Two days ago I wrote a post on more exotic stocks to deepen your exposure in the market. More specifically, I wrote about the S&P Covered Call Fund (BEP: chart, Y!, ETFconnect).

Well, I’ve had more time to research the stock, so I’ll present what I’ve dug up. I may ask Winston to chime in here too, as he’s more in tune with more advanced aspects of the market than am I.

The first thing I’ve noticed is that the NAV has not been keeping up with the share price. In fact, it’s going downhill while the share price has been …

I’ve been looking for some ways to exploit the more advanced aspects of the stock market without having to devote the time and resources to run with the more experienced bulls.

Take for instance the ProShares UltraShort Midcap, QQQ and Dow30 funds, in which the focus is to short the respective market, however to participate, you go long the fund.

Along those same lines, my good buddy Winston pointed me to the S&P Covered Call Fund (BEP: chart, Y!, ETFconnect) in which the fund sells covered calls not against stocks, but against the S&P 500 index. The result is good income with …

If ever a non-believer in disintermediation, it’s time to see the light!

A prominent topic of futurist David Houle, disintermediation is in layman’s terms, the elimination of the middle man, but the concept stems a bit further: 

The Internet, particularly in its current high speed broadband iteration, Internet 2.0 is the single most powerful agent of disintermediation there is at this time on Earth. It is being used to change economic transaction structures, in practically all areas of commerce. It is forcing heretofore firmly entrenched distribution channels to adapt or suffer significant negative consequences. It is the visible disintermediation agent for big economic, political and cultural institutions in the U.S. …

Read more…

Al Gore was back in D.C. today to discus his bread-and-butter topic: global warming. As I’ve mentioned before, anytime you have data that suggests that you’ve come to a scientific “consensus”, you haven’t talked to enough scientists.

Even Katie Couric is jumping on the Gore-bal Warming bandwagon:

But today it was a triumphant return, this time as a private citizen, to declare that the world faces a “planetary emergency” over climate change. And now, a lot of his skeptics agree that Gore makes a powerful point.

The scientific consensus is clear, and Gore urged Congress to listen to scientists, not special interests. He pushed for an immediate freeze on greenhouse gases, as well …

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The market seems to be turning North as of late, and after the wild ride over the past couple weeks, a solid trend to the upside is a soothing feeling.

The Fed held rates at 5.25% today, but those who pull out the magnifying glass to read the report will tell you there is more than meets the eye.

Again, it’s what was not in the Fed statement that is important. Evidently, the phrase “additional firming that may be needed” was dropped from today’s statement, leaving me to believe Big Ben may be leaning towards lowering interest rates later this year.

On the other hand, the Fed is still very much in tune …

The ball is in the Fed’s court again this week as the debate on interest rates rages on. Most are expecting the Fed to leave rates unchanged, and data is coming forth that housing may be on the upswing.

However, homebuilder’s confidence may not be so strong. They are continuing to see the number of existing home sales fall, which means that there is still little liquidity in the housing market. You can’t blame them for being timid, after a sour taste of a bear market, you’d hesitate to be bullish too!

Wednesday the central bank will announce a decision on what to do with overnight lending rates. …

I am still in the process of researching online high-interest savings accounts in which to put emergency funds.

Coincidentally I got an offer through the mail from GE Money yesterday, offering 5.05% annual percentage yield, FDIC insurance comfort up to $100,000 and no fees or startup costs.

But wait! There’s a catch!

You only garner the 5.05% on balances of $15,000 or more. Under $15k, there is a rate scale which is much less attractive. For balances between $4k and $14,999, you only earn 4.5%. For balances under $4,000, you only earn 1.75%.

While this still beats out …

I’ve never been crazy about all the “global warming” hype that’s been running rampant over the last couple years.

While I don’t dispute the fact that the Earth, or at the very least the United States, is getting warmer, I think it’s still highly arguable that the root cause is mankind and the scale of the problem is related to his extravagant carbon lifestyle.

The underlying problem I have is the numerous claims that scientists have come to a “consensus” that the world is getting warmer, and humans are without a doubt responsible for the demise of life as we know it.

Call me an engineer, …

It was another rough day in the market.  Unfortunately tomorrow could be just as bad, if not worse.

Today the Dow closed down 242.66 points at 12,075.96, its worst drop since its huge sell-off on February 27. The S&P 500 fell 28.65 points to 1,377.95, and the Nasdaq lost 51.72 points to 2,350.57.

The effects of todays sell off are being felt in Tokyo as this is being written.  The Nikkei was down 502 points, or nearly 3% in morning trading as the U.S. economy status lingers in traders minds, coupled with a questionable housing future stimulated by faultering credit due high default rates on mortgages.

There is a continuing theme here …

It seems my GLD gold play is rather directionless right now, and the low volume in the ETF itself is not helping.  I have a feeling that people are trying to get a sense of direction when it comes to precious metals in particular, but gold especially due to the public rally.

I’m only down about $65 on my gold play, and the psychological support of $650 per ounce has yet to falter.  The fact that crude oil is slipping is cutting away at economic support for gold as well.

However!  While crude may be falling now, we have yet to see …