Dr Marc Faber
It is with utmost interest that I watch the usually very upbeat news on CNBC. In fact, Mr. Kudlow and Mr. Cramer are extremely fitting commentators for the current economic and political environment. We have a righteous, intolerant and belligerent third rate intellectual who lives in a big white house, runs the world's largest economic and military power, and who has surrounded himself by some very shady characters who are also because of their complete military incompetence, and lack of any knowledge of history and understanding of geopolitical conditions very dangerous. At the same time, we also have the pleasure to regularly watch two fast-talking and squeaky clowns in the CNBC circus who, for the last few years, have given their upbeat views on any economic, financial and political issues.

Charles M. O'Melia
I would like to share with the reader an article printed in the financial section of U.S.A. Today on March 7, 2003 which exemplifies the awesome power of a stock dividend.

MICROSOFT TO ISSUE FIRST DIVIDEND TODAY
"Microsoft investors will get their first payday today,when the tech giant shells out its first dividend. At 8 cents a share, the dividend will cost the company $850 million. Co-founder Bill Gates, who owns about 1.2 billion shares will receive a dividend of $96.5 million. The dividend marks a shift for Microsoft, which had long hoarded cash - to the tune of $43.4 billion – for research, acquisitions and legal claims."

Shares of biotechnology companies have declined, after the much anticipated American Society of Clinical Oncologists meeting in early June in New Orleans. This sector has been on a roll ever since Genentech (NYSE: DNA) vaulted 45% on May 19, 2003 following positive news from Phase III trials of Avastin in colorectal cancer patients. Is the recent correction a good time to fish or cut-bait?

Before you decide to dump or load up on biotech stocks, it is worthwhile to look at the 3C's driving this sector: Cancer, Cycle-time, and Consolidation.

Investors who exclusively use broadly diversified, no load mutual funds for their stock investments often lose out on opportunities to increase the reward potential of their portfolios. This article looks at two methods investors may use to enhance the performance of their portfolio of diversifed, no load mutual funds.

Diversify, diversify, diversify!

Rebalance your portfolio periodically.

Bill Gross
Investing’s a circus you know. Messrs. Barnum & Bailey probably wouldn’t have had a clue as to what I’m talking about but the metaphor is more than apt. Every big top, you see, has a ringmaster who blows his whistle to begin or end the show (Greenspan), as well as its share of ferocious carnivores (portfolio managers). Then there’re the jugglers (traders), clowns (those that buy at tops and sell at bottoms), and the inevitable entourage of elephants holding each other’s tails (PIMCO’s surely one of those, although it’s hopefully the lead pachyderm – tail holding’s a pretty stinky job). But during our three-day Secular Forum held in early May, PIMCO’s 100+ professionals from around the globe took this circus metaphor to the very top of the tent. “Cast your eyes ladies and gentleman up to the high wire more than 100 feet above the center ring. The death defying global economy will astound you by walking the wire between ice (deflation) and fire (inflation). It’ll rebalance itself over the next 3-5 years before your very eyes, tiptoeing from a U.S.-centric global economy to one including Euroland, China, and its Asian neighbors. Truly the Greatest Show On Earth!”

‘Sector funds are too risky.’ ‘I doubled my money with Fidelity Select Technology in 12 months!’ ‘Avoid sector funds.’ If all of this sounds confusing, you are not alone. Sector funds are among the more misused and misunderstood investments. So, how should you use sector funds?

Before looking at one of the uses of sector funds in detail, let’s review what sector funds really are: Sector funds confine their investments to a particular sector of the economy. Fidelity Select Healthcare (NDQ: FSPHX) is an example of a sector fund. By focusing on stocks of companies in the healthcare sector, the price moves of this fund are more dependent on factors that impact the healthcare sector rather than the economy as a whole. Demographic change, such as increasing age of the population, is an example of a factor that particularly drives investments in healthcare. By diversifying its assets across over 60 companies within the healthcare sector, Fidelity Select Healthcare provides investors with the opportunity to benefit from secular trends driving the demand for healthcare while mitigating company-specific risks such as failure of clinical trials conducted by a particular company.

Let’s now look at a high-potential approach of using sector funds.

Jim Puplava
Financial markets are part fiction/part reality with public perception acting as the driver. What drives markets over shorter periods of time is the belief system held by its active participants. This is no more evident than today’s widely held beliefs of a strong U.S. economic recovery with accompanying low inflation rates. While it is acknowledged that inflation rates may head up in an environment where financial markets are concerned over deflation, a slight up-tick in inflation is now welcome. In fact it is now viewed as a positive.

The U.S. economy is growing at its fastest rate since the mid-90’s. Yet these growth rates have failed to ignite the financial markets or create real jobs this year. Since January all of the major indexes have given up their gains and have now turned negative. An element of uncertainty has been injected into the stock market. The Fed is in the process of changing monetary policy and will embark on a series of interest rate hikes that will raise borrowing costs in an economy that runs on credit. While speculators rest uneasily on pins and needles as to when the Fed will pull the trigger, the markets have already begun to react. As shown in the two charts below, interest rates on the 10-year note and the 30-year bond have risen by almost 100 basis points.

How many times has this happened to you? You're at a social function and the conversation turns to investing. Pretty soon, people are comparing how well their investments are doing. As you might imagine, being an investment advisor this happens to me a lot. However, I recently had an experience with it that startled me.

Bob, one of the guys I was chatting with at a party, asked what kind of returns I had made for my clients with my methodical no load mutual fund strategy during the past year. I replied that they had unrealized gains of slightly over 29%, after management fees, for the 8 months that we were invested.

Dr. Richard S. Appel
Gold, silver, gold and silver equities as well as numerous commodities suffered severe losses during the past several days. Gold and silver after posting highs a few short weeks ago of $432 and nearly $8.50 respectively, struck their recent lows of $390 and $5.99. Both the major gold and silver producers and their junior exploration counterparts followed the metals lead, and quickly sought lower prices. Similarly, additional commodities including platinum, palladium and copper gave back what felt like much of their recent spectacular gains. It is amazing how the substantial paper profits, which were created by the tortuous movements these markets traversed to their recent highs, could so quickly turn into significant losses for latecomers. Yet, even for those early entrants who still possessed massive profits, the precipitous falls sent shudders through their startled, trembling bodies and left them with a feeling of despair. How could this be, muttered a legion of suffering investors and traders, if these commodities and stocks are truly in Bull Markets?

During the go-go days of the late 90s, capital was cheap and wireless service providers invested heavily amid ever increasing projections for wireless subscribers. Then the bottom fell off. Brutal price competition and the resulting customer churn took a heavy toll on operating margins as the DJ Wireless index swooned over 90% from March 2000 to October 2002. The industry has been getting its act together on the pricing front for some time. Customer churn rates have moderated. Capital expenditure has been reined in and operating margins have expanded. Low interest rates have enabled debt-laden companies to strengthen their balance sheets. Nextel Communications (NDQ: NXTL), for example, has been able to slash its debt by a whopping $5 billion. The improvement in the operating performance of the wireless technology companies has attracted significant investor attention. Fidelity Select Wireless (NDQ: FWRLX), a mutual fund that concentrates its investments in this sector, has doubled its net asset value since the end of 2002.The obvious question for investors: Is it time to hang up?