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

Top Picks: He has decided not to do Top Picks. This would have people rifle shooting Junior Gold stocks. Unless you have a lot of money that you can have good diversification, there is a risk by buying only one or two stocks. A lot of them are slick promotions and don't really have a lot going for them.

Gold: - Is gold really going up or is the US$ going down? Looking at it in euros or the Cdn$ it is sort of going up. In terms of gold and the US$, the water is muddy. People's opinion is getting more and more bullish every day, so we are getting into the danger zone.

Uranium: - Long-term outlook for uranium is very bullish. Demand for energy in Asia is increasing while production is substantially less. Existing stockpiles have been there since the 70s and 80s. If some of the hedge funds decide to sell what they have, the price of uranium could drop.

Canadian Banks: - Have had at dreadful performance. Last year was the worst in 25 years. Watch for when they stop going down. It is almost impossible to lose money on Canadian banks. There is a dividend almost every year and sometimes twice a year.

GMAC Canada 5.10% maturing April 30,2009. GM is losing market share, but assets in GMAC Canada doesn't have residential mortgages like GMAC US. Auto finances are still pretty good. With a depreciated US$ you should see some GM market share coming back. Good risk/reward scenario.

National Bank 4.70% maturing Nov 2/2020. He is aggressively buying financial debt that has been hit hard. This one has been incredibly hard hit. They are 160/170 over Canada.

(A Top Past Pick Dec 19/06.) Timberwest 7% matured 10/01/07. When he picked this, it was giving him about 1.5% higher than Government of Canada. His objective on the bond side was to earn an extra spread of 150 basis points and hopefully get his money back, which he did.

(A Top Past Pick Dec 19/06.) First Capital Realty 5.08% maturing 6/21/12. This credit performed poorly, but much better relative to the lower investment grade sector. His objective is to matured this and earn 150 basis points over Government of Canada. Still likes.

(A Top Past Pick Dec 19/06.) Government of Canada 5.75% (then 4.09%) maturing 2029. This was the play on the fact that real rates and inflation rates would drop, which they have. Switched out of these into longer dated government of Canada bonds.

Gold: - Feels that gold stocks will take off like some of the metals stocks did. Looking for $900-$1000 in 2008. Playing the gold/silver market in 2 ways. Bought ETF’s for gold (see GLD-N) and silver (see SLV-A) and balanced that with gold stocks Agnico-Eagle (AEM-T), Kinross (K-T) and Yamana (YRI-T).

Got your Top Picks listed, but have company and the rest will have to wait for a few days. Happy Holidays. Bill

Canadian Banks: - Problems for the financials are still not over. The shoes keep dropping. There's more bad news coming. Might be better in 6 months.

Tonight's program was on wine tasting, No stocks. The next program is not until Thursday Dec 27th so I guess I'm on holidays. Happy holidays to everybody and good investing in the New Year. Bill

“Banks” are an excellent cornerstone for your portfolio. Nice dividend yield, which gives a nice tax credit. Trading right now at very good prices. His holdings are #1 Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS-T) #2 National Bank (NA-T) and #3 Royal Bank.

This has been a horrific year for natural gas. He has seen several statements where companies have cut back on capital expenditures on natural gas. A lot of stocks are trading below NAV. winter has now come to the east coast and consumption on a year-over-year basis will be stronger. It may be a good time to look at these beaten up stocks.