A Comment -- General Comments From an Expert (A Commentary)

(A Top Pick Aug 19/10. Up 10.12%.) CDP Financial 4.6% due July 2020.

Markets - He has a feeling that the US markets want to rise. Whenever there is some European statistic, it knocks the US down. Feels the Europeans are on their way to trying to sort this out. Heard that the US had junk and fraudulent mortgages. In Europe, you are dealing with real assets.

Strategy of selling an option on a dividend paying stock you own? It's a great idea and he does it all the time. He goes 6 months out. It not only gives you your dividend, but an additional amount. Be aware that it is based on the volatility of the underlying shares.

How do covered call ETFs (ZWSB-T) or (HEX-T) react in a tanking market? The price of these is dependent on the volatility of the underlying security. If you are looking at posted year was out 10%-12%, you are not necessarily going to get these.

Is there an ETF that trades pairs, short and long? Horizon Beta Pro has several of them. This is for the pretty sophisticated investor.

Would the caller be wise in buying an ETF on Brazil at this time? It was you would be better buying a country rather than a BRIC at this time. Brazil is growing very quickly and is probably not a bad place to be.

Buying a 6 months put on a broad market or sector ETF. Good way to protect a portfolio from large downside risk? What sector would retreat the most in a double dip? Would rather Sell options. If you are buying 6 month options, it is costing you a lot of money.

Cash. The amount you hold depends on your risk tolerance. To take advantage of volatile markets, you may want to have 7%-10% in cash.

Market - Holding a lot of cash. Expects people will be selling everything, the good with the bad. There are a number of quality projects that will be available at a discount. We still need to find one big copper mine a year just to keep up with production. On gold we have to find 85 million ounces a year just to match production. Industry can’t keep up with demand, so if you can find a company with a real legitimate discovery, you are set to do well, regardless of the macro stuff.

Rare earths. Major companies are users of rare elements and feels there is a play here. There are 3 deposits that are worth keeping an eye on. Rare Element Resources (RES-T), Quest Rare Minerals (QRM-X) and Tasman (TSM-X). These 3 are advanced enough along that they can kind of see what the metallurgical characteristics are.

Barbell strategy with buying a producer and an explorer? Thinks this is a very good idea. For the producer, he would look at Fortuna Silver (FVI-T). For the Explorer, there are 2 he would consider. Global Minerals (CTG-X), which is active in Slovakia and Mirasol (MRZ-X), which is active in Patagonia.

Markets – In spit of all the darkness, there are some good data points. S&P 500 companies are expected to grow profits 16% this year and then 14% next year. Valuations have come in quite a bit. S&P is trading at about 11.5X this year's earnings. Although governments may be bankrupt, corporate America is not. Have a lot of cash on their balance sheets, very negative right now, which is a good thing. buying back stock, raising dividends, making acquisitions and refinancing with low interest rates.2 Million jobs have been added since 2010. Investor sentiment is very negative right now, which is a good thing. Bear sentiment is over 40%.

Equities versus ETFs? ETFs are better than mutual funds but equities are better than ETFs. When you buy an ETF, you get every single stock in that sector, the good and the not so good. Think you can get good diversification in your portfolio by buying 15-20 companies in different industries.

Market: Governments around the world are trying to get more positive action. Concerned about Germany saying they will give time for Greece to work things out. Has no banks, no big oil companies. Cash raising since June. Banks are down 18% and he missed most of that. The quarter we are in he thinks won't be that good.

GOLD: even at these levels he thinks it is going a lot higher. Some firms are only just raising their gold estimates. He thinks we are lagging the story. This is the gold miner’s season. There has to be a catch up between bullion and miners.