The following is Part 2 of my five-part series on the roles of angel investors and venture capital investors in emerging technology sectors with explosive upside potential, such as the nanotech, cleantech, biotech, information technology and new media sectors.

Friday’s sharp reversal of Thursday’s gain is a pretty stark reminder of how little (if any) conviction investors have about things getting better, and how willing they are to sell at any provocation. That kind of sentiment is usually a bullish sign for stocks in the longer term.

In the case of master limited partnerships (MLPs), focusing on earnings per unit--the MLP equivalent of EPS--not only provides an incomplete picture of a company's health but it's also downright misleading.

Korean National Oil Company’s decision to buy Harvest Energy Trust is curious on many levels. But the difficulty resource-hungry SWFs and SOEs face is that most of the plum assets--productive and located in safe jurisdictions--are already under the control of global resource heavyweights.

If markets have no major hiccups for the rest of October and into early November, expect them to move higher through the first few months of 2010, with November, December and January being the “money months.”

Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney is more concerned about the strengthening Canadian dollar right now than he is about inflation.

Takeover talk is often more fun than the deals themselves. That’s because the speculation is so pregnant with promise and everyone, from investors to business partners, is a potential winner.

For the US-based investor, buying Canada right now means accessing a relatively stable, low-beta play on a global economic recovery. It means benefitting from fundamental factors that support a strong and rising Canadian dollar. It means owning solid businesses that pay sustainable distributions.

MLPs offer investors a simple value proposition: double-digit, tax-advantaged yields and strong recession-resistant growth potential.

The correct role of the regulator has always been a matter of debate for the state and federal officials who oversee industries from electricity and communications to banking.