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

Gold. Definitely an area that you want as part of your portfolio. Doesn't expect as good a year as last year. $1100-$1200 is probably a good top of the band for gold. Has about 10% weighting in gold. Prefers companies to ETF’s. Biggest position is GoldCorp (G-T), which is in the process of starting up a big mine in Mexico, so be cautious.

US$ over the next few months? Cdn$ should outperform again. He would prefer it not to go through par as that damages our manufacturing sector.

We’re seeing all kinds of opposite forces at work. There are far more dangerous elements out there than normal. Government have tremendous debt. Consumers and corporations have huge debts. There are huge dangers out there. It’s handy to have cash out there. You have to be very careful in what you choose. You have to be careful of interest rates. There is only one way they can go. Hedge funds may have problems. Governments may have trouble re-financing themselves. Canada is no exception.

Bearish on the US$ versus the Cdn$. Feels the Cdn$ will rise above par.

Dividend paying stocks. He feels 2010 is going to be the year of dividends. You want to have equal weighting in banks, pipelines, utilities (energy producers and distributors) and telcos.

US$ over the longer run is likely to weaken again against the currency of resource producing countries such as Canada and the emerging world currencies.

Pair trading. If a trade happens to go against him by 15% (stoploss), he will exit both sides of the trade even if one side is working for him. The idea is to isolate the Beta from the Alpha

International bond market. There were big moves in these last year so there is not a lot of value left. If you want to play this, you have to play through a fund or through an ETF but don't try to do it yourself.

Small caps. You don't need to own these right now, as a lot of the large caps are just as cheap. Have been through the problems and generated earnings and cash flow and have lots of cash and are very cheap.

US$ and Gold? Right now it is popular to bet against the US$. But it's the only place to go when you are scared. Over 5-10 years, the structure of the US the dollar will continue to go down. Short term it will bounce all over the place.

US banks. This is not the time to be getting into US banks. Wouldn't touch them with a 10-foot pole. It will take a long while for them to get back.

ETFs. He doesn't do these. They are trading vehicles and you can’t do valuation on them like you can on individual stocks. Commodities have to be rolled over every month.

Equity Markets. US presidential midterm elections have a big impact on equities. Markets tend to go higher during the first half and then a period of uncertainty in the 2nd quarter followed by a significant drop in the 3rd quarter. This tends to be the 4 year low in the presidential cycle.

Technology stocks. The time to get out is mid to late January. The last of the good news in the technology sector is when the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show is over until probably next fall.

Seasonal Plays. Energy usually starts coming in at about this time of year. Materials e.g. base metals do very well at this time. Platinum also does very well at this time. (See Top Picks.)