Historically, timber land has appreciated at a rate that outpaces inflation. This has made many who expect a coming bout of inflation to invest in timber acreage. Lately, though, just like most other commodities and natural resources and, timber prices have come under pressure.

In 2011, timber prices increased, but they did so from a generally low price point. Prior due that, timber prices became depressed because demand for wood in new construction decreased so substantially after the real estate market imploded. This reduced demand for timber has allowed several timber growers to grow their trees more so than they would normally prefer. Many have argued that housing has already bottomed, which could bode well for the timber business and potential future price increases.

Many believe that timber real estate investment trusts are one of the best ways to get exposure to timber. Under the current tax laws, REITs must

The market has become increasing volatile over the past few weeks. Given the crisis in Europe, that is not likely to change over the coming months. Finding high yielding equities with reasonable valuations seems like a good strategy and one that is likely to outperform the market in the near term. One high yielding vehicle I like here is ONEOK Partners (OKS) due to its yield, growth prospects and reasonable valuations.

"ONEOK Partners, L.P. engages in the gathering, processing, storage, and transportation of natural gas in the United States." (Business description from Yahoo Finance)

7 reasons for income investors to pick up Oneok at $55 a share:
 

• OKS yields 4.6%. It has increased dividends by 4% annually over the past five years, but look for that growth to accelerate in coming years (See bullet point 3).
• The company expects earnings to increase 18% annually from 2012 to 2014.
• The company

The WisdomTree India ETF (EPI) is the first and largest India ETF. A close competitor to EPI is the second largest India ETF, the PowerShares India ETF (PIN). These ETFs have been competing since 2008 and this year is no different. EPI has outperformed PIN since the beginning of the year. Additionally, even though EPI reached higher highs this year it has held up better than PIN in the current downturn. Here's the chart of the WisdomTree India ETF versus the PowerShares India ETF from stockcharts.com.

(click to enlarge)

The performance gap between the two ETFs is 435bps currently, a large amount in five months. More importantly WisdomTree investors are making money this year and PowerShares investors are not. Here's the performance grid snapshot from IndiaETFs comparing performance of the two ETFs.

(click to enlarge)

From this grid we see PIN has edged out EPI in one year performance but

Dividend investors demand safety, income, and absolute returns from their income portfolio. Investors can become "do it yourself" investors and build a portfolio which meets their risk profile and their expected return profile. I would suggest focusing upon the "risk profile" as the number one priority.

Time Intensive Research

I personally know dozens of investors who spend 8 hours a day researching, reading, and investigating dividend stocks. 40 hours of work, per week, is a full time job. If this effort is ongoing, make sure to put common sense and what rings true in your portfolio. A portfolio should be able to provide 8% per year.

Major Stock Market Risk

The Great Recession of 2008 taught us balance sheets are the primary backbone of a solid investment. As Europe implodes, capital may be tight to come by here in the U.S. You want stocks with a solid balance sheet and

When a company's financial and operational performance decline, its stock price follows. Because the story has worsened, it is natural for the stock to perform worse as well. But on occasion, a company's stock decline is disproportionately large relative to the decline in its performance. When such a decoupling occurs, chances of a takeover increase. We believe that such a decoupling has occurred with regard to NetApp (NTAP), and believe that the company's stock is oversold.

For the record, we own shares of EMC, NetApp's primary competitor. EMC

Home for a Week! New York and Italy

It is simply hard to tear your eyes away from the slow-motion train wreck that is Europe. Historians will be writing about this moment in time for centuries, and with an ever-present media we see it unfold before our eyes. And yes, we need to tear our gaze away from Europe and look around at what is happening in the rest of the world. There is about to be an eerily near-simultaneous ending to the quantitative easing by the four major central banks while global growth is slowing down. And so, while the future of Europe is up for grabs, the true danger to global markets and growth may be elsewhere. But, let's do start with the seemingly obligatory tour of Europe.

What If California Were Greece?

David Zervos is the managing director and chief market strategist of Jefferies and Company. He

Many leading funds, including Carl Icahn, Elliott Associates, and biotech-focused hedge fund Perceptive Advisors, filed forms 13-D and 13-G (and form 4) with the SEC last week (May 21st to 25th, 2012), indicating that they had amended their ownership in U.S. traded public companies. Based on our analysis, the following are the more noteworthy filings (for more info on Forms 13-D and 13-G, and how to interpret that, please refer to the end of this article):

Repros Therapeutics Inc. (RPRX): RPRX is a clinical-stage biotech company engaged in the development of small molecule drugs to treat hormonal and reproductive system disorders. On Wednesday, New York-based biotech-focused hedge fund Perceptive Advisors filed SEC Form SC 13G/A indicating that it holds 2.86 million or 19.3% of outstanding shares, an increase from the 2.63 million shares that it indicated holding in a prior SEC Form 4 filing earlier this month, and also an

Corning's (GLW) stock has had many false starts over the last six months. However, the stock is dirt cheap, has had some recent positives and also has solid technical support at these levels. For patient investors looking for a long term bargain, its shares are tough to pass up.

