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

Markets: Likes the positive news on jobs considering the last couple of weeks. He is not aggressively buying because of the headwinds. The most upside is with Nat Gas because it has gotten so beaten up. Once LNG plants get up and running that should be good for Nat Gas. The hot summers is helping also.

How does premium income from selling options get taxed? This is treated as capital gain. You have to be a little careful that if you were selling now and the option expires in December, that's fine because it is in the same year. If it didn't expire until March, you would still be taxed on it this year.

Covered call strategy ETF's that outperform the market? This is the nature of covered calls. People will look at the yield these things are offering and think that is what they are going to get. The yields are actually predicated upon what is happening in the stock. You have to decide if you like the particular sector. He likes the ZWB-T.

Opinion on Horizon’s new Black Swan ETF's, HUT and HUS? The problem is, when you are hedging things off with Puts, the cost of the Puts can be pretty expensive. Hasn't done well over the last couple of months. He is not thrilled with the product.

US equity ETF with a focus on dividends? XLP-N is a consumers staples (household products such as beach, etc.) and has been very popular of late. It throws off a little bit more dividend than some of the others. Near its high right now.

ETF that automatically protects against rising interest rates? You could use something like a real return bonds but he has never been happy with them. The best thing to do, is keep your cash in short-term.

What is a capped ETF? This simply means that there is a limit put on percentage that a given stock can have in the ETF.

What is an ETF and how does it work? How dangerous is it? An ETF is similar to a mutual fund in that it is diversified inherently. The big difference is that with a mutual fund, the price that you paid is determined after the market closes. With an ETF, it trades like a stock. This is a way to get instant diversification at a much lower cost than a mutual fund.

ETF wrap products and their costs versus holding ETF's individually? Wraps are basically where you hold a bunch of mutual funds or stocks, etc. You are charged for this and it depends on who is holding the wrap. Sometimes they can be static in that they are not actively managed. If you are dealing with under $50,000, you don't need a wrap.

Mrk Vectr Agribusiness (MOO-T) or BMO Agricultural Commodities (ZCA-T) and your take on agricultural ETF's in general? Right now you are seeing some run ups because of the drought in the US. ZCA tracks the futures contracts. Moo (and Cow) are corporations.

Markets: Retail investors are convinced the world is coming to an end. The investment strategists are at their most bearish since ’83. While everyone is selling he is buying. He focuses on income solutions while managing volatility. The speculators are addicted to quick fixes. A debt problem is a generational problem and is not going to be fixed overnight.

Royalty on food sales model is strange. It continues to work from a CRA point of view but there are concerns that this model may not survive because CRA does not like people getting pre-tax income. Prefers Pizza Pizza.

Economy. There is a strange phenomenon of a number of sovereign bonds showing negative yields. Bond market is a preservation of capital and this indicates people are fleeing to safe havens. This is unprecedented right now. Europe is going to come to grips with their situation at some point. They're getting more serious about it on a daily basis. Nothing is going to happen now until September at the earliest. There is still a huge fiscal issue out there and a huge bank recapitalization issue that has to be addressed as well.

Factors of Shorting equity versus Shorting a bond? 1st of all, can you borrow the bonds? Next, you are liable for the interest that is accruing on a daily basis. If that interest is greater than the cost of borrowing, then you will lose on a daily basis. You don't short bonds unless it is in the quantities of 1 million or multiples thereof. There are a lot of risks involved.

Good information source on current fixed-income issues in the market? First place to turn to would be SEDAR. When you go in there, you can access any document issued by a public company.