wall street

The U.S. dollar is down 22% against the Canadian dollar so far this year. Many investors fear it will keep falling. If you knew the U.S. dollar would keep falling, the best strategy would be to sell all of your U.S. stocks and buy them back when the dollar stabilizes. However, you don’t know where the U.S./Canada exchange rate is going next — you never do.

Wall Street stocks give you opportunities that just aren’t available in Canada

...

Last week, Barrick Gold (symbol ABX on Toronto) said that its research shows that global gold production has been falling by roughly one million ounces a year since 2000. Barrick is the world’s largest gold-mining company. Moreover, the company says that poorer-quality ore has driven down total global mine supply by roughly 10%. In Canada, the U.S, and Australia, for example, average grades of mined ore have fallen to nearly three grams per tonne. That’s down from roughly 12 grams per tonne in 1950. What’s more, Barrick says that South Africa’s gold output has fallen by about 50% from its peak in 1970.

How to profit from a potential gold shortage

...

Priszm Income Fund, $1.25, Toronto symbol QSR.UN (Units outstanding: 15.3 million; Market cap: $19.1 million), owns 60% of Priszm Limited Partnership, which owns 444 fast-food restaurants in seven of Canada’s ten provinces. These operate under the KFC (fried chicken), Taco Bell (Mexican food) and Pizza Hut banners. Priszm licenses these trademarks from U.S.-based Yum! Brands, $35.91, symbol YUM on New York (Shares outstanding: 467.7 million; Market cap: $16.8 billion), which is a long-time recommendation of our Wall Street Stock Forecaster newsletter. Priszm is the largest KFC franchise operator in Canada. The KFC brand accounts for over 90% of its sales. Priszm first sold units to the public for $10.00 each, and began trading on November 10, 2003....

Recently, President Barack Obama visited a Florida solar-power plant operated by FPL Group (symbol FPL on New York), one of the green stocks we cover in our Wall Street Stock Forecaster newsletter. The president was there to announce a $200 million U.S. grant to FPL that will help with the green stock’s installation of “smart meters.” Customers can use these meters to cut their power use and save on their electricity bills. The grant is part of the government’s continuing investment in strengthening and upgrading the country’s power grid. FPL is in a good position to scoop up even more green-power subsidies over the next few years. See below for more on this company’s leading-edge operations....

We noted with interest (and some amusement) the unveiling of the prototype of “The Rationalizer,” a new device that aims to sense day traders’ stress levels and alert them when it may be time to step back from trading. The idea is to ensure that traders avoid the mistake of trading based on emotion. The device is made by Philips Electronics (symbol PHG on New York), one of the blue chip stocks we’ve taken a close look at in the most recent issue of Wall Street Stock Forecaster (see below for a full update on this Netherlands-based electronics firm). The Dialogues Incubator, an initiative of Dutch bank ABN AMRO, also played a role in its design. Users of the device wear an “Emo Bracelet,” which senses a trader’s stress level and makes the accompanying EmoBowl, which sits on the traders’ desk, change from yellow to red as the trader becomes more stressed....

Companies in the highly competitive and fickle fast-food market are always looking for new ways to grow. Sometimes this involves introducing new products to try to take advantage of changing customer tastes. McDonald’s, for instance, has recently started selling premium coffee and healthier foods. Another way fast-food firms try to grow is through aggressive expansion into overseas markets. This is an area that Yum! Brands (symbol YUM on New York), which we’ve covered for some time in our Wall Street Stock Forecaster newsletter, has a particular talent for.

This large cap stock’s dominance in China gives it an edge

...

Investors often comment that we sometimes differ with the mainstream view on which stocks make good investments. That’s especially true with drug stocks. The general view on these stocks seems to be that they are can’t-miss investments because the baby boomers are reaching an age when they will need drugs for a number of medical conditions, and are willing to pay for them. As well, some investors feel that these companies stand to benefit from developing treatments for new diseases, such as the H1N1 influenza virus. (Below, we spotlight a stock that’s making a vaccine for H1N1, but faces fewer of the risks of drug companies. Read on for further details.)...

POTASH CORP. OF SASKATCHEWAN, $105.95, Toronto symbol POT, rose 3% this week on speculation that Australia-based BHP Billiton plc (New York symbol BHP) may try to buy the company. BHP is the world’s largest mining company, and a recommendation of our Wall Street Stock Forecaster newsletter. BHP is developing a potash mine near Potash Corp.’s operations in Saskatchewan, so combining these would offer some cost-cutting opportunities. Moreover, potash prices are low right now, so it would make some sense for BHP to make an offer. That’s not reason enough to buy shares of Potash Corp., but it adds to their appeal. Meanwhile, Potash Corp. earned $0.82 a share in the three months ended September 30, 2009 (all amounts except share price in U.S. dollars). That’s down 79.1% from $3.93 a year earlier. Sales fell 64.1%, to $1.1 billion from $3.1 billion....

During the 1990s, many investors held to a fixed idea that global stock market equities would be more profitable than North American stocks. This was especially true, so they claimed, of companies based in China, India and other emerging markets. We advised our readers to resist investing heavily in emerging markets during those years. Instead, we recommended that investors look to their U.S. holdings, and the buys we recommended in Wall Street Stock Forecaster, for overseas exposure. U.S. blue-chip stocks operate in many countries. And we felt that the domestic U.S. market offered opportunities that simply weren’t available in Canada. In the end, this advice paid off handsomely for our readers....

When you join my Inner Circle service, you get to ask me your own personal investment questions, plus you get to see what other Inner Circle members have asked, along with our answers. So you can see how the service works, and get a sense of how it might help your portfolio, I’d like to share just a couple of member questions about stock market trading strategy and stock ideas. I hope you enjoy and profit from them. Q: Dear Pat: My 79-year-old aunt has inherited $250,000 and has asked me to invest the money on her behalf. She is in good health, has pensions that cover her routine expenses, and two financially independent children who will inherit her estate. My thoughts are to invest half the money in about 10 high-quality stocks, as per your long-standing investment advice (essentially on behalf of her children), and leave the other half more liquid to cover contingencies, such as the possible need for in-home care....