Catalysts and support:

• Corning was more than 50% higher less than a year and spent the last month building a technical base in the $12 to $13 range (See Chart)

(click to enlarge)

• Consensus earnings estimates for FY2012 and FY2013 have ticked up over the past month.
• An insider made an almost $2mm buy in March.

"Corning Incorporated produces specialty glasses, ceramics, and related materials worldwide. The company operates in five segments: Display Technologies, Telecommunications, Environmental Technologies, Specialty Materials, and Life Sciences."

Onyx Pharmaceuticals (ONXX) is a global biopharmaceutical company engaged in the development and commercialization of innovative therapies for improving the lives of people with cancer and other serious diseases. The company is focused on developing novel medicines that target key molecular pathways.

I see at least 3 reasons to buy the company:

1. Promising pipeline

Nexavar

The company's first commercially available product, Nexavar, is approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, for the treatment of patients with unresectable liver cancer and advanced kidney cancer.

Onyx Pharmaceuticals and Bayer (BAYZF.PK) are commercializing Nexavar for the treatment of patients with unresectable liver cancer and advanced kidney cancer. Nexavar was approved for the treatment of patients with advanced kidney cancer by the FDA in December 2005. It was approved by the European Union in July 2006 for the treatment of patients with advanced kidney cancer who have failed prior

Seasonal effects on the stock market have been observed for decades. It is also an endless source of discussion. All opinions are equal, however it may be reasonable to take a limited bet on a bias when strategies have returned about 30% a year for 10 years.
Before focusing on a special sector let's clarify what I mean by seasons for the stock market (especially for big caps):
- January, February, and May to September are "bad months".
- March, April, and October to December are "good months".
This is based on well documented phenomena named "January effect", "sell-in-May" effect, "Halloween effect" and "Santa Claus Rally". Including February in the January effect and October in the Halloween effect has been questioned by readers as an optimization for the last 11 years. It might be; however it doesn't change the qualitative conclusions. In my search for probabilistic bias, IYR and ICF

Wow, the market is hard to predict. From the summer of 2011 to mid-April, buying almost any pullback in the S&P 500 and its tracking exchange traded fund, SPY, was a good strategy, as the market failed repeatedly to rally from levels that many traders and investors thought were oversold.

I had a mixed call last week, suggesting the market would likely move sideways, since the S&P 500 and other major indexes seemed oversold. While the market rallied very little, most of the broader indexes rallied hard on Monday, and finished the week positive with some of the index's most heavily weighted names, such GE (GE), finishing the week up around 1%.

(www.thestreet.com)

The first reason I think we will see markets move higher next weak is a short-term peak in negative news affecting the leadership sectors in the market.

While, obviously, most sectors have rallied during the S&P 500's

The 3D Modeling/Rapid Prototyping (RP) technology sector promises to change the world. The RP technology allows for a design tool that greatly improves the product development cycle by allowing rapid creation of models for testing. Read this article for more information on the sector and leaders.

Unfortunately the concept has limited commercial production capabilities and material challenges. Over time, these will naturally become less and less of a problem. For now though, several sectors such as aviation parts and medical devices can benefit greatly from the ability to RP. Not to mention, any wealthy person that wants to make their own iPhone case at home.

The 3D Printing concept has been around for awhile, but it is just now becoming a mainstream reality with sub $10,000 commercial printers and sub $1,300 home printers.

Below are the leading investment options in the public markets:

3D Systems (DDD) is leading the 3D

Having a disciplined approach to creating a functional dividend portfolio often comes with the need to stringently diversify. With proper balance, the key to creating an income flow with a steady return of capital comes from offsetting the possibility of unacceptable losses by seeking stability, strength and support in one's holdings. Spreading risk throughout various sectors of the economy that are relied upon by society for the function of everyday life allows for a form of consistency that is so often lacking in the stock market. Such balance can keep an investor worry-free and safe from one's own overreactions during the market downturns. The following five companies (when combined together) offer a balanced approach for the income investor. They have also often proved to be stable forces in the midst of turbulent volatility.

I remember a scene from a trip I took with my wife to Denver. Our hotel was right downtown, and there was transportation to everywhere we wanted to go, so we decided not to rent a car. Our flight had arrived, but we needed a ride to the hotel. They had a shuttle, but we found ourselves standing on the curb for about 20 minutes, just waiting to be picked up. We were sure the shuttle would come by, it was just a matter of time before it arrived.

