Graphene production is perhaps THE place to direct ones attention if one is planning to invest in this world changing material. It is the one essential part of the process yet it is the one thing most people know little about. The big secret that remains unspoken is that whichever technique wins out in terms of quality and commercial viability will be the place to invest. With the graphene revolution thought to last another 20 odd years before the market slows there is plenty of time to get in early and scoop up some profit.

There are four basic production techniques that are regularly employed in the manufacture of graphene. Each one has its advantages and disadvantages and each presents an array of challenges that must be overcome before the material can be produced on an industrial scale. One company in particular, CVD Equipment Corporation, has stolen the march in this respect when it brought to market the first graphene products made from its chemical vapour deposition method of production. However, three other methods remain that could outclass this production method and leave early investors out of pocket. Mechanical exfoliation, chemical exfoliation and bottom-up production from nanoscale carbon molecules are all potential rivals in the graphene production stakes and any duly diligent investor would be well advised to look further into these processes.

Much has been made of high mineralisation graphite mines from which can only be obtained the high grade graphite flakes required of some process. Yet with alternative methods of production and new technologies arising regularly the requirement of such high grade primary material may be an anachronism in several years time. Investors are therefore advised to keep a close eye on developments in the field lest their sure bet graphite mine investment becomes a poor relation to more technologically astute investments.

Two caveats bare repetition, as always do your own research before investing and never invest more than you are prepared to lose. The graphene industry is sure to be here for many years to come, all that remains is ensuring that you are on the right side of the market.

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My Long Top Stock Pick

My top stock pick for 2012 is Pepsi (PEP).  It’s one of those staples that will plow right through a bad economy.  It’s not going out of business, it’s sales won’t dry up to nothing if things stay rough, it can be afforded on a unemployment check budget, and most importantly it has a 3.2% dividend yield right now while I wait for appreciation.  Beat that 30 year treasury yield (what crazy times we live in.)  Look at the chart for Pepsi:

Pepsi (PEP) Jan 2012

Even in rough times Pepsi is a cash producer, dividend yielding, and has upside potential.  I’m even a Coke (KO) drinker personally, but I have to choose Pepsi for my stock of choice right now. It’s been a fairly tight trading range for awhile now, so I wouldn’t worry about timining too much because the yield justifies the time.

Top Stock Picks 2012 Short

My top stock pick that is a short play is Union Pacific (UNP).  This is my speculative play.  I have a feeling the oil line from Canada will get through.  As the election moves forward energy independence will be a hot topic and this will push for more drilling which will push lower oil prices which has been UNP (railways) best friend.  This stock has historically grown at around 9%, but has been on a trajectory more like 12% recently.  It doesn’t have the types of earning growth potential that a new hot tech stock does and I don’t believe it deserves this valuation.  If the stock price turns and the 50 day crosses back under the 200 day moving average I would short UNP.

UNP Jan 2012

Those are my two big choices at the beginning of investing year 2012. I certainly don’t recommend just having two stocks in a portfolio, these are intended to be talking points on my thoughts on investing this year.  However, it will be fun to look back this time next year and see how I did.

I’m trying to get the value back into Easy Learn Stock Market this year.  If you have any comments or questions feel free to contact me or comment on this page.

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Les pr??dictions de Nostra…

Buy From Art.com

These are only my thoughts and opinions.  However, since they are not influenced by any major government, political, or commercial interest they are at least honest.  (I know I’m a bit jaded).  Here are a few of my stock market predictions over a few different time periods.

Stock Market Predictions from now until 2012

The US equity market will continue to be highly volatile between now and the end of 2012.  The US is heading into a recession, but so are much of the 1^st world nations.  As bad unemployment and other economic indicators continue to roll out the stock market will continue to fall.  However, money will continue to flow to the US equity markets from other nations as they struggle and their currencies fall.  Interest rates will remain low, and quite possibly go lower so the savers will continue to be hurt.  Nowhere to hide your money.  My best bet is cash and the highest stock dividends in US staples.  (Food, Medical)

US Stock Market Predictions for 2012

The stock market throughout 2012 will remain choppy and overall flat to slightly down.  The government will be unable to accomplish anything as they are way too concerned with their reelection campaigns and with the republicans controlling the house, democrats controlling the senate, and a democratic president no real bills will get passed.  The state of affairs as they are now is the law of the land until after the election.  Since the majority of the country is very unhappy with economic affairs in the United States then market sentiment will continue to be bad.  I intend on keeping tight stop losses, even on my 401k, to prevent large losses, buying in after big market drops, and practicing my day trading skills.  Good traders will make great money.  Bad money managers and gamblers will go broke.

US Stock Market Predictions for after 2012

After the elections the market will improve if either party takes control.   Doing something will seem better than doing nothing.  My personal feelings are if the direction is towards debt reduction then 2012 will remain flat, but will become very strong going forward.  If the direction is towards stimulus then 2012 could be strong, but after that we could begin to see stagflation as the interest on debt due to increased debt with increased market rates will become too large to handle.

