I promise. Alexander Green and I are not in cahoots about the coming boom in corporate takeovers… We both researched the possibility separately. Unprompted, I might add. And yet, armed with different evidence, we arrived at the same conclusion. If you ask me, such a convergence of analysis in a narrow space of time shouldn’t be ignored. So today, let’s move on from why a takeover boom is imminent and focus exclusively on three takeover targets you can profit from…

While swine flu is spreading and certainly has potential to become a very serious situation (as does any flu outbreak) if it continues, comparatively speaking, that isn’t the case at the moment.

The pig flu is scaring the wits out of travelers across the globe. While a handful of companies are enjoying surging share prices today, the biggest winners will be the news networks that are blowing the whole thing out of proportion.

Talk about a winter of discontent… Over the past seven weeks, we’ve seen quite possibly one of the best examples of stock market fear in history.

As the market is breaking into new lows, it’s time to talk about trendline breaks (in this case to the downside) and what happens/what to look for after a trendline break.

In the past few years, a strange new “defensive” asset has appeared in the market.

Investors use the “defensive” label to describe businesses that enjoy steady demand for their products – like food, cigarettes and electric utilities.

There is a full economic calendar this week, but all eyes will be on the two-day FOMC meeting and the rate decision on Wednesday.

It will be interesting to see how the FOMC approaches this meeting. The current Fed Funds target rate is 0-0.25%, which in and of itself is rather strange. It is a moving target, not a fixed rate. Who determines which rate is used? My guess is this meeting will be used to clarify what the rate is. The Fed will either officially reduce it to 0% in a continued effort to resuscitate the economy, or lock it in at 0.25%. This would at least leave the Fed with one perceived bullet in the gun.

The rest of the…

It’s clear that 2009 is going to be grim in economic terms. Martin Denholm says investors should stick to sectors that fare better during recessions. The healthcare sector, discount retailers and utilities companies provide essential products and generate repeat business. Martin picks the strongest companies in these “safe haven” sectors.

There has been a lot of strong recommendations around biotech lately on Contrarian Profits.

Phase 1 Investor editor Rob Fannon recently wrote that biotech was one of the few market sectors to show positive returns as  many other stocks were getting hammered. He sees great values in the sector.

There’s a good reason for this strength. A struggling economy won’t hurt biotech and medical as much as, say, an automaker, retailer, or restaurant chain… And biotech is one of the few industries showing solid sales growth.

It’s volatility again, part two of a subject you probably didn’t realize you’d be dying to know so much about.