely dominant, so it's very hard to see them getting disrupted," he said. "The monetization opportunity is immense, and that is just talking about what we know today."

Of course, Tencent (TCEHY) and Alibaba (BABA) are two of Steve's favorite "New China" investments. And he has recommended each – either directly or through an exchange-traded fund ("ETF") – to both his True Wealth and True Wealth China Opportunities subscribers.

As of Thursday's close, Steve's China Opportunities subscribers are up 58% and 68%, respectively, while his True Wealth subscribers are up 49% on Tencent and 62% on his preferred "New China" ETF.

Steve still considers both of these stocks as "buys" today...

But he's particularly bullish on Tencent... He believes it will soon become the largest publicly traded company in the world. And folks who own it are likely to make hundreds-of-percent gains over the next several years.

But before you even consider buying shares today, there's something you should know...

In short, Steve has discovered a "secret" way to invest in Tencent... This little-known opportunity gives you the chance to own shares at a huge discount to what other investors are paying in the market right now. And it's as simple as buying a stock.

Steve has prepared a brief presentation to explain it all... including why he's so bullish on Tencent today and how you can take advantage of this "secret" opportunity for yourself. Click here to watch the presentation right now.

Regards,

Justin Brill

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