I got a couple of reasonable "oh no you di-ints" on the post this morning that tried to compare complex products versus simple.The fund in question is TFS Market Neutral (TFSMX).My only observation was that the fund is complicated. One reader noted that it has more than bounced back from its August 2007 low and another reader said that he doubted that staying simple could match the result from TFSMX over varied market conditions.The chart goes back to the inception of the Rydex Managed Futures Fund (RYMFX) which I own. The chart also shows two of the hotter sectors over that time, as measured by sector ETF, as well. It would be fair to criticize the chart as not being long enough but it has been a wild 17 months and it is as ...

Continuing the theme of avoiding the stronger sectors and buying some weaker areas, I had almost bought Canadian Solar (CSIQ) just a few weeks ago in the mid $30s - it ramped to low $50s, and a missed opportunity went by the wayside. [Jun 17: Canadian Solar (CSIQ) Raises Guidance]It has now pulled back 30% from its high of $52 two weeks ago, and this appears to the be the market's current favorite - the only chart I can find in the sector where the stock has not broken the 50 day moving average. This is not my favorite name in the sector fundamentally - a huge amount of their last earnings were nothing more than currency gains - but the market doesn't peek beneath the hood to realize that, so we'll go with the market. And frankly, all that I've gained from buying ...

By Jason Simpkins Associate Editor The State of Qatar will invest about $8 billion in Libyan companies across various sectors, officials told the Financial Times. The investment is one of many made by large, national sovereign wealth funds, or global cash barons, and will help Libya diversify its economy away from a reliance on hydro carbons. According to the FT, Barwa Real Estate Co., an affiliate of the Qatar Investment Authority’s $40 billion property wing, agreed to invest $2 billion in state-owned Libyan Development and Investment Co to develop commercial, residential and leisure facilities. Libya and Qatar also agreed to establish a $2 billion joint-investment fund, a $600 million Libyan-Qatari bank, and a $300 million sports and services project, according to unnamed officials. Story continues below… Sign up ...

Big Cap stocks along with financials are weighing on the S&P 500, Industrials, and NYSE composite index. On the other side, the NASDAQ enjoyed gains throughout much of the day despite stumbling into the close. Crude oil closed slightly above $122 a barrel helping out stocks. However, the nasty action being seen on the large cap indexes is quite troubling. Can a rally be sustained without them? Yes, but its the power behind that move would be in question. Just an overall mixed day with more distribution seen on the NYSE indexes. This market is sure in no man’s land. We have the NASDAQ that is looking to move higher while the S&P 500 continues to look real weak. There are some strong stocks that are oil and natural gas related pulling back quite nicely. Its exactly what you want to see ...

Now that the primaries for both US political parties are over, it is time for investors to begin to evaluate the likely tax change scenarios under the new government that will soon be installed.

All signs are that taxes will rise, but how much and in what ways will differ depending on who is president and which party controls the House and the Senate.

None of the changes are likely to be favorable to investors in general.  Accordingly, there will probably be shifts in what is more or less attractive to investors, with resulting changes in money flow and returns for types of investments.  Company behavior may change as well.

For example, dividends are a case in point.  After the tax laws changed to reduce taxes on dividends, equity income became more popular, several high-yield funds were launched, and companies increased dividend payouts.

If dividends taxes are increased, there may be a shift toward

...

Cramer proposed an informal Wind ETF based on stocks that make up the various sectors participating in the wind business…companies that make the blades, towers, infrastructure. Cramer didn’t necessarily recommend buying all of these stocks, as he was simply creating an index for what he believes is a long-term growth play. He does love Trinity and Otter Tail. Here are the stocks: 1. Trinity Industries (TRN) 2. Otter Tail (OTTR) 3. Woodward Governor (WGOV) 4. MasTec (MTZ) 5. Ameron (AMN) 6. Kaydon (KDN) 7. Thomas & Betts (TNB) 8. Broadwind Energy (BWEN.ob) 9. Vestas (VWSYF.pk) 10. Clipper Wind Power (CRPWF.pk) Track the Wind Index (except for Broadwind and Clipper, which don’t trade enough to track) at: http://www.trackthepros.com/categories.php?category_id=951 ...

On Tuesday, Jim Cramer said it was “time to ring the register” and sell. But what railroad stock was he BULLISH on?

He also remains bullish on rails like Union Pacific (UNP) and CSX (CSX) although he’d still take some profits there “just as a prudence method.”

Railroads were one of the sectors I highlighted yesterday based on strong pricing evidenced by the PPI report. However, while CSX and UNP both have high price momentum, their its free cash flow and return potential score poorly based on the models I use.

More interesting in my opinion is railcar leasing company GATX (GMT), based on its strong earnings momentum and neutral scores on most other measures.

Disclosure: At the time of publication, William Trent has no financial position in the companies mentioned in this article.

...

Only 6% remains of S&P500 companies to post Q1 earnings. Actually earnings fell by -17,5% against estimated growth +5,7% (data provided by Thomson on 1st Jan 08). Huge "contribution" had financials sector. Compared to Q1 2007 financials posted $142 bln less and finished quarter in loss of $28 bln.Q1 started badly by General Electric (GE) which didn't provide bright outlook for other earnings. Nevertheless it wasn't so bad quarter. If two sectors (the best - energy; the worst - financials) are taken out earnings actually grew by 2,9%. That's not so far from optimistic January estimates.Estimation for Q2 2008 are currently set negative -5,4%.http://stockweb.blogspot.com/atom.xml

I've already compared those 2 major finance portals but in reference to stocks screening. You can see my post here. Do you prefer Google or Yahoo? Let me point out some pros and cons.Initial pageYahoo has very well organized structure. It is more than just stock markets. You have all aspects of finance world structured in top scroll down menu. Market summary even for major European and Asian indices. Top stories are excellently highlighted. On the other side. It has advertisements. And no possibility to be personalized.Google offers nice sectors summary where the money flows. You have possibility to see your portfolio already on initial page. You don't see any ads. Now disadvantages. The biggest is top stories. It really misses the way how Yahoo can pick the most important stories and particularly highlight ...

If you’re not already in a pretty delta-neutral place, think about balancing things out tomorrow ahead of the 2:15 fireworks. We closed out one of our newsletter positions today for a small loss so that we can ride through the rest of May expiration with less risk and little concern about the magnitude of any market reactions.

We won’t do the reversal readings tonight, suffice to say that (with the exception of the QQQQs) the indexes have worked off their previous short-term overbought conditions, relieving the pressure by way of time rather than price. Still, if you have a bullish perspective there remain some points of concern. VIX and More has some great material on possible market complacency here, while the Ticker Sense folks remark …