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

Gold stocks. These have under performed gold bullion substantially so she would be looking at gold stocks at this time. The soaring costs for the miners will mean gradually rising commodity costs. Margins have to be maintained.

Oil. Expect this will stay in the band of $85-$90 but in the next year, when things heat up, we'll see $100 oil again.

Writing options on a gold stock is an extremely good thing to do. Gold stocks tend to be in the 50% to 75% percentile of volatility so they tend to be more expensive than the average option. On occasion there is a case to buy the odd Call on gold stocks because Gold has had a big sell off and he wouldn't be surprised if they have a bounce and come back.

Development Bank of Singapore. This is a government controlled bank. Singapore is the trade centre for all Southeast Asia. Singapore economy is a warrant on world GDP. This bank is a very solid established way to play this.

Market: Oil was already going down so he doesn’t understand shy they released oil into the world markets. The US is going into a big driving season and he thinks this was a political move. There is no desperate need right now. Dynamics of oil markets are saying something about the global economy. US economics right now are tenuous. Canada is in great shape. There is a great buying opportunity right now. The economy is not growing as aggressively as people are expecting. Interest rates are going to be low for a long period of time. Likes large cap dividend paying stocks.

When he invests internationally, he looks for a higher rate of return to compensate for the currency risk. He doesn’t hedge.

Market. Seasonally, the market can be a little weak and the correction we have had can present a buying opportunity. Will be volatile for the balance of the summer. He is taking more of a barbell approach with defensive stocks, consumer staples and healthcare along with some of the more cyclical names.

Market. Volatile market and it's all about Europe. Whether it's geopolitical risk in the middle east, the sovereign debt traces in Europe or the US economy. Expect it will be a turbulent several months.

REIT fundamentals in Canada are sound. Well managed companies all across the country. Supply and demand is the best he's seen in his career. Alberta's oil sands are a great asset, and is attracting foreign money. Opportunities are in Alberta. We are under retailed per square footage per person in this country.

Real estate investors tend to value the yield more then they should. View the yield as a bonus, not as part of the value of the company. “Don't get sucked in by yield”

Global growth. Market has been selling off over the last couple of months because of the forecast for the rate of growth/recovery has been ratcheting down. Has been exasperated by the problems in Europe and the fear of what sort of contagion that might have globally. Unemployment still seems to be a problem in the US and have been going further into debt. There have been signs of inflation in Asia and attempts to stem that a little. However, we are managing to skate on side a little.

Markets. In the midst of a stock correction that actually began mid-March. 14-16 weeks is the average for an intermediate correction. Just a normal mid-term correction in the context of an ongoing bull market. You are not going to get a bear during a US election year. The origin of the bull market was in March/09 and a trend line across the lows shows no violation.

Natural Gas. Has been going down for a long time and technically it has stopped doing that. Has broken up through the major downtrend line. He knows it is going to go higher but not when.

Markets. There are a large number of macro factors that are putting pressures on, where normally there is only one. 1) Greece has been downgraded to triple C junk rated, 2) inflation issues in emerging markets and 3) debt ceilings are being reached in the US. There are also housing and unemployment issues in the US. Has gone defensive in the last few months and gone to cash in a number of positions.

Canadian Banks. His favourites are Toronto Dominion (TD-T) and Royal (RY-T). Royal normally trades at a higher multiple and is shrinking to an interesting level. He sees good prospects in retail banking where TD is pushing very hard on growing this in the US.