US Stock Market Predictions for the Long Term

The US is still the most successful nation and there is no better nation to grow going forward.  The Europeans are trapped in socialism with Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain holding them down, the Chinese are trapped by their communism where eventually the billions of poor will revolt, and the commodity rich Africans have no political strength.  The US will succeed and is the best bet for running a small business from, owning any asset class, and long term stock market investments.

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Proper investment management

If you are unable to handle this yourself, you can hire the services of an reputable investment service. This will not only save you lots of time, but you will be able to earn handsome profits by investing your money in the promising areas.

How to invest in a proper way?

You should never make a big investment in any one investment vehicle but spread your risk by making smaller investments in various schemes.

So what are the Best investments in the year 2011?

1. Mutual Funds -They offer one of the best investment options to you in 2001. Mutual funds have maintained good track record since decades and you can easily diversify your investment in numerous investment vehicles. This way, you are not placing all your eggs in just one basket and are minimizing your risks.

2. Gold & Silver - These precious metals provide stable returns over a period of time. Usually, they are volatile in price and you should avoid investing in the paper contracts or the futures. Instead, you should study the spot prices of these metals and purchase the physical silver and the gold bullion.

3. Real Estate – Both, residential and commercial real estate will shine in 2011. If you can negotiate well, you can definitely get some of the best deals in the real estate. With the current prices on the lower side, you can easily spot the bargain and make deals. Target evolving cities where massive development is taking place and negotiate on the properties that are close to the shopping centers and schools.

4. Commodities –They have performed well in 2010 and will excel in 2011 as well.

How to find some of the best places to invest:

It would be better if you work as per the advice of an experienced broker as they are aware of the current trends and can guide you on the best places where you can invest your hard earned money in a proper way.

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2. Looking out for good stocks to invest in 2011
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For those who want to invest in petroleum stocks, those will offer great returns in 2011. With the price of oil constantly going up, stock in the companies that exploit oil will also keep going up. When people purchase stock in oil companies, they know they are getting into a company that works in an industry that is lucrative and will be around for quite a while. The profits are often off the charts, and 2011 is shaping up to be another big oil year.

Other good investments for 2011 that are in a similar industry are the alternative energy companies. With the trend of going green still strong, companies that produce products that will capture renewable energy are still growing strong. These companies will maintain a huge presence at least through 2011 as many more people are finding that using green energy is just as easy as using the traditional sources.

With so many companies producing massive earnings already this year, most of the large blue chip companies will be excellent places to invest. The market has been recovering and is on its way to keep surging throughout this year, providing excellent returns for those who are looking for the best investment vehicles of the year. therefore, you should make an informed decision before making an investment.

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Even though the last couple of years have been largely dominated by an economic crisis, it is clear that the demand for energy is still increasing. In fact, it seems the world’s hunger for energy is almost insatiable. The implication, when it comes to investments, is that investing in oil still warrants serious consideration. But how can the average investor gamble on rising oil prices?

Oil ETFs

Exchange traded funds attempting to track the price of oil abounds. To invest in them, you simply buy shares, as you would with a company. Shares in Oil ETFs are traded on most, if not all, major stock exchanges.

Oil ETFs attempt to accurately mirror the price of oil through various instruments, mainly by trading in futures contracts and by investing in oil companies. The value of companies producing oil is closely correlated with the oil price, it is not a perfect correlation by any means, but there is a tendency of the value of oil stocks to rise, when the oil price does. In fact, for some companies, the value of the stocks tend to rise proportionally more than the oil price.

Oil Stocks

Smaller oil producing companies tend to see their value increase more than the proportional increase in the oil price. On the flip side, they also tend to see a larger fall in value when the oil price goes down. For the investor willing to tolerate significant risk, this presents the intriguing option of investing in oil companies. If the value of oil does indeed increase, a diversified portfolio of oil company stocks, should more than mirror that increase.

An easy way to invest in a diversified portfolio of oil companies is to invest in an oil mutual fund. Compared to piecing together a diversified portfolio yourself, this will save time and commissions. Compared to investing in just one oil stocks, this will drastically reduce risk.

Mutual Funds, Oil Companies, and Oil ETFs

There are a lot of options for investors looking to gain exposure to the price of oil. Which option you choose, should depend on why you want to invest in oil and how much risk you can live with.

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His strategy stems from the philosophy that being knowledgeable and intelligent about the companies you choose to invest in is more sensible than picking multiple stocks to throw money at in the hopes this will cover any lack of knowledge about the investment.

These days, the Fairholme fund outperforms much of the competition, yielding positive returns even in this struggling economy.  The fund Bruce Berkowitz founded in 1999 looks for opportunities in the morass of failing businesses where the beginnings of future star performers can be made.  The Fairholme fund has proven that this strategy is effective, delivering comfortable returns  every year that consistently beat the S&P 500.

