I have always felt that for all the blabbing we do -- or blogging, in my case -- we should try as best we can to be accountable for our good and bad calls. This report is long overdue, but I will post it anyway since all of my past year's picks and results have been made public.

The market was very harsh in the early part of 2009, filling investors fear and trepidation, and sinking to a March 9, 2009 bottom. Perhaps some of the bleeding has stopped, but the economy has not healed as bears and bulls seem to carry the day, or every other day.

The world learned the details about the Apple Inc. (AAPL) iPhone 4G from Steve Jobs yesterday, and while he was presenting the amazing device with 100 new features and 24% slimmer profile, the company stock was sinking. Actually, most stocks were sinking.

The biggest reason for the stocks recent demise: the big cats decided it was time -- and others started to follow. There is nothing wrong with Apple at all and yesterday Jobs pushed out further in the race to produce the best product, stretching a lead he is intent on maintaining. I'm no Apple cheerleader having posted Apple $300 -- Not This Year! last February, when I thought the fanboys were confusing dreams with facts.

To those taking time off for Good Friday: "May the Force Be with You!" To those working half days, enjoy your time with your families. The U.S. stock markets are closed today and that might be best so that we all can take a breather.

Given that stock markets all around the world were up yesterday, including ours -- again ... April Fool's Day! -- even day traders expressed confidence because they obviously were willing to hold stocks knowing the long weekend left plenty of time for unforeseen bad news to to slam their positions.

Just last week I questioned why anyone would be interested in acquiring 10 year Greek bonds (Serious Money: Greek Bonds or High Yield Stocks) when there were so many alternatives. The answer is that not enough are, and that means to find a sufficient number of investors the yields are rising with continued upward pressure.

The pretend economic support of Greece by the European Union members and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which is smoke and mirrors absent any guarantees or required concrete action, gives investors no confidence. If Greece's European partners are so concerned that Greece has the potential to falter in meeting its obligations, then why would anyone else have confidence?

It has been a long time since I have suggested investors dabble in tech stocks, unless, like me, you consider Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) a tech stock. Today, that changes as I direct your attention to the rapidly growing small cap stock Ebix (EBIX), a software company that specializes in the needs of the insurance industry.

This Atlanta, GA-based company is up 113.30% in the last year, 450.72% over three years, and an incredible 1,092.74% in five years through March 2010.

If you are looking for high yielding stocks you will find the telecommunications industry is quite obliging. AT&T, Inc. (T) is currently paying a 6.4% yield and Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) is offering 6.25%. Given that these are such low beta stocks, I have a hard time rationalizing keeping much money in Certificates of Deposits or Treasuries for the peanuts they are doling out.

While these yields are very generous there is a stock that might have you extending your investment world "down under" to Telecom Corp New Zealand (NZT), as they will reward your journey with a 10.99% yield. This is an outstanding return and allows you to diversify your portfolio outside the U.S. but still trade on the NYSE.

In about three weeks I will be reporting the results of my 2010 picks through the first quarter. One of those picks and the leader of the pack Grubb & Ellis (GBE), a real estate brokerage and investment company, reached a new 52 week high yesterday of $2.20, topping the previous high of $2.17 set last October.

At the time I initially wrote about the stock, in December, it was trading at $1.33 a share, the lowest priced stock I have ever included for consideration. The 65.41% gain, to date, will most assuredly help my annual batting average. Grubb & Ellis is besting the 2.93% YTD gain of the Standard & Poors 500 by more than 60%. Absent some unforeseen black swan, I expect it to finish the year higher still.

It's time to get serious about home builders again, and today I started building a position in KB Home (KBH) using options. Since the collapse of the residential real estate market three years ago prognosticators have been debating when the home builders might be worthy of investing your precious coin of the realm.

As is to be expected in these volatile times most were either too optimistic or pessimistic and few got it right. Like many stocks the home builders appear to have bottomed last March. In the case of KB Home shares were available at $10. Today they have been trading between $17.64 and $18.00 per share, up 80%, although it has been a rocky road.

That is a very healthy return, but there is much more upside to come. How would you like to make 43% quick? Yeah me too!