There are a lot of stocks that have been beat down during the recent correction that are positioned well for a comeback. Here are some stocks that are the best out there, and look really good at this point, and are just waiting to be picked up. The best stocks will do well at some point. We know they will, it

There are plenty of exchange traded products - ETFs and ETNs - you can use to trade volatility. But if the performance of these products are based on volatility futures contracts, why not trade actual volatility futures contracts directly instead?

For example, some traders will short the iPath VIX Short-Term ETN (VXX) against the VIX Mid-Term ETN (VXZ). This takes advantage of the usual state of contango in volatility futures, which I've described in a previous article.

The VXX owns volatility futures that expire in the one to two months from now, while the VXZ owns those that expire 4 to 7 months from now.

You might find, however, that bypassing these ETNs and trading the actual futures contract offers more precise trading opportunities that may be more profitable - and in some cases reduce losses.

But there are no guarantees when it comes to volatility futures or these exchange-traded

What is the best gold ETF in 2012? Probably not one you own. Many are familiar with the four largest gold ETFs, which account for the majority of all assets in gold ETFs. On the physical gold side there is the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) and the iShares Gold Trust (IAU) which combined hold about $73 billion of investor assets. On the gold stock side reside the Market Vectors gold mining ETFs, GDX and GDXJ. Combined they hold close to $8 billion of assets; however, none of these ETFs are not even close to being the best gold ETF in 2012.

The aforementioned ETFs are dramatically trailing the little known $17 million Direxion Daily Gold Miners Bear 3X Shares ETF (DUST). Perhaps trailing isn't the best word to describe the disparity in performance between the best gold ETF and the four most widely owned gold ETFs. Currently 1,650bps - over

In the short-term world of trading, your job is to anticipate the short-term behavior of others.

In the world of investing, your job is to take advantage of the short-term behavior of others.

Markets render a short-term verdict, but only professors believe them to be efficient. Warren Buffett famously notes (see here for more wisdom):

"I'd be a bum on the street with a tin cup if the markets were always efficient." Fortune April 3, 1995

"Investors should remember that excitement and expenses are their enemies. And if they insist on trying to time their participation in equities, they should try to be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful." Berkshire Hathaway 2004 Chairman's Letter

This is great advice, but difficult for most to follow. How can we tell when the market is inefficient and fearful. We need evidence! Should we bail out of the market?

The market has hit rocky times over the last two months. This has left many equities much cheaper than they were in March. For intrepid investors who had the foresight to keep dry powder at hand, it is time to slowly go bargain hunting. One high risk/high reward equity has pulled back some 40% to $5 a share over the last few months. Given its low valuation and recent insider buying, I think Genworth Financial (GNW) should be looked at by speculative investors looking to pick up its shares on the cheap.

"Genworth Financial provides insurance, wealth management, investment, and financial solutions in the United States and internationally." (Business description from Yahoo Finance)

Five reasons to pick up Genworth Financial at $5 a share:

• Seven insiders stepped up to buy approximately $500k in new shares in May.
• The stock is selling at the bottom of its five year valuation range

Interested in technology companies? Do you feel better knowing your favorite companies have enough cash to cover their operating expenses for a very long time? Do you prefer stocks that can bring in profits over the long term? We ran a screen you could find useful.

The Current ratio is a liquidity ratio used to determine a company's financial health. The metric illustrates how easily a firm can pay back its short obligations all at once through current assets. A company that has a current ratio of one or less is generally a liquidity red flag. Now this doesn't mean the company will go bankrupt tomorrow, but it also doesn't bode well for the company, and may indicate that it could have an issue paying back upcoming obligations.

The Quick ratio measures a company's ability to use its cash or assets to extinguish its current liabilities immediately. Quick assets include

It has been more than two months since I wrote my latest Lightning Round article - time goes by fast indeed. At the time of my last Lightning Round article, both the U.S. and European stocks saw the biggest weekly gain of the year. Now, it is the opposite in a wider time range.

I didn't expect things would get this bad for Europe, as Greece is getting ready to exit the eurozone and return to the drachma. While the Union is trying to keep Greece within the perimeter, I see little chance for such a success. Moreover, Spanish is on the horizon now, which led to a decline in U.S. stocks on Friday.

These days are among the foggiest days for the global economy, requiring extreme cautiousness when making a move. You need to handpick your stocks mercilessly and carefully, and think thrice before putting your money on them.

Pairs trades, going long one company while shorting another, provide outstanding returns for those that can identify trends in an industry or in the broader economy.

To say a pairs trade is risky, is an understatement. Using the equity from a short sale to cover a long position on another can decimate accounts in a very short time. Being wrong on either end of the trade can be costly. Wrong on both, disastrous.

