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

Shorting vs. Inverse ETF’s: -Problem with using inverse ETFs as a short in a portfolio is that you don't have the torque of an individual stock.

Canadian Banks: Not a huge fan of banks. Negative on US financials as there will be consolidation and more bad stuff to come. If you own a Canadian bank, trading is not a bad idea. She expects a bounce so over the next couple of weeks there could be a selling opportunity and then you could buy them back when they drop.

Thinks gold stocks are a very expensive way to play gold. He would prefer the ETFs. Thinks it quite likely that gold will breach the $1000 level and will move higher. Gold should only be about 10%-15% of anyone's portfolio.

Preferred Shares: - He believes there will be higher interest rates so he would not buy the perpetual preferreds as they behave like a long-term bond.

Precious Metals: His company is very bullish on precious metals. Owing gold is a form of protection from the current banking problems. Prices of gold and silver have gone up but the junior stocks haven’t. It is getting tougher to raise money, so whoever is producing today will have their stocks going higher. Investors are not as interested in those with early stage projects with a lot of risk.

Gold: Very short term it has a great technical foundation. US$ is having a hard time getting back on its feet again. Gold could be taking a run back to $1000 again. Beyond that, he expects the US$ to bottom relatively soon or at some point this year. Once there is a firmness in the US$, there could be a massive exodus out of the commodity market in general.

There is a very real risk in this market these days and you have to assess whether businesses are going to be able to overcome the macro issues at the market level.

Wimax: Radio system for providing high bandwidth connection. Very young and only a couple of companies are trying to put it out. Doesn’t have a very bright future. Several similar systems have been attempted back to 1999 and all went bankrupt.

Bank Preferred Shares: Generally doesn't like to take the equity risk that is associated with them. However, tax laws make dividend yields very attractive. Feels they are safe. Makes sense for a small portion of your portfolio but would diversify between banks.

Gold: Will trade in part on the US$. Doesn't think the bottom is here yet. Will also trade to some extent on geopolitical events. Technically, the $1,000 mark is where it is heading. Not keen on gold stocks. The price is a psychological one as opposed to a supply/demand fundamental.

Hedge Funds & Commodity Prices: Hedge funds can cause the market to dislocate in the short run. Example: Uranium spot price is around $60 where the longer-term price is around $90. Speculative money going in and out of commodities is going to have a big affect.

Short Selling vs. Option Trading As a Hedging Strategy: Option trading basically uses leverage, while short selling doesn't use that leverage as much. Option trading is great as long as you know what your exposure is to the underlying asset.

Salida Multi-Strategy Fund: - Pretty aggressive trader. Hedge out market risks quite a bit. Don't always get it right. Have some big drawdowns but right now they are sticking with the commodities and have done very well. Up 10% to date. Their performance is still great. Likes what they do.

Hedge Funds & Gold: Hedge funds are opportunistic and sometimes can be proactive and at other times reactive.

Sprott Opportunities Fund: Manager Jean-Francois Tardif recently won an award for being the #1 Canadian Long/Short manager on a risk-adjusted basis. Very good fund. Stressful for him to run because he goes long and he goes short very quickly depending on market conditions.