Solar energy technology uses the power of the sun in order to generate clean energy. As of today, many of the companies involved in this technology receives government subsidies in order to stay in business . As the technology will mature, the consumer costs will decrease. Because it will become affordable, there is a great potential for the future for this industry.

Two companies to consider are. ’JASO‘ (JA SOLAR HOLDINGS, CO, LTD). ’JASO‘ is buy below $5 a share. The other company is ’SOLF’ (SOLARFUN POWER DOLDINGS CO,LTD.) ’SOLF’ below $6 a share is a must for an investor to purchase.

At 8:30 AM, the U.S Department of Labor reported weekly jobless claims rose to 496,000. This number is significantly worse then Wall Street economists expected. Consequently, the stock market was down 150 points at the opening. The day before, the Dow closed up 100 points. Ironically, every day there is a story as to what causes the market to move in one direction or another. In retrospect, last year’s daily trader achieved better financial gains than the long term investor.
Going forward, how should an investor trade ? A investor should choose a few stocks for a long term position. On a day that the market is down severely, the trader should purchase those stocks. ETF’s are a great choice to make for investment purposes. Some choices include ‘QQQQ’ ‘XLF’ ‘XLK’ and ‘DIA’ . As the market rises, consider selling those positions. Until all potential world problems significantly decrease, this is an important strategy for an investor to follow. Resolution will take years.
‘BRCD’ was trading today as high as $5.75 a share. If you purchased the stock three days ago as recommended, an investor would have gained over 7% for three days. NOT BAD!

Today, GARTNER predicted that global chip revenues will increase 20% during the year 2010. GARTNER is a technology industry research firm monitoring the development of the technology industry worldwide.
Many companies within the IT and the technology industry are cash rich including giants such as Microsoft, Intel, Cisco Systems and many more. Technology did not participate in government bailout programs nor suffered any political backlash. This summer Microsoft will release their new version of OFFICE and WORKS. Together with their new operating system and Windows 7, their will be HUGH worldwide demand to upgrade PCs.
Microsoft (MSFT) is a must own for investors. Other companies such as Advanced Micro Devices (AMD),
Dell Computers (DELL) and Seagate Technology (SEG) will also do very well this year. For investors fearful of purchasing individual stocks, consider the tech options ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) XLK. XLK can be used as umbrella for the tech sector.

On Wall Street they are two types of people who give advice about the Stock Market. The first group do not know anything and the second group do not know that they do not know.

Every person has his/her opinion of what to buy and what to sell. The only knowledge we have is how much premium people are willing to pay today in order to own this stock in the future.

A buyer of covered calls has the right to purchase the stock within a specific period of time at pre determined price. The buyer of the covered calls has to pay the seller the premium in cash immediately. The seller keeps the premium money and he has the obligation to deliver the stock at a fixed price to the buyer. The price of the covered calls is determined by what the market perceives are the chances of this stock to go up value.

“BRCD” Brocade Communications Systems Inc was trading @$6.69 a share at yesterday’s closing.
After hours, the company released earnings . BRCD had a profit of $0.11 a share. However, Wall Street considered their full year outlook disappointing.
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BRCD will open trading Feb 23rd at a loss of about 20%, around $5.50 a share. At this point , a few brokerage houses downgraded the company. from a buy recommendation to a hold.
At this time the stock is down already 20%. Investors who bought the stock based on a buy recommendations were left holding the stock at $5.30 a share.
The brokerage houses who lowered the opinions included Jefferies, Stifel Nicolaus and RBC Capital Mkt.
In my humble opinion, this is the right time to buy BRCD at $5.30 share. Additionally, there is a good possibility that the company will be taken over by a larger one.
Let’s see how BRCD will be trading in 3 months from today.
INVESTMENT IDEA
Buy ISHARE of ‘DVY’ at $44.30 a share. DVY yields a dividend about 3.8%. Write covered calls against the stock for September 18th with a target price of $45 a share. If investor buys 1,000 shares it will cost him $44,300. The sale of the covered calls will yield $1,850. The net cost is $42,450. If the ETF will be taken away by September 18th,` the gain will be about $2,550. This appreciation of about 6% plus the 3.8% dividend ,will derive a 10% income for 7 months.