This week on Stockhouse February 19 – 22

February 24, 2008 by Douglas A. McIntyre

The TSX and the Dow parted ways this week as commodities lifted Canadian markets.

Gold, platinum, silver, copper, oil and soft commodities led gains across the TSX and the TSX Venture exchange, though the Dow was not so lucky. Poor economic data and mixed earnings news and guidance, along with continued turbulence in the bond rating and bond insurance markets, offered no support for the U.S. index

On Monday…

Markets were closed for President’s Day in the U.S. and the new Family Day holiday in Ontario, but Stockhouse regulars continued to file news.

Danny Deadlock reported on a uranium play and a fallen-out-of-favor junior gold company in Positive sampling results lift shares of uranium play.

RRSP Strategies: Part 7 had Preet Banerjee explaining how you can hold your mortgage within your retirement fund.

“Evidence favoring a recession is mounting,” said Trader Thoughts in Bears take a breather.

Luke Brocki plumbed the depths of uranium sector lows in search of a bottom – and may have found one – as he reported in Uranium spot prices steady.

Then on Tuesday…

Dr. Marc Bustin of Casey Research shared this in-depth report on conventional versus unconventional natural gas resources in The push toward unconventional gas.

Next up from Casey Research came Commodities: looking beyond the news, with an eye toward what the future might bring for “fleet-footed” investors.

Community contributor and frequent blogger liverless made a case for how “compound interest development” will continue to push up prices for agricultural commodities well into the future in High protein diet equals high prices.

A Q&A with David Reidel of China Investment Opportunities highlighted the severity of recent winter weather on China’s energy situation in Weathering short-term cold in China investment.

Adrian Mastracci encouraged investors to stick to a simple game plan with his ten Tips for investing in jittery markets.

In Buzz on Commodities, Stockhouse investors explored the potential for the metal ferrochrome in Define ferrochrome.

On Wednesday…

Once again Steven Saville brought his unique perspective on the markets to Stockhouse readers, this time with a look at the performance of long term T-bill yields over short term yields as a leading indicator of the HUI / gold ratio, in Gold stocks versus gold bullion: the pressure builds.

Carrying on with the same subject, Boris Sobolev noted that “small caps traded on the Venture exchange in Canada are now at their lowest level relative to gold (real money) since the beginning of the gold bull market,” in Why juniors are underperforming.

Stacey Laliberte weighed in with his take on newsletter writers in The investment newsletter a useful tool, the third in a series of articles on the subject direct from the Stockhouse community.

For RRSP Strategies: Part 8, Preet Banerjee laid out ten ways for investors to spend their RRSP refunds.

Read what Stockhouse investors are saying about the markets in Markets fight to advance, and follow it up with SH thoughts on commodities in Uranium stocks: Buy now or hold off?

Stockhouse reporter Robert Arber had the opportunity to speak with Kevin Bambrough of the newly formed Sprott Resource Corp. (TSX: T.SCP, Bullboard), and his article on the company’s coal and agriculture acquisitions is called Sprott Resource Corp. tackles coal, phosphate markets.

On Thursday…

Darin Diehl, executive editor and publisher at Stockhouse, conducted an eye-opening interview with author Andrew Keen on the subject of social networking and the long tail, reprinted on the SH front page as The anti-social views of Andrew Keen.

For RRSP Strategies: Part 9, Preet Banerjee detailed a few ways you can protect yourself from high taxes if your RRSP account has too much money in it when you retire.

QualityStocks.net reported on a newly listed oil and gas junior in Grand Tierra Energy building a new foundation.

Stockhouse writer/editor Keri Korteling provided readers with an analysis of Mike Rodger’s blog, Mike Rodger – Longview Capital, in Best of the Blogs.

Glimmers of hope for the junior mining sector are breaking through on the Bullboards, and Buzz on the Markets got the scoop in Are the junior miners gaining traction?

Finally, on Friday…

Nancy Zambell of Financially Fit outlined life insurance options in The A,B,Cs of life insurance.

Author Trendsman returned with a chart-filled look at the uranium sector in which he makes a case for why the bottom could be nigh in Uranium stocks bottom.

Community member yoyoyo9992 reported on a junior silver miner and on the junior mining sector in general in Silver Dragon stirs.

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