This Week on StockHouse March 5 to 9

By Keri Korteling

The annual Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) convention in Toronto provided a lot of fodder for resource investors to mull over. Raw materials stocks moved higher as the markets continued to recover from last week’s sell-off.

StockHouse Executive Editor, Publisher Darin Diehl went to the conference and learned about gold investing and U.S. real estate (http://www.stockhouse.ca/shfn/article.asp?edtID=19413 ) when he spoke with Greg McCoach of the MiningSpeculator.com.

Gold analyst Barry Cooper of CIBC World Markets told investors that the commodities bull market is only in the fifth inning (http://www.stockhouse.ca/shfn/article.asp?edtID=19426), said reporter Sean Mason.

A junior producer that negotiated a smart purchase from Chile’s copper behemoth Codelco could be a cash machine for investors (http://www.stockhouse.ca/shfn/article.asp?edtID=19407 ), said Resourcex Reports’ Doug Hadfield.

This week’s Micro-cap Monday report delves into the history file (http://www.stockhouse.ca/shfn/article.asp?edtID=19406 ) to give readers an update about a diamond play, a gold junior, and a biometric security company.

Macro View of the Micro World furnished a run down of events affecting trade in small-cap stocks during February, and urged caution in the near term because of rising political tensions over Iran’s nuclear enrichment activities (http://www.stockhouse.ca/shfn/article.asp?edtID=19412 ).

Others chimed in with warnings. Jay Matulich, who was this week’s market wizard, said that he sees more trouble ahead for investors (http://www.stockhouse.ca/shfn/article.asp?edtID=19415).

While Matulich and others looked to the recent past to determine market behaviour, Steven Saville examined longer trends (http://www.stockhouse.ca/shfn/article.asp?edtID=19416), and noted that sometimes major structural trends can change market outcomes.

A few new entries from the StockHouse blogosphere were profiled in Editor Keri Korteling’s Best of the Blogs (http://www.stockhouse.ca/shfn/article.asp?edtID=19417).

And the top BullBoards posters and StockHouse features were listed in the StockHouse Top Five (http://www.stockhouse.ca/shfn/article.asp?edtID=19420).

Alternative energy (http://www.stockhouse.ca/shfn/article.asp?edtID=19418 ) has become a new hot sector, but the editors at InstitutionalResearchPartners warned these investments could be as risky as conventional energy plays.

One of the big health stories this week was InterMune’s (NASDAQ: ITMN) withdrawal of its Actimmune drug from late-stage trials, testing its use in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Leon Hamerling and J. Paul examined how this failure piled on the company’s previous missteps (http://www.stockhouse.ca/shfn/article.asp?edtID=19419).

IPOs have been scarce of late on Wall Street, and Jon Ogg reported Thursday’s big Clearwire offering (http://www.stockhouse.ca/shfn/article.asp?edtID=19421 ) was expected to set the tone for the rest of the week (http://www.stockhouse.ca/shfn/article.asp?edtID=19430 ).

Canadian markets regained some ground lost in last week’s sell-off, but ETF Check columnist Don Vialoux said investors may consider selling their Canadian equities ETFs (http://www.stockhouse.ca/shfn/editorial.asp?edtID=19424 ) in March.

Much of the market focus on sub-prime mortgage lenders rested this week on New Century Financial (NASDAQ: NCEN), but the Securities Sleuth reported Fremont General Corporation (NYSE: FMT) was ordered by the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to restrict its sub-prime lending practices (http://www.stockhouse.ca/shfn/editorial.asp?edtID=19425).

Diversification is the key for investors looking to capture some of the growth in emerging markets (http://www.stockhouse.ca/shfn/editorial.asp?edtID=19431 ), said Financially Fit columnist Nancy Zambell.

And John De Goey noted the irony that makes the wisdom of crowds (http://www.stockhouse.ca/shfn/editorial.asp?edtID=19432 ) wrong in financial markets.