Welcome to Festival of Stocks #7, hosted at GoldStockBull. This week’s edition will be short and sweet, but is filled with good content. To find out how to participate and host this carnival event, go to the home page of Festival of Stocks. If you haven’t subscribed to our email yet, please do so and you will be entered in our contest to win a 10-ounce silver bar. Enjoy!

Ralph Morgan presents AU shares - time to get out of bank stocks? posted at Enough Wealth, saying, “The trend in home loan defaults is a bit worrying, and may impact bank profits in the medium term - perhaps now is the time to lighten exposure to bank stocks.”

Dan Harris presents Bank On China's Home Grown Consumers Rising posted at China Law Blog. Dan discusses ways to capitalize on China’s growing consumerism, quoting a story from The Street.

Tyler presents Dividend Money » Southern Peru Copper (PCU) posted at Dividend Money. With a P/E Ratio under 9 and dividend yield of about 9%, Tyler takes a look at Southern Peru Copper. We like Taseko Mines (TGB) for a high-potential copper play.

Gina presents Gina's Tax Blog: Restricted Stock - Section 83(b) election posted at Gina's Tax Blog. Tax advice for the purchase of company stock.

Chris presents Why Microsoft Should Disband posted at Search Engine Stocks, saying, “If Microsoft wants to win the war in several key markets, it makes sense for them to disband.”

Dan Carty presents Removing Apple from my Portfolio posted at TraderInsights.com. Dan takes an in-depth look at the valuation of Apple’s stock and questions whether it should be a part of his portfolio.

I like Apple, love my G4 and think they are a good buy in current market conditions. However, as many of our readers are aware, we think the market is ready for a crash and Apple will come down with it. Goldguru says… protect your portfolio by diversifying into gold, silver and energy.

George presents CRA International Moat Check posted at Fat Pitch Financials, presenting, “A long-term look at the competitive strength of CRA International, an economic, financial, and business consulting firm.”

Goldguru presents Gold Technicals Turn Bullish posted at Gold Stock Bull, saying, “We expect gold and energy to be rangebound until after the November mid-term elections. But soon after, the fireworks should begin.”

Johns writes Mutual Funds Posting Record Gains! posted at The Bull Trader, saying, “Mutual-fund company stocks are defeating the funds they manage. You can take a look at the 20.8% gain posted by an index of 20 fund�’manager stocks from January 1 through the end of second week of October.”

Drizzt posted A Great Chart of the Day at Investment Moats. This chart shows how the Dow (when priced in gold) is actually still in a downtrend. This chart reminds me of an older piece that we did showing Consumer Prices Down 50% Over Last 5 years! (when priced in gold).

Frugal writes What My Father Taught Me About Business: Endless Fools posted at My 1st Million At 33, citing an example from the mortgage business, “Between CountryWide and Mortgage Capital, there is about $5000 difference in the amount that they charge customers (for fixed loan terms). However, CountryWide certainly is not running out of customers. What is the lesson here?”

That concludes Festival of Stocks #7. Thanks for stopping by and please remember to check out Festival of Stocks Home Page for more information.