The free market's reputation came crashing down alongside Wall Street's biggest institutions last year as the dishonest, greedy behavior of a few made capitalism seem like a dirty word.
But it doesn't have to be.
Brokered honestly, capitalism can help both humanity and the bottom line. And as world leaders gather this week in Davos, Switzerland -- it’s quite possible that good capitalism will once again, take center stage as the world attempts to tackle an extremely serious issue; the rapidly declining supplies of a precious finite resource.
Not oil -- water.
With millions of people migrating from rural farmlands into crowded cities providing something as essential as clean water is becoming the greatest infrastructure challenge of this century.
Water scarcity affects 4 out of every 10 people globally - and it’s getting worse. According to the UN we’ll need to generate 40% more water over the next twenty years just to satisfy the demand.
And that's where companies like Veolia Water and Suez step in. These businesses build and run desalinization and waste treatment plants, which in turn, improves the quality of life around the world.
But that's not all. These firms and others like them also provide investment opportunities with their stocks trading on exchanges -- also around the world. In fact Fast Money calls this the blue gold trade -- one that could be a good for the planet and good for your portfolio.
According to Fast Money contributor Zach Karabell the trend could have strong tailwinds. “Expanding people’s access to water is a very potent thing to do politically. We might not only see spending on water maintained but increased.”
“This is one of the few areas of industrial spending that is relatively immune to (the economy) because a lot of this is government driven,”
Tim Seymour agrees entirely He thinks it’s a long term trend especially in emerging markets.
What’s the trade?
Karabell tells our producers that one of the best ways to play it is with The Claymore Global Water ETF . It’s top holdings include United Utilities, Geberit, Veolia , Suez and Danaher . Not only does this ETF spread out your risk, it also gives you exposure to some stocks otherwise difficult to trade here in the U.S.
We've seen the capital markets do so much bad lately, now let's see them do some good.
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Trader disclosure: On Jan. 27th, 2008, the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC’s Fast Money were owned by the Fast Money traders; Seymour Owns (AAPL), (BAC), (EEM), (F), (FXI), (VIP); Seymour Is Short (SNE); Seymour's Firm Owns (MBT), (TRC); Finerman's Firm Owns (DNA) & (DNA) Call Spread; Finerman's Firm Owns (MSFT), (UNH); Finerman's Firm Is Short (IYR), (IJR), (IWM), (MDY), (SPY), (ANF), (COF), (USO), (TBT); Terranova Works For (VRTS); Terranova Is Co-Portfolio Manager Of The Virtus Diversifier PHOLIO; Terranova Owns (XBI), (DIS), (AMGN), (FCX); Terranova Owns (IBM) & (IBM) Call Spread; Najarian Owns (EEM) Call Spread; Najarian Owns (BMY) CAll Spread; Najarian Owns (FCX) & (FCX) Short Calls; Najarian Owns (GE) Put Spread; Najarian Owns (MSFT) & (MSFT) Short Calls; Najarian Owns (MS) & (MS) Short Calls/Put Spread; Najarian Owns (YHOO) Call Spread
Karabell Owns (CGW)
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