Russian Fear

-Low debt. Huge reserves. Debt to GDP of 9.2%. Oil revenue denominated in USD.
-Natural-resource-based economy + commodity boom for forsee-able future.
-Great balance sheets in energy companies. Tremendous assets.
-The p/e ratio of the largest oil company is lower than 3!
-Apple alone is valued more than the entire Russian stock exchange.
-Why own 1 company rather than an entire country?
-The Russian Central Bank just raised interest rates to 17%.
-A number of major economies cannot even afford 1% !
-Why do people short Russian rubles and stocks so much?
-Anyway, bought myself a significant bunch of RSX yesterday at $13.18.
-As global economy slows, it may drop back down to its 2009 lows.
-Who knows. I'm in for the long haul. The fundamentals are good.
-And also, Putin has opened up the economy more in the past few years.
-But if Russia invades Europe, then I may have to panic sell.
-Also, I wish to buy rubles but have not done so yet.

Update 18/12/14. The mainstream media has been talking about Russia selling its gold. I think this is unlikely. From the russian point of view, they have a huge foreign reserve that they can tap into. I think they are more likely to sell their USD and US treasuries than to sell the gold that they have worked hard to stockpile over the last few years. In fact, this year, they bought the most gold on record - almost twice of last year's amount. I was telling my friends yesterday about this, and soon enough, it was reported that Russia sold some of its foreign reserves to buy up the rubles. But what if Russia really sells its gold? Then gold is likely to go down, and we may finally see a bottom in the gold market as some staunch gold-supporters give up their holdings. I am still thinking of getting more North Korean gold coins in March. So if gold goes down, it will help! In the meantime, my RSX is up a whopping 20% in 2 days. I won't be surprised if it goes to its 2009 lows though, when a financial crisis hits the world in the next few years. I took the chance to buy up these RSX for the long term, seeing that traders are mass-selling it without any regard for fundamentals. But again, if Putin invades Europe or make some other major mistakes, I would have to sell my holdings.