Stocks soared today.  So much for the sell off during the last hour of 2009.  Those losses are gone.

Commodities including gold and oil jumped today.  Stocks, being driven mostly be liquidity as opposed to a sound economy, will continue to rise in tandem with commodities.  Since commodities offer more inflation protection typically than stocks, I will continue to stick with commodities.  I remain only long sound companies that I believe will hold up over prolonged economic weakness.

I will not touch financials, REITs, home builders, etc. no matter how much money Uncle Ben prints up at the Fed.  I’d rather own gold.

When seeking out investment recommendations, I continue to pay attention to stock recommendations by people who believe the U.S. is in terrible shape economically.  This is in opposition to “experts” recommending stocks backed by a belief that the U.S. will recover completely.  If we actually do recover nicely, my long exposure will still do fine, but if we don’t recover, I’ll be better prepared than the average investor buying General Electric (GE) and Citigroup (C).  No thanks.

I don’t care if the Dow jumped 500 points to start the year.  Until major structural issues are addressed, which probably won’t happen until certain people are forced to, I will not blindly jump into the broad market.

While the rally continues, I will keep long exposure becasue the trend is powerful, but I will always have one eye on the exit.  I will also pay close attention to yield on my positions.  I don’t need sexy.  I need low risk, decent returns and sound fundamentals.

I will have updates in the coming days on some of my specific trades such as my Exxon Mobile (XOM) trade and some covered call positions I currently have in place.  Stay tuned…