It is not easy to be bullish right now, but sometimes being a contrarian is tough to stomach. However, it has been shown to work in the past if you have the discipline to adhere to the strategy.

Crude oil and metal prices are in the doldrums as the likelihood of a US recession grows. Mayer’s Special Situations editor Chris Mayer says this has commodities stocks at better values than they have been for years.

General Mills has been a standout performer in this bear market, and although we have it rated as Fairly Valued, we still think that there it may make a good addition to your portfolio. The company is positioned to take advantage of market weakness and recent results have been very strong.

An overview of the changes to our newsletter and the announcement that coverage for all 100 equities covered on our Ockham Research web site will be avialable to the public for free. Please visit www.ockhamresearch.com to view these research reports.

Emerging markets expert Irwin Greenstein says there are nine major potash players worth a look. Depending on the outcome of the Communist Party of China's Beijing meeting next month, Potash could become one of the best indirect China plays out there.

Another cheeky publicity stunt from a financial betting company determined to shock the City into parting with some increasingly scarce cash.

BetOnMarkets.com streaked through the Square Mile yesterday with naked men handing out scratch cards offering punters free trades to mark the launch of its 30 second flash betting initiative.

Sutor Technology Group Limited (SUTR), a manufacturer of steel finishing fabrication products and hot-dip galvanized steel in China, reported fourth quarter 2008 financial results last night. Revenues rose 14.5% year-over-year to $105.5 million. Net income rose 9.8% to $10.4 million, or 26 cents per diluted share, compared to $9.1 million, or 25 cents per share for the same period last year.

China Green Agriculture, Inc. (CGAC.OB), a producer of humic acid based liquid fertilizer in China, reported fourth quarter and fiscal 2008 financial results this morning. Fourth quarter revenues rose 18.1% year-over-year to $7.2 million. For the full year, revenues totaled $22.6 million, an improvement of 48.9% over 2007.

Nordic American Tanker is not a dividend achiever but a component of the NYSE Composite and Zacks Yield Hog index. From the end of 1999 up until September 2008 this dividend stock has delivered an annual average total return of 29.10 % to its shareholders. The stock gained 19 % value so far in 2008.

Please find below the Morning Report from David Evans, market analyst at BetOnMarkets.com

The FTSE is currently indicating a slightly higher opening, while the market awaits the testimony of Mr.Bernanke before the US senate committee. While this is US news, its repercussions will have no borders. Look for volatility to pick up towards the end of the trading day.

In a marvelous twist to the short selling story, the hedge funds roll out the 'have your cake and eat it' defence.....

Recently I received an interesting book on dividend investing, titled “The top 40 Dividend Stocks for 2008 – how and why to build a cash machine of Dividend Stocks”, written by David P. Van Knapp. The author, who also maintains the site sensiblestocks.com, decided to skip the publishers altogether and has his book available to readers online in a PDF format.

in this article we are highlighting a great mid-cap company in the Healthcare IT market. QSII has grown by leaps and bounds as the electrionic medical records (EMR) market has expanded greatly. The trend shows little signs of slowing and this stock may represent a good buy even though it is up more than 35% in the last 6 weeks.

These are the quick market stats for the past week: the MSCI World Index up by 0.3%, the S&P 500 Index up by 0.3%, the Reuters/Jeffries CRB Index down by 0.1%, the US Dollar Index down by 1.6% and the ten-year US Treasury Note yield up by 4 basis points.

Over the last few weeks financials have been decimated in the market and derided in the media causing increased volatility in the market. However, there are still a few lingering bright spots in the financial sector as we have pointed out one in particular here.