donzelion

Time to Buy China, Copper, the Canadian Dollar and Oil

Loonie is intimately linked with the U.S., but the Canadian debt obligations are orders of magnitude more manageable. Hence, if you like the U.S. economy long-term but worry about U.S. debts, Canada ought to look pretty decent in comparison.

Canada itself is not commodities dependent; rather, unusual profits and earnings growth of recent years were commodities dependent. I don't see a collapse in commodities, so much as a loss of credit for the commodity producers. I like gold, oil, timber, and potash during prolonged downturn: good to own, but not good to bet the farm on.

In terms of strategy, Canada's close ties to the U.S. plus Canada's relatively low deficit suggest most of the advantages of North America while avoiding one or two major liabilities. Given Canadian population, I like Canada's pro-immigration sensibility: the U.S. lets in agrarian workers, landscapers, and small scale contractors who fix up our homes; the Canadians let in doctors, engineers, and other professionals by the hundreds of thousands. It will position them remarkably well for the long haul.

What to Buy and Why: Barron's 2009 Roundtable, Part III

Faber's tech picks look a lot like several recent buys.

MSFT and INTC remain dominant, and the main question isn't who will unseat them, but rather how much they'll profit from their dominance. It may take years for them to earn returns, but they'll survive the downturn and pay a dividend that beats treasuries (and many bonds) in the interim - sounds like a good deal to me.