When the Fairholme fund managers seek out a new investment opportunity, high on the list of priorities are business with heavy cash flow, and a promising line of services or products that won’t soon become obsolete.
Among the current lineup of twenty two stocks, the latest additions to the Fairholme fund include a stake in the health care industry with investments in United Health Group, Pfizer, and Forest Laboratories.

According to bruce berkowitz, health care is ripe to become a top performing industry.  Indicators of this are the projected needs of Baby Boomers as they continue to age, which also makes drug companies like Pfizer an excellent choice for providing the needed medications of future generations.  Drug companies that are well entrenched in the health care industry at present stand to gain significantly in the coming years.

If the success of Warren Buffet is any signal as to how the strategy of the Fairholme fund will perform in the coming years, we can expect Bruce Berkowitz to become one of the most talked about fund managers in the near future.

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Going green doesn’t mean preventing profits. It can be considered as revolutionary ideas or creations that will improve your life, or that of someone else, which won’t hurt the environment. One such example is the electric car. There are many new companies that have new patents which have been engineered for it. While the technology is not new, it is becoming more accessible for the general population. This provides a great possibility for a large market share and high stock price.

Another example of green profitability is solar energy. It was very expensive in the past if you wanted to incorporate that in your home. Now solar energy is used not only in the home, but by business and industry as well. You can keep abreast of new technology by watching the latest news, or a blog about green investments. You can monitor the various companies just as you would any other. You can then make your decisions about where to place your money.

The right IPO can provide you with enough profit to make a dent in your retirement, or college fund. You should start taking advantage of these new green inventions and their IPOs . You will find that it is possible to make money with green companies, and you won’t have to worry about sleeping at night wondering about the best intentions of the companies after you’ve purchased shares of their stock.

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Perhaps the easiest way to trade natural gas is to invest in a natural gas etf. ETF stands for Exchange Traded Fund. These investment vehicles are similar to mutual funds. Both are typically made up of a basket of related stocks.

There are several natural gas ETFs to choose from. But which one suits your investing style?

There are many ways to trade natural gas. There is SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Equipment & Services ETF, stock symbol XES. This Gas ETF tracks an index of oil and gas equipment and services companies. What this fund tries to do is to replicate (as close as possible) before fund expenses the total return performance of the S&P Oil & Gas Equipment & Services Select Industry^®Index. The goal of this fund is to have low portfolio turnover and lower costs. Some of the companies in this fund are Schlumberger, Haliburton and Diamond Offshore Drilling. These companies may not be in the index when you purchase this ETF. Check the website for its current holdings.

The SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (symbol XOP) and the Dow Jones US Oil and Gas Exploration & Production ETFs (symbol IEO) invest primarily in natural gas exploration. These ETFs purchase baskets of stocks that are involved in the exploration and production of natural gas. Some of the stocks in these funds have been Exxon-Mobile, Chevron and Conocophillips. Once again, check the fund websites to see the current holdings.

If you want to trade in a fund that attempts to reflect the daily price change of natural gas futures, then the United States Natural Gas fund (ticker symbol UNG) and the United States 12 Month Natural Gas Fund (ticker symbol UNL) may be for you. Both invest primarily in natural gas futures contracts traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange. These are un-leveraged funds, meaning they do not purchase futures contract on margin. By doing so, these funds can never have a margin call. The difference between these 2 funds is that the UNG fund must roll over the entire funds spot month futures contract each month. The UNL is a 12-month fund, meaning it has purchase natural gas futures in each of the firs 12 contract months of trading. Then each month, the fund only need to roll over 1/12 of its portfolio, there by lowering it cost and mitigating the effect of contango or backwardation on the fund.

There you have a brief look at the opportunities to trade the Natural Gas ETF.

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The Canadian Stock Exchange

The biggest Canadian stock exchange is the Toronto stock exchange or TSX.   The hours of this exchange are roughly the same as the NYSE (9:30AM to 4:00PM EST) with some different holidays:

• New Year’s Day – January 1, 2010
• Family Day – February 15, 2010
• Good Friday – April 2, 2010
• Victoria Day – May 24, 2010
• Canada Day – July 1, 2010
• Civic Day – August 2, 2010
• Labour Day – September 6, 2010
• Thanksgiving Day – October 11, 2010
• Christmas Day – December 27, 2010 (in lieu of December 25)
• Boxing Day – December 28, 2010 (in lieu of December 26)

U.S. Holidays*

• Martin Luther King, Jr. Day – January 18, 2010
• Memorial Day – May 31, 2010
• Independence Day – July 5, 2010 (in lieu of July 4)
• Thanksgiving – November 25, 2010

The Canadian economy is strongly based in exports of commodities and they have some famous large banks.  My Canadian stock picks will definitely fall in these two industries.  One Canadian oil stock I particularly like is Canadian Oil Sands Trust.  I believe the US will look to purchasing oil from non Middle East sources.  While drilling in the US is ideal, we’ll look to our local neighbors first, and Canada has no political inflammatory implications with it.  The oil sands have been known about for a long time it just wasn’t worth going after until oil prices shot up over the last few years.

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