The latest two loans come courtesy of Charles Kirk of the informative The Kirk Report . This brings to the total number of project contributions up to 41 . The first project is for a restaurant startup in Tanzania: Jamila Mohamed and Mariam Rajab Chande are two entrepreneurs who do their business jointly. Jamila runs a restaurant and, at the same time, makes Kanga (a type of local attire made by tie and die). Mariam runs both a restaurant and a ladies' beauty salon in the Buguruni area. They have been involved in their respective businesses for the past six years, and are now asking for a loan of US$400 each to expand their business. The second project is for a fish salesman in Sierra Leone Unisa is 39 years old and married with two children. He sells fresh fish in the town of Magburaka in Sierra Leone. With his savings and a previous loan, he rented a small cold room where fish can be kept fresh. He sells the fish both retail and wholesale. His plan is to be the sole distributor o

If you are not wanting to invest into an individual stock, and are looking for something of value which hasn't the taint of financials, then the semiconductors could be the sector for you. Technology stocks have played a background role in the cyclical bull market, losing interest to the more energetic, commodity-based stocks. Technology is one of the early leaders out of recession and the semiconductors are a key component of any recovery. The sector has taken a beating since July, losing over 20% of its value - a true bear market and a worrying measure of the state of the economy. However, a number of factors have come into play which give the sector a distinctly bullish (technical) feel: [1] The recent break of declining resistance [2] New near term highs [3] A clean break of the 20-day MA [4] A bullish divergence in the CCI [5] Rising MACD following earlier 'buy' signal (although deep below the bullish zero line - so watch for a retest of 401 lows). Dollar cost averagin

Volatility and the S&P sit at two important tests; the S&P is nestled against 200-day MA resistance, while volatility holds at 50-day MA support. The relatively high volatility suggests a good deal of fear in the market which should be ( contrarian ) bullish for the S&P. However, the S&P sits at a ( potential ) major resistance level and with oversold stochastics for volatility combined with what looks to be a positive test of support at the VIX 50-day MA. It could be a rocky road down to August lows in a "Bah Humbug" kind of way for the Blue Chip average. If this turn of events was to occur it should reveal itself over the next couple of days. I suspect the next major downward turn for the market won't occur until Volatility makes its way back to the 200-day MA. So patient buyers might find some joy taking advantage of what could be a short, sharp, retreat for the S&P before rallying back to its 200-day MA (and possibly higher). , , ,

Commodities are at an interesting juncture. Threats of inflation (bullish for gold) are offset by falling economic demand (bearish for oil and industrial metals). Certainly the August-November run-up needs some time to absorb the gains. Given the two forces at play the likely outcome is to see some scrappy sideways action running between November highs/lows. I will be looking at stochastic mid-line support [39,1] as key; a break of this level would likely see a new November price low (and a new low for sideways channel).

Wonder Auto Technology ( WATG ) has a solid upward price trend, supported by good volume accumulation (buying spikes, and rising on-balance-volume combined with a volume breakout). The MACD is a little scrappy, but the latest 'buy' trigger occurred well above the bullish zero line. The stock is rated by Motley Fool's CAPS , and the company is optimistic looking forward. Follow the trend and trail that stop.

Not many stocks on the breakout watch list. PeopleSupport (PSPT) was interesting on a number of fronts. [1] The resistance break ($13.00) followed a confirmed break of the 200-day MA [2] On-balance-volume broke through its resistance prior to price breaking $13.00 [3] The lull from August through to November, including the period of market weakness, all occurred on light downward volume.

A day when the markets finally got rid of some of the shorts and may have tempted a few buyers back. With the shorts back on the sidelines and cash waiting to go to work, now is a good time to see what stocks are making a move. Axsys Technologies ( AXYS ) may have generated a relatively low volume breakout, but if the market switches back to buyer favor it may ride its up trend a little further. The fresh MACD trigger 'buy' well above the bullish zero line is another tick in the bulls favor. Fallond