Please welcome Paul Judd to the Trader’s Blog stage where he will present to you a very interesting trick…BONDS ARE GOOD! Paul should know as he’s dedicated the last 14 years to treasury bonds where he’s learned the in’s and out’s that we should all take a look at! So please read the article below, visit Paul’s Blog here, and let the comments fly!

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I can take a position in the bond market prior to the release of an economic report. Once the report is released, I can close out my position and take profits. Cash is King!

Not so if you are a long-term investor in stocks.

A popular slogan used by many “salespeople” on Wall Street is to buy and hold for the long term. However, not only is your money tied up for years but also holding for the long term doesn’t necessarily mean you will make a

The number of Chinese with Internet access is increasing at an astronomical rate – after all right now, the region’s penetration rate is only 17% compared with 75% here in the U.S. And along with that growth, opportunities are emerging for a select few investors to get in on tech growth in the Far East.

Most of the time, backdoor plays offer the largest profits in growth industries like this one. Sometimes, however, a straightforward approach is your best chance at the quickest gains. This is one of those times.

Take China Mobile (NYSE:CHL), for instance. This telecom behemoth is the most obvious play in the region. In the last three years, the company doubled the number of subscribers and grew its bottom line 107%. That’s a rare feat for a $230 billion company.

China Mobile’s growth is impressive, but it’s nothing compared with what a small-cap player can do in this

by John Border

The NASDAQ though we know it as an exchange is not an exchange, and works like an automated mechanism where buyers and sellers can meet. The NYSE works on the system called double auctions where in the highest bidding buyer competes with other buyers and the lowest bidding seller bids against other sellers.NASDAQ though not very old has give tough competition to NYSE.The technology focus has helped NASDAQ some inherent strengths.

In NASDAQ much like in the real world each broker or the dealer as you may want to call it has an inventory of shares which they are willing to sell and that means that they can easily assume that their inventory along with other broker’s inventory will be taken care of. In effect each order if fulfilled based on how much inventory or shares you are holding.

As an example I will show how …

CME to gain new rival as New York-based ELX sets plans to start operations in June. 

A new futures exchange  backed by some of the biggest banks and broker-dealer groups in the world is apparently ready to begin operations in June. 

The Electronic Liquidity Exchange is aiming to break the "near-monopoly" grip the Chicago Mercantile Exchange  has on futures markets in the U.S., according to the Financial Times. 

The New York City-based exchange was established by a dozen financial firms: Bank of America, Barclays Capital, BGC Partners, Citadel, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank Securities, GETCO, JPMorgan, Merrill Lynch, PEAK6 and The Royal Bank of Scotland.

In October 2008, ELE named  Neal Wolkoff as its chief executive. He was a former CEO of the American Stock Exchange. Before that he served as chief operating officer of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

At that time, Wolkoff said: "Initially, ELX will focus on the significant opportunity to bring lower transaction

Today after the closing bell, Warren Stroud, President and CEO of Convergence Technologies Inc., issued the following letter to shareholders:

Dear Shareholders:

After taking a close look at our strengths and weaknesses, we came to the conclusion that we were not fully utilizing our major assets - our management team and our public company. Realizing this, we have modified our business plan.

Convergence Technologies Inc. will be changing its focus from being a vertically-integrated voice to voice company to becoming a conglomerate with a voice to voice division. We are now actively involved in a number of non-telephony related ventures, which will be announced in future releases.

Our primary reason for making the modification was to ensure that we build shareholder equity for our stockholders. It is our objective this year to take steps to list on a Nationally Recognized Exchange.

Our interest is to apply for the NYSE Alternext, formerly known as the American

China Voice Holding Corp. announced that it will receive $10 million in cash over the next two years as well as receive up to 21 million shares of FLTT valued at approximately $8 million in exchange for its U.S. operating subsidiaries and 15,000,000 shares of CHVC common stock. The transaction provides China Voice with additional capital to take advantage of synergistic opportunities in China. The company intends to continue to maintain offices in the United States and will retain most of their key Executives and Board of Directors.

China Voice President and CEO, Bill Burbank said, “This cash and stock transaction provides capital resources to fund our move onto a new trading exchange and beyond as well as additional funds for software development to support the Company’s current and new China Unicom cellular opportunities in China. While this transaction reduces most of CHVC’s current sales revenue, it will however enable the Company

President-elect Barack Obama yesterday (Thursday) named Mary L. Schapiro – a strong proponent of protections for individual investors – to head the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission when his administration takes office next month, the biggest of three nominations with potential financial crisis implications.

And in the latest addition to his Obamanomics plan, the president-elect has also proposed a massive stimulus package of as much as $775 billion over the next two years as part of a historic infusion that’s aimed at overhauling America’s infrastructure, schools, broadband networks and energy use, a Congressional source told MarketWatch.com yesterday.

But making the Schapiro nomination official was considered a key move. In its Thursday morning issue, Money Morning reported that Schapiro had been chosen and that an official announcement would be made later in the day. And that’s just what happened.

Obama named

Trading on the American Stock Exchange (AMEX), Elixir Gaming Technologies Inc. provides turnkey gaming solutions to venue owners. They work with their major shareholder Elixir International who is part of the Melco Group. Elixir Gaming’s main business is the placement of gaming machines on a revenue share model in three, four and five star resorts, hotels, cruise ships, and other venues across emerging gaming markets in the Asia Pacific region. The Company has offices in Macau, Las Vegas, Hong Kong, Manila, and Cambodia.

Elixir Gaming has established operations in the Philippines, Cambodia, and Vietnam. They are building a stronger gaming presence via contracts for more than 5,500 electronic gaming machines for placing across more than 30 venues in the near future. The Company focuses their efforts on Asia as revenue from casinos and other regulated gambling activities in Asia is forecast to grow 14 percent a year to 2010.

Elixir collaborates with

Headquartered in Melbourne Australia, with offices in New York City as well, Legend International Holdings, Inc is a mining and agriculture resource-development company. The Company’s primary focus is on developing their phosphate deposits in the Georgina Basin in Queensland, Australia. The Company’s exploration licenses include approximately 5.2 million acres in Queensland and the Northern Territory, Australia.

Legend International Holdings Inc.’s acreage in the Georgina and McArthur River Basins in Queensland and Northern Territory, are prospective for phosphate. Legend’s phosphate interests in the Georgina Basin in Queensland include Lady Annie, Lady Jane, D-Tree, Thorntonia, Lily Creek, Quita Creek, Sherrin Creek, and Highland Plains. These have historical deposits of a minimum of 1.4 billion tonnes.

Legend is working to develop and mine their phosphate deposits to produce an average of 5 million tonnes per year of phosphate rock concentrate by 2010. The Company is also proceeding with their plans for a listing on

Not every automaker CEO is down on his knees with cap in hand. Some of them are too proud to beg… and Taipan Daily won’t have to beg either with the right options strategy.

Not every auto manufacturer wants charity, you know.

While Detroit’s CEOs were up on Capitol Hill whining and begging like street junkies for a mere $25 billion to tide them over until spring, salesmen from Bentley, Lamborghini and Maserati were working the floor of the Los Angeles Auto Show like madmen in an attempt to stem their stateside sales losses.

Now don’t let their $500 suits and smooth manners fool you. These guys are hurting too. Lambo’s down 15% (pretty much a match to the whole biz’ 2008 decline). And Volkswagen AG’s Bentley (VLKAY) group has slipped a whopping 30%.

No Pain Here

Perhaps the folks who buy BMWs and Mercedes are up against it right now. But