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

McElvaine Investment Trust. Small to mid-cap stocks and got hit pretty hard last year. This doesn't worry him. This is a fund that will do well over time.

Star Hedge Fund Managers. Closed end fund where they take 3 of the better money managers in Canada and put them together in one portfolio. Thinks very highly of all their managers. Trades about 20% below its NAV.

Burlington Capital Management Hedge Fund. Consists of all special situation stocks and they pair of a lot of the situations with Short stocks. Look for lower volatility and steadier returns. Good management.

CI Trident Global Opportunities. Seems to under perform in bull markets and outperform in bear markets. Tend to use a lot of different strategies such as fixed income strategy and not just use stock or equity strategies. The place to be if you want to diversify and lower the risk of your overall portfolio if you have a lot of market related instruments.

Canadian Banks: - Market is probably overdue for a bounce to the upside and the banks could possibly lead this however they are at the top end of the range now and he doesn't think the earnings are going to be exciting in the short term. On the Canadian end he would prefer looking at the life insurance companies instead, which have more recovery potential.

Bank bonds versus Bank preferred shares? Using Royal (RY-T) as an example, their 5-year GIC is about 2.2%, 5 year bond is about 3.75% and 5 year preferred units about 5.52%. GIC and bond are taxed at the highest marginal rate. Preferred is a dividend so only taxed at half the marginal rate. (See Top Picks.)

4.2% Province of Ontario bonds maturing 2018. With the amount of debt Ontario is going to have to issue, you are going to see the spreads fluctuate, probably more to the upside. If you own, consider trading them but you have to be nimble.

Clean Technology is anything that reduces the environmental impact of human behavior. Water, Biodegradable products, alternative energy, Solar, Wind, Environmental, waste management, nuclear. Need to watch regulatory changes. Solar offers most liquidity. Wind is very mature and all the consolidation has already happened.

Gold: Would you buy an ETF or a good quality gold stock? The ETF is a basket of gold stocks so you are alienating a lot of the specific company risks. If you are comfortable with the company risk, you will get a bigger bang for your buck but there is more risk.

(A Top Pick July 24/08. Up 12%.) GMAC Canada Bonds 1 year, which have now matured. Doesn't like the dynamics of this industry.

Jean-Francois Tardif announced his retirement on today's Market Call. I know he will be missed by the viewers of BNN as well as by us at StockChase. We wish him the very best in his new life. Good luck Jean Francois from all of us.

Short Selling: Not an easy thing to do. There are different styles but it is hard to differentiate. Some Short by sector but he does a stock by stock. Shorts if he knows the company is specifically not doing well. Doesn't recommend Shorting for individuals, as it is too hard and too stressful and too dangerous.

Natural Gas: ETFs are not an efficient way of playing ga Prices are different than today's spot. There is a price in the spring, next year and the year after so they always need to roll over those futures. Can be expensive. Stocks are already up from their lows, which reflects that gas prices are going up, which he believes but it's just a question of when. Wait for the gas stocks to come down and then buy those that have great balance sheets.

Gold: Bullish on gold. US is printing a lot of money and the deficit is close to 15%. Probably more next year and the year after. He is extremely bearish on the US$. Everybody should own some gold as a protection against all the global governments printing money.

Canadian Banks: These are way better and have done better than most global banks. The stocks have done very well but if you believe, like he does, that there will be ups and downs in the market, this would be a good time to Sell some and then buy them back at a lower price.