Does the sex of someone really play that crucial of a role in the way they invest? A recent study conducted by Merrill Lynch polled over 1,000 U.S. investors (500 men and 500 women) get a better understanding of their investment thought process, including their mistakes, attitudes, beliefs and knowledge levels. Is sex something you should really take into consideration before choosing a financial advisor?

The results of the study might surprise you. It turns out there is a significant difference in each of the categories listed above when it came to how women investors thought about the problem as compared to how male investors thought about the problem.

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In typical Google fashion, today the Internet giant launched its beta version of Google Finance. Google Finance primarily provides financial news, stock quotes, charts and data. In its trial form, the site is far less comprehensive than established financial sites such as Yahoo Finance, MSN Money Central, America Online's Money and TheStreet.com. It differs from the above competition in that it will not be creating any of its own news and/or stock information, including charts. It will use the popular AJAX technology to power many different aspects of the beta site.

My personal take on the new site is positive. I believe there is a lot of room for improvement on the homepage (speaking from a usability perspective). The individual stock information page has some very nice AJAX features and a very clean layout. My favorite feature being the ability to scroll back in time and check the news for that day on a specific stock. Overall I like the beta look and feel despite the limited functionality compared to the other well established finance sites such as Yahoo and TheStreet.com. For the record, my favorite and the one that is set as my homepage is Yahoo! Finance.

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I have so many great stock picks right now that it was hard to choose which one to post this week. After a long period of debating with myself, I decided to choose one that I thought was setting up nicely for a breakout come mid-April/early-May. That one stock was Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (TEVA).

Teva Pharmaceutical describes themselves as a global pharmaceutical company specializing in the development, production and marketing of generic and proprietary branded pharmaceuticals as well as active pharmaceutical ingredients. Teva is among the top 20 pharmaceutical companies and among the largest generic pharmaceutical companies in the world.

Teva's recent pullback has setup a great buying opportunity here.

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The newest stock to capture my attention emerged due of the increasing institutional cash flow into the sector and how the market is positioned. Often times when the market becomes very choppy like this, institutions look to move their money into the Financial/Consumer Financial Services (.FCF) sector. There are a number of stocks within the group that are benefiting from this and have been benefiting since mid November. The one that has caught my attention is Asta Funding Inc (ASFI). With strong earnings, positive upward trend, and industry momentum, Asta Funding is positioned well for future growth. A recent pull back has setup a good entry point as the MACD and FULL STO start to turn bullish again.

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With all the hype of interest rates possibly tightening a few more times, the market has been treading on very shaky grounds lately. With the number of stocks declining far outweighing the advances this week, I think it is time to reiterate some of the most important investment rules. Here are two friendly reminders that will save you money in shaky times.

Rule 1: You can not control the market.
Thus you should not try. Instead focus your attention on going with the market flow. Take what the market is giving you, instead of trying to give a stock to the market. Do not be stubborn, especially in a market like this. Trying to force a loser stock to go back up by continuing holding it will get you in more trouble here.

Rule 2: Investing is more than just making money. Investing also includes not losing money.
You have to know when to take your profits. Nothing hurts more then watching your portfolio get crushed by a single stock that you still believe in and are trying to force the market to like. Take your profits and cut your loses when the economic indicators tell you too!

Remember, investing is half making money and half not losing it!

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Many of those who know my investing style already know I am not a big fan of "buy and hold". What I do support is the concept of "buy and be patient". Wait for the economic indicators to help determine the most appropriate time to exit a stock. One primary reasons for this is the fast cycle in which the market moves. Institutional money is constantly rotating from sector to sector and thus beating the institutes to the punch can be very profitable. Your money is much better suited in a mediocre stock in a strong sector, then a good stock in a weak sector.

With all this said, you can imagine how much importance I put on sector analysis and the flow of institutional money. Institutional money makes up over 70% of the market and is almost always the force needed to push stocks through resistance levels. So where is the institutional money headed now? What sectors are heating up and where should your money be?

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Are you lost in the market? Need some more good investing ideas but can't seem to find them? What you really need is a GPS Satellite system to help you navigate your way to the best opportunities. Ok, so maybe they don't make a GPS navigation system for the market, but they GPS satellite market is booming and setting up to grow even more.

The two stocks that are on my radar screen in this sector (Electronics/electronic equipment Widx .EEE) are NovAtel (NGPS) and Garmin (GRMN). Both of these companies are leaders in their sector and both of these companies have set up very well for another strong breakout.

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I returned home from a much-needed vacation to Cancun, Mexico late last night and to my joy found my portfolio up very handsomely. The big winner was Western Silver Corp (WTZ), a mining company that I recommended but 3-days before the big news. Western Silver Corp. shares skyrocketed 27.21% that day to finish at $21.60 per share, with above average volume trading.

On Friday, Western Silver and Glamis Gold Ltd. (GLG) announced an agreement whereby Glamis will acquire, through an agreed plan of arrangement, all outstanding shares of Western Silver for a total consideration of approximately $1.0 billion (USD). Under the plan of arrangement, each Western Silver shareholder will receive 0.688 of a Glamis common share and one share in a new exploration and development company ("ExploreCo") for each issued Western Silver share.

Congratulations to all my readers who cashed in on these huge gains.

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