Traders remain nervous today despite approval from Congress on the final draft of Hank Paulson’s bank rescue bill. European stocks are heading towards three-week lows. US futures are down. Floyd Brown at Investment U says this is distracting from the long-term picture, and some great bargains, for contrarian investor.

Wall Street is a product machine. They are always devising new “packages” to sell their customers. A basic word of advice I can never share enough with new and seasoned investors alike is: “Know what you are buying.” This hit me again last week.

Given the gut-wrenching financial turmoil of the last year, many investors are looking for more secure ways of investing.

Floyd Brown says one way of doing this is to rethink the “boring” image of dividend-paying stocks. These stocks can offer great returns and a steady cash flow.

Floyd says there are five pharmaceutical companies offering outstanding dividend yields in a growing sector. And with most negative sentiment already priced into the stocks, downside risk is limited…

Shares in this transport sector have been hit hard, following the recent downgrading of the trucking sector by a Wachovia Capital Markets analyst.

But contrarian investors should be wary of such ‘expert’ opinion. Floyd Brown in Investment U says: “Trucking is an integral part of our national goods transportation network. And because it’s tied so closely to our economy, it will also be one of the first sectors to see a turnaround.“

Floyd says savvy investors should follow Warren Buffett into undervalued transport stocks now…

Floyd Brown says it’s important to keep a portion of your portfolio in contrarian plays, even in a bear market. But it can be tough to distinguish between undervalued firms and garbage.

Billionaire Texas financier T. Boone Pickens‘ BP Capital commodity fund dropped in value by 34% in July, according to figures obtained by the New York Post.

Fortunately for Pickens, he has a plan to move away from volatile oil. It’s called the Pickens Plan. It involves converting US cars to run on natural gas instead of petroleum and devleoping a massive wind farm in Texas.

Floyd Brown at Investment U says Pickens has a history of being in the right place and the right time and profiting handsomely. Floyd has picked four stocks to help you follow Pickens’ lead into natural gas and wind energy…

There are real-estate bulls out there. But most economists see US housing prices staying in the gutter until late 2009 or early 2010.

The current bear market has hit REITs particularly bad. Wall Street has dumped REITs in a hurry to get rid of any exposure to property.

This sets up a great contrarian investment play, according to Floyd Brown at InvestmentU.com. That’s because much of the selling has been irrational. Unlike the banks, REITs have been able to protect their value and their income. The majority own commercial properties with long-term tenants, stable values and fixed income payments. Floyd has singled out three ways to profit…

I walked into the University Place Branch of Bank of America on Saturday morning and was eyewitness to a shocking run on the bank. An unruly crowd had taken over the lobby of the branch. Every station in the normally deserted suburban banking center was full of customers.

Analysts normally use the discounted cash flow method to analyze stocks. But this method usually ends up returning shockingly poor results. Instead, there are three simple methods of stock analysis that work wonders, says Floyd Brown over at InvestmentU.com…

This is not the kind of thing you hear often in contrarian investing circles.

According to Jeremey Siegel, a professor of finance in the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvannia. “Stocks remain your best investment for the long run. Neither bonds nor gold can match stocks if you have an adequate time horizon.”

Gold bugs Bill Bonner and The Mogambo Guru may disagree. But Floyd Brown at InvestmentU.com says “given the bank and mortgage defaults and the depressing results of stocks this summer, Siegel’s message was reassuring and full of optimism.”