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

Shorting Housing Market in Canada: Doesn’t think it is a bad idea but difficult in Canada because there aren’t a lot of pure play stocks in Canada focusing on housing market, and they are in fact pretty good businesses. Maybe companies tied to housing like Rona.

Mutual Funds vs. Stocks: It comes down to how much time you have to select stocks. A lot of funds are just index tracking, though.

Market: These are more than summer doldrums. There is some kind of correction going on here. Everyone is negative on the US economy because of the debt and the lack of will politically to do anything. You can buy put options; buy inverse ETFs for a week. You need a portfolio with a sufficient number of bonds.

Pleased that vanguard is coming to Canada. They are huge – a battle between them and Fidelity. Unit holders are the owners of the company. Will be a very welcome addition to Canada.

Deep in the money options: Instead of buying the stock. There is not much leverage.

Canadian Banks: You could do an insurance put. Be patient and wait for them to come back. Doesn’t do anything with the US banks.

Market: Ever since the jobs number in June, it’s only been one way and that was down. Looks like we are in for a slowdown. The Fed is trying to their heads around what to do next. We have to wait until the fall and see if this growth comes back. It’s about the economy and where it is going. He looks for value in the market in individual names. He is seeing an unbelievable opportunity. We are pretty fully valued on commodity stocks as well as banks. Likes energy, but the rest looks pricey.

Market: Interesting yields in Corporate bonds and better quality emerging markets. Doesn’t see a lot of value in Government bonds. Current corrective wade will peter out in Mid-July.

Market: OPEC was meeting to increase the official quota. The single factor for oil price is spare oil capacity. He sees a scenario where they reach critical levels by 2012. Oil went up 17% and small cap oil stocks went down 16%. People are trying to migrate to higher cap companies. Seeing opportunities where stocks appear cheap.

Canadian Market: Since April (double top) 5 days when we had > 1.5% drop. We are at the 200 day moving average and January support level. The activity today is not very good. 13,280 is support level, and if it goes below that it could get ugly. He doesn’t look for long term trends. Didn’t get into positive territory last year until August. If we drop it would be about a 400 point drop.

Natural Gas: Nat Gas: It is very choppy so you can make a lot of money in a short time, but he doesn’t see a lot of clear trends, so avoid it.

Market: We have given back 6-7% now. It is getting close to being a substantial correction and it has gone its course. Doesn’t think there is a double dip. People may be picking away through out the summer in expectation of better 3rd and 4th quarters. There may not be QE3 but there is still easy money and companies can show good earnings. Expecting weak summer and pickup in the second half. Feels we need more signs than we are getting now before people try to get in.

Thermal coal: No way to play it in Canada, but TCK is the best way to play it. The Chinese market is a big market for coal. With scrubber technology, coal is not as polluting as it used to be.

Nat Gas: Resistance at $5. He is not bullish on nat gas for the next year or two. There is a lot of supply and we don’t have extensive capability to liquefy it and ship it off shore. We have a 200 year reserve life.

Market: Bonds have come back into favour in the past few weeks. Bonds are a safe place to be. The inflation fear is drifting out of the market. It’s when, not if, they default in Greece.