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

Markets. Feels Cdn economy will remain strong and sees continuing job creation in Canada. Expects the Majority government will have steady progress in reducing the deficit. Commodity prices have come off but expect to see them continue strong. Lower Cdn$ will be good for corporate earnings. Expecting TSX will stay above $14,000.

REITs? This sector has had a very good run. Good reason to hold them but don’t expect them to do as well as they have done. Hold them for the yield and a bit of appreciation but don’t expect them to outperform the market. Now there will be a race between rising interest rates and their ability to raise rents.

Playing the market defensively. Feels the world has grown a lot and earnings will continue to grow but at a diminishing rate. You won't see economic growth as in the past. It will slow down, but not dramatically.

Printing of US$ versus silver and gold? It's the printing of money and the velocity (movement) of money that is important. Too much velocity (not the printing of money) causes massive inflation. US doesn't have the velocity of money as there is in the rest of the world.

Agriculture. Seasonality is right from the middle of July until the end of the year. The position he owned (MOO-N) went up 50% last year. This is the season when farmers are growing their crops and selling them before the end of the year for taxes. To reduce taxes, they buy fertilizers, tractors, etc. This year is even better because grain prices can go significantly higher.

Cdn$ vs. US$? Cdn$ historically bottoms around the middle of February and then goes strongly on the upside until the end of May. Looks like seasonality is peaking out a little early this year.

(A Top Pick April 30/10. No change.) 5-month Treasury Bills. Looking for markets to go into a corrective phase until probably the fall, so a good place to park your money.

May 2nd was a crucial date in the US market when all the economically sensitive sectors all of a sudden turned out the lights. Then started rolling over and continued moving lower, most noticeably in the materials sector such as silver and gold. Cdn market had a peak on March 7th so have been in a corrective phase for 10 weeks. Be cautious.

Market: We are in a period that will be quite choppy. Not done with the correction in commodities, which will continue to weigh on the markets. For oil there will be some ups and downs but longer term she is very optimistic on oil and as a result optimistic on Canada. Gold will trade along with other commodities and will be volatile. A good hedge against weakness in the US dollar

US$: Rallying strongly against the Euro. You might have expected that given that everyone thinks the US is finished. So much pessimism. Euro has been very strong. However, no one has ever made money counting the US out. Very resilient economy. In the medium to longer term they will manage their way out.

Market. Thinks we are only in a temporary corrective phase in the TSX. Market participants are worried about the end of QE2 and there has been some tightening in China. Historically from May onwards, spring, summer tends to be a soft pattern. It's very possible the TSX heads down to the 200 day moving average. Pretty decent corporate earnings out of the US.

Market. Market is concerned about inflation and higher interest rates and the result on the outlook on commodities. Sees it as a blip. China just declared a 5.2% inflation rate and the market is worried they will have to raise interest rates. Biggest driver for that is oil prices. Most commodities are rolling over after reaching the resistance level. He uses $100 oil in his estimates and if you fast forward a year with $100, inflation shouldn't be as a big an issue as the market sees right now.

Gold. Looks on this as a trading vehicle and sees it at between $1,500 and $1,600 an ounce. He is a little bit underweight as it is hovering around the upper end of the band. The nice thing is that gold stocks do not reflect anywhere near the gold price.

Commodities. A lot of speculation initiated last week by the decline in the silver price. Prices were spiking significantly and margin requirements were raised several times and this initiated a turn around. Inflation numbers out of China and US inventory numbers spooked the market..

Market: Market is one-way beta. Commodities were up today and stocks were down. This happened about a year ago. All that has to happen is that oil has to go sideways for a couple of weeks, then stocks will start to discount it. It is because of the speculation in the commodities. Probably doesn’t make sense that Silver goes back to $50. Sees loose monetary policy in the US for rest of year, call it QE 2-1/2. You won't see interest rates rise in the US this year.