Swing Trading Strategies & Stock Picks Since 2003

\"As my favorite stock for 2009, I recommend that investors buy the SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE: GLD), a gold exchange-traded fund," says international investing specialist Vivian Lewis.

In her Global Investing newsletter, the advisor explains, "I think every portfolio needs an inflation hedge in a period of unbridled monetary easing and pump priming."

"SPDR Gol dTrust does not depend on the economy coming right nor is it a play on recession and doom. Forecasting the macroeconomic trends in the U.S. and worldwide is very difficult in the current unprecedented economic crisis.

"But there is one thing you can be sure of: the measures already taken by governments around the world to stimulate their enfeebled companies and unclog their banking systems will result in an inflation problem.

"The vast government deficits engendered by the bailouts and stimulus will eventually have to be addressed. There aren't many options.

"Countries around the world can raise taxes, unlikely because tax hikes would hinder recovery. They can cut spending but that will also hamper their economies. Given the interconnected world, I do not expect any government to show fiscal rigor when its trading partners are still being lax.

"There is only one way out: printing money. More money chasing the same amount of goods and services will cause inflation.

"Gold is the classic way to protect against inflation. Selecting individual mining companies is harder because they are different although if you get the right mining stock it may well beat the performance of GLD.

"Note that some gold-miners sell their future gold production forward to finance continuing to drill so they will not privide inflation protection. Others facing a shortage of cash in the current crisis may go under. But the precious metal itself is a perfect no-brainer inflation hedge."