Dầu thô là mặt hàng phi tài chính được giao dịch nhiều nhất trong thế giới ngày nay, và nó cung cấp 40% tổng nhu cầu năng lượng của thế giới - nhiều hơn bất kỳ hàng hóa nào khác. Trong thực tế, thùng dầu thô được giao dịch trên một cơ sở hàng ngày | Chapter 13 Fuel for Thought Looking at Alternative Eneroy Sources 207 Anthracite Anthracite is by far the most valuable type of coal because it contains the highest levels of carbon and the least amount of sulfur and ash it also provides the most energy on a per unit basis. Because of its high value anthracite is used for residential and commercial space heating. Before you invest in companies involved in the coal business find out which type of coal they produce. This information will help you develop a better understanding of the company s business and profit margins. You can find this type of information in a company s annual and quarterly reports. It s a coal investment You can get access to the coal markets by either trading coal futures directly or by investing in coal companies. The big sandy Coal futures contract Like other members of the fossil fuel family coal has an underlying futures contract that trades on a commodity exchange in this case the New York Mercantile Exchange NYMEX . This coal contract provides commercial users such as coal producers electric companies and steel manufacturers with the opportunity to hedge against market risk and offers speculators a chance to profit from this market risk. For more on the NYMEX and other commodity exchanges please turn to Chapter 8. The coal futures contract on the NYMEX tracks the price of the Central Appalachian type of coal. Central Appalachian coal known as CAPP is a high quality coal with low sulfur and ash contents. The CAPP futures contract sometimes affectionately called the big sandy by traders because it is produced in the area between West Virginia and Kentucky where the Ohio River flows is the premium benchmark for coal prices in the United States. It trades under the ticker symbol QL and is tradable during all the calendar months of the current year in addition to all calendar months in the subsequent three years. Additional information on this futures contract is available on the NYMEX Web .