One such pairs trade that has been to some an obvious trade for the last six years is to short Best Buy (BBY), while taking a long position in Amazon (AMZN).

Just take a look at the charts for these two companies since 2006.

Click to enlarge

Since May 2006, Best Buy has fallen from $52.20 to $19.17 (-63.2%), while Amazon has risen from $35.19 to $212.89 (+505%)

A $5k pairs trade of short BBY / long

SPDR Gold Trust ETF (GLD) has been bearish since its peak in late March. Being in a full bearish run, many analysts have it continuing this way. Gold has been bullishly influenced by government stimulus packages over the last couple years. And we do know the Federal Reserve said no more stimuli. Logic would have us continue to then look at gold with bearish glasses because the bullish catalyst won't be around anymore. But there was a time when there was no stimulus. Gold rose before the stimulus packages. If we look at the global markets today, what else outside of the stimulus packages could make gold rise again?

Right now, gold is no safe haven

Gold supporters always point to gold as a safe haven in times of trouble. It is a place of safety for people to pour money into. But right now, this is not the case.

In the past few months, oil prices have sold off heavily on four major factors: a higher dollar, a weaker global demand picture, a supply glut, and the apparent easing of Middle Eastern tensions. While the first three are undeniably true, one can easily question the last point, especially on recent developments in the Middle East region.

The biggest focus in the oil market is on Iran, less for its production capabilities (4.9% of global production), but more for its geographic position. Iran, through the strait of Hormuz control the major (20% of global production) supply line of oil tankers from the Middle East. Recently, however, hopes had been that talks in Baghdad between the P5 + 1 countries and Iran would create common ground and a democratic resolution.

I questioned and still do how any major talks will resolve any of the underlying issues, especially in the context of

Canada is the largest foreign provider of oil and gas to the United States, and the two countries are generally friendly, making many Americans not even consider Canada a foreign energy source, or deem it an acceptable one. Still, many Canadian citizens, oil and gas equities, and the country itself, must not be feeling too pleased by the recent U.S. government's denial of the Keystone pipeline, which would have facilitated the distribution of dramatically increased levels of Canadian petroleum into the Unites States.

Additionally, natural gas prices within North America have fallen dramatically over the last two years, reaching historical lows within 2012. The apparent bottoming process for natural gas process may be over, as gas prices have increased by about 30 percent over the last month, but such is no certainty. Moreover, the capacity and trade problems highlighted by the Keystone roadblock have compelled many investors to exit positions

On May 7, 2012, CNBC published a brief article, "US Supreme Court Ruling Key to Cigna Trade". In June, the Supreme Court will make a ruling on the constitutionally of the Affordable Health Care Act. The Supreme Court is divided 5-4, with five of the justices appointed by Republicans, and four appointed by the Democrats. This 5-4 Supreme Court margin could play a big difference in the legalities in the Affordable Health Care Act and this could have an effect on CIGNA Corporation's (CI) stock price.

Cigna can be described as a holding company that specializes in managing health plans for companies that self-insure. Cigna is broken up into five major business segments that are Health Care, Disability and Life, International, Run-off Reinsurance and Other Operations. About two-thirds of Cigna's revenue comes from the Health Care Segment that entails HMOs PPOs, dental and prescription drug plans.

Over the last couple

The biggest threat to Sirius XM's (SIRI) stock value could be its CEO, Mel Karmazin. Mel's behavior seems to be becoming more egotistical and erratic, and it will definitely hurt Sirius's stock value. If his erratic outbursts don't stop soon, Karmazin could turn into his company's biggest liability.

On Tuesday, May 22, Karmazin gave a performance worthy of Charlie Sheen at Sirius's shareholder meeting in New York City. Among other things, Karmazin claimed that he was smarter than the Oracle of Omaha. The Wall Street Journal reported that Karmazin said, "Even Warren Buffett would not be a suitable boss if he controlled the board."

If that egoistical outburst was not bad enough, there was what Karmazin said about his company's own stock with a Wall Street Journal reporter sitting in the room. He said, "Our stock sucks." That's right, Karmazin said his own company's stock is a terrible investment with

The world's most popular social networking site, Facebook (FB), launched its initial public offering (IPO) last Friday, May 18. On Thursday the 17th, Facebook announced the IPO stock price would be $38 per share. Just eight years after the social networking site was formed, its IPO is the third largest in the history of the United States, valuing the company at $104 billion.

Facebook stock opened around $42 on Friday, about 4 dollars above its IPO price. However, by the time markets closed Friday afternoon, it was just 23 cents above its IPO. Some see this lack of a market gain as a huge bust for Facebook's IPO, while other analysts are not surprised by the lack of volatility from its initial $38 per share price.

It is imperative to differentiate between a successful IPO for Facebook versus what its investors may have like to see. Facebook likely succeeded in