This Father's Day, Julia, my oldest, and I are going fishing. Having recently turned five, she is now old enough to be able to cast her own line. In thinking about fishing, I am struck by the similarities to investing. For the anglers, we throw out the line, and wait for a bite.

If you are long on oil, commodities, or precious metals, your portfolio has enjoyed huge gains so far in 2008. If you are long on stocks, you are losing money across the board. However, there are still opportunities that investors can exploit. Here are a few stocks that will help you beat the market for the rest of the year.

When it comes to investing, I'm afraid I'm a bit of a sadist. On days when the market falls in value and pain is at its greatest, my endorphins kick in and a smile crosses my face. Why? Simply put, out of pain comes gain. Here's how to capitalize on last week's stock market carnage.

Too many investors follow a hot mutual fund manager only to be disappointed. Then, they jump ship when things don't work out and run to the next hot manager. Not a sound strategy in my book. I recommend following a manager with a long-term track record. Here's one who meets all of my criteria.

Just when I thought GM was running on empty, it appears that the Barron's bounce is alive and well. In an otherwise lousy day in the stock market, shares of General Motors (GM) bucked the trend and rose 2% after the automaker was the subject of the weekend article, "Buy GM."

Luxury-home builder Toll Brothers (TOL) yesterday reported a second-quarter loss of 59 cents a share, but shares rallied 3% in early trading as analysts were expecting a loss of 96 cents a share according to Reuters Estimates. Revenue exceeded analysts' expectations of $807.2 million, coming in at $818.8 million. I suspect the rise in the shares was a knee-jerk reaction to a very small piece of good news. Here's why.

While the talking heads may tell you that the market is selling off because of more bad news from the credit crunch, the real reason for the decline is directly correlated to likelihood of a Barack Obama Presidency. Here's what investors need to do now to prepare their portfolios.

Today it's not the airline industry, or the retailers, or restaurants. It's the hotels-another industry completely dependent on discretionary consumer spending. The culprit once again: High gas prices, the housing slowdown and recession worries, what else?Marriott International (MAR) lost significant ground this week and traded near their 52-week lows.

The women from "Sex and the City" shoved Indiana Jones out of summer blockbuster contention with more than $55 million in weekend movie box-office sales. As retail stocks headed lower in opening trades Monday ahead of May's sales reports, I thought this would be the perfect time to start shopping for apparel stocks.

These are challenging times. Our housing market is in shambles and inflation is threatening to eat away at the gains of the last 30 years. Is this the end as we know it, or will we rise to the challenges of what we now face? And just who will lead this charge? We need to be looking in the corner offices of corporate America.

This week, the U.S. Senate Banking Committee approved legislation that strengthens congressional oversight of Fannie Mae (FNM) and its sister company Freddie Mac (FRE) two of the largest U.S.-mortgage finance companies. I'm sure both companies, whose primary responsibility is to ease the effect of the housing bust, are surely in no hurry to be regulated by any government agency! That being said, I can rationally say that shares of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have finally hit bottom.

Competition for a share of the consumer dollar is fiercer than at any other time in recent history. Corporations that adapt to the new field of play will survive. Those that don't won't. One company that is not faring so well in the current environment is Sears Holding (SHLD).

Lehman Brothers shares rose 3 percent today even as analysts at Banc of America Securities slashed their earnings estimates and warned that the share price is not inline with current risk levels. Sound familiar? After rival Bear Stearns' (BSC) bombshell, analysts, like everyone else, are understandably gun-shy these days.

I am always on the lookout for the sure thing. I want to find inefficiencies in the market so great that I can exploit the correction. This way, I can generate huge profits for my portfolio with little to no risk. In surveying the current macro landscape these days, where I will find the next great market inefficiency? Oil.

Aerospace and defense stocks are definitely under fire these days. Even after the U.S. House of Representatives passed a $601.4 billion defense spending bill Thursday, defense stocks like everyone else, find themselves battling the effects of high oil prices.

Every so often, stocks of companies in a certain industry all get hammered on the same day. Yesterday, it was the airlines day to suffer.

The proposed merger between Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI) and XM Satellite Radio (XMSR) has been stuck in regulatory purgatory for two years now that can only be compared to the nonsense of a communist-based system! The only silver lining I can see is when the deal is finaly approved, shares will get a substancial boost.

Let this be a warning. We are not out of the woods yet despite the market telling us otherwise. Today's wholesale price data with higher levels of inflation than expected should be a clear signal that the current market hypothesis may be a bit off base.

So why are TGT shares as red as their infamous logo? Go ahead and blame it on a lackluster earnings report, a worsening housing market…and yes, everyone's favorite topic these days: the rising price of oil. But these are temporary issues in my opinion.