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

Precious metals. Gold normally runs from the second week of July to the first week of January. However don't give up on precious metals, because silver and platinum do very well around this time.

Gold. Gold is a currency play more so than an inflation play. If you're going to be in gold, have 5%-10% weighting in your portfolio as a hedge to make it worth your while.

Last year it was about survival and this year it is about investing 101. Refining: Consumption has dropped. There was over capacity for a long time. Now there is a contraction in the capacity. You are supposed to invest in it when times are terrible and get out when it looks good. Natural Gas: It’s a north American commodity and will continue to trade in this range. A number of wells were drilled and then capped at $3 but this winter at $6 they will use them. Uranium. It’s tough to play. It’s such a tight, small market.

(Top Pick Feb 10/09, Up 33%) Sherritt Bonds 7.75% 2015. Chose it because you expect 8% long term in the stock market and if you can get it in a bond then do it. No matter what happened, you were going to make money.

(Top Pick Feb 10/09, Up 119%) Pacific Rubiales 8% 2013 bonds. No matter what happened, you were going to make money.

Canadian housing. Are we looking at a price break down when interest rates rise? He doesn't think so as we didn't move up like the US market did. Theirs went up on aggressive financing and aggressive financing techniques. Also doesn't think interest rates are rising very soon or very much.

5-year outlook on gold? With problems in different currencies, gold is a natural place to go. Believes the direction is up from here as there is very little alternative to go to.

China. Caller commented on rumours that the government may devalue their currency but he feels they may revalue up. The revaluation is overdue as it is good for the Chinese economy..

Market corrections. Charts show uptrend and moving averages have been broken. Could be heading further south. Surprised at how far the market went before correcting. Could drop another 10%-15% without any trouble. If you own quality, dividend-paying stocks, they won't go down as much as the market so continue to hold.

Canadian banks, especially those with US exposure? Canadian banks are looking vulnerable largely because they moved up so far when investors were chasing yield. The new Basil Accord could be tough on Canadian banks because of their high preponderance to increase dividends regularly.

Pairs Trading. This is when you are long and short stocks in a particular industry. You could be Long one bank and Short a different bank at the same time. He tends not to use this strategy but prefers to have a distinct set of Long positions in a variety of sectors and a very separate distinct set of Short positions, which could be very different industries.

Canada 2037 5% bond. This one has done very well in the current environment. Long bonds are very sensitive to interest rate movements. Even the smallest changes will give you big swings in price. Currently at a premium in a range of about 1.25 to 1.2. When you start seeing inflation and the next tightening cycle, that's when you want to get out. Should be okay for the next 1 to 2 years.

Strip Bonds and Strip Bond packages? Great for if you need maturity on a specific date. Very sensitive interest-rate movements, a lot more than on a regular Bond.

Real Return Bonds. These protect you in a rising inflation rate environment by giving you an increasing coupon rate. He doesn't expect to see inflation for the next 1 to 2 years and that's when you should look at them.

Bond Ladders. A very simple and basic way to go if you are going to structure your own bond portfolio. With rates being very low at this time, it may not be worthwhile to do a 5-year ladder in government bonds but a 10-year ladder could be valuable especially if you include some corporates.