In February, I wrote that the decline in stocks was just about over. Why?

In February, I wrote that the decline in stocks was just about over. Why? There was more money available to buy shares than at any time in almost two decades. The $8.85 trillion held in cash, bank deposits and money market funds was equal to 74% of the market value of U.S. companies, the highest ratio since 1990, according to the Federal Reserve.

Despite efforts by the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve to thaw the credit markets, normal lending remains hamstrung. This is a both a significant problem and an enormous opportunity.

Due to the magnitude of the recent bear market, we’ve been able to buy a lot of fine companies for less than $10 a share. Many of them are already trading considerably higher. Yet some readers want us to go all the way down to the cellar.

Investors in the West have a poor track record when it comes to the world’s emerging markets. In particular, they have a bad tendency to leave them just when they should love them. This is particularly true today.

In the rocky hills of northern Canada, companies are scathing the landscape in search of the next gold fortune. One minerals exploration company has found a strip of land that is showing anywhere from .2 ounces to 9.8 ounces per ton of the yellow metal. And make no mistake, 9.8 ounces of gold is simply HUGE.

When the New York Stock Exchange needed a computer operating system to handle its vast amount of daily transactions, it did not look to the perennial tech-bellwethers like Apple or Google.

Have we hit bottom? The U.S. unemployment crisis has changed the purchasing habits for the American consumer. The Investment U Research Team gives us two stocks that are benefiting from the recession and this new way of life .

Financial fraud doesn’t start out ugly…