At this point, it is good to look for the defensive plays that have been neglected in this upturn and for safe havens for investors taking profits from the recent run.  After looking long and hard, I came to General Mills Inc. (NYSE: GIS).

Anyone who follows a chart knows that the 200-day moving average can give clear signals whether a stock is in a bull run or a bear run. Since the moving average is for 200-days, it gives you a clearer picture of the fundamentals driving a company.

Starting around 2:00 p.m. in Hong Kong on Wednesday afternoon [1:00 a.m. Eastern Time], and following the sun as the London and New York bullion markets opened and closed, gold managed to add about $11 by 11:00 a.m. in Hong Kong…about 20 hours later on Thursday morning. Silver, following much the same pattern as gold, added 47 cents during the same period of time.

A 0.25 per cent cut in interest rates by the Bank of Canada helped propel the big board issues on the Canadian Markets into the black during Tuesday trading. For the tale of the tape, the TSX Exchange climbed 1.33%, while the TSX Gold Index fell 2.6% and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada’s largest junior exploration bourse, gave back 0.11% with the decliners beating out the advancers by a 349 to 325 margin on volume of 145 million shares traded.

Major energy companies are lined up to lock deals and land big profits with India’s new nuclear trade. India was out of the global nuclear loop for over 30 years, until now.

The base metals were all leaking red on Tuesday. Outside of a brief morning blip up, copper declined from the pre-dawn hours straight through, finishing at its intraday low of $1.4256/lb., down 11 cents from Friday. Pretty much the same story for nickel, which closed at its intraday low of $4.4006/lb., down more than 20 cents.

FTSEurofirst 300 falls 1.5 percent… Banks under pressure on poor economic outlook… Miners, oils slip…

The base metals were on little changed on Monday. Copper fell from the pre-dawn hours to the New York open, but rallied from there through the rest of the day, finishing at $1.6116/lb., up more than a penny.

The base metals were nearly all in the red on Wednesday. Copper declined from the pre-dawn hours straight through, only just coming off its intraday lows late in the day to finish at $1.4573/lb., down 2 2/3 cents.

With the U.S. credit markets in lockdown mode, a whipsaw stock market that keeps anyone from getting too comfortable, a banking sector in chaos and a recession that clearly won’t be ending any time soon, U.S. dealmakers are looking at a market for mergers and acquisitions that’s in a virtual deep freeze.