It is mind boggling that Hugo Chavez, the authoritarian President of Venezuela is racing towards a mock socialist political system when the two largest socialist regimes in the world, China and Russia, have done the opposite. Even our long standing communist adversary (now trading partner) Vietnam entered the 21st Century on a capitalist influenced spring loaded economic boom.

BusinessWeek reports in its latest edition that the Chavez government has been taking privately held supermarkets under government control:

Insurance companies are seeing more promise lately and one that showed up on my value screen was Willis Group Holdings (WSH) -- headquartered in London but listed on the NYSE. For starters, it is paying a higher than average yield of 3.31%; has a low PEG ratio of 0.99; and has a high ROE of 21.76.

This company often deals in very high risk propositions. You, however, will not be taking one because Willis, as a leading global insurance broker, not underwriter, specializes in reducing risk for entities in such fields as aerospace, construction, energy, health care, marine, mergers and acquisitions, and niche areas like fine art, jewelry, armored cars, racehorse breeding, and sabotage.

There has been little time to write lately because I have been wheeling and dealing in my investment world. However, I thought I would share one of the trades I did this week that seems like free money to me, and although the opportunity has faded a little I might do it again and you might want to examine this trade, too.

At the market open on Tuesday March 9, a good-til-canceled order filled -- selling to open Citigroup Inc. (C) January 2012 'puts' at a strike price of $7.50 -- paying $4.05. This transaction is commonly called a "naked put". The return on investment is 59% over the remaining 22-month period.

This is nuts because my break even position is $3.45 -- 20 cents a share less than it was the time of the trade and 60 cents less than the $4.05 (ironic isn't it) Citigroup is trading at now, as I type away.

It was only a matter of time before Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) surpassed it's previous all time high of $359.59 set on December 14, 2007. I have blogged many times about ISRG in my Chasing Value column. Today, I'm delighted that the stock is rising, but I think it is getting a bit rich and the value proposition has changed -- intra-day it hit $366.50.

Intuitive has a trailing P/E ratio of 61 and a projected P/E of 46. I commonly average the two for such volatile stocks which translates to 53.5. There are certain times when that might be alright, but with a PEG ratio (price-to-earnings-to-growth) of 2.05, this is not one of them. If you own it I am not suggesting selling it, but if you do not it might be wiser to put it on your watch list and wait for the market to calm down.

This morning one of my colleagues, Joseph Lazzaro, who heavily uses technical analysis, posted an article titled General Cable Corp.: Stopped-Out.

I have never used technical analysis to make investment decisions, but I have used charts for general long-term trends examining a stock from a historical perspective. I think in the case of General Cable Corp. (BGC), it may prove untimely to bail out now based on just technical analysis.

While most investors are fretting the markets recent contraction, you can be quite confident that "my pal Warren" has a smile on his face, as does Peter Lynch, Ken Heebner, Bill Miller, Bruce Berkowitz, and any number of fellow value investors that know now may be a time of opportunity. That is because they have the experience and understanding to pounce when they have a chance to buy things cheap.

This is the fourth installment of my series to discover just that: cheap stocks. If you would like to get on board from the beginning then review the initial post which screened for stocks with lower than market average P/E ratios, see Serious Money: Market Looks Cheap to Me -- 35 Stocks. In the second installment, I looked at yield and PEG ratios: Serious Money: Still Cheap Market -- 35 Stocks + Yields & Growth. Then I moved on to the the P/S and P/CF metrics in Serious Money: Cheapest Stocks Yet -- From 35 to 26, cutting nine stocks.

Yesterday Hasbro, Inc. (HAS) reported 2009 fourth quarter and full-year results.

For the fourth quarter 2009, the Company reported net revenues of $1.38 billion, an increase of $144.1 million or 12%, compared to $1.23 billion a year ago. 2009 fourth quarter revenues grew 7% excluding a $55.4 million positive impact of foreign exchange. The Company reported net earnings for the quarter of $165.6 million or $1.09 per diluted share, an increase of $72.0 million or 77%, compared to $93.6 million or $0.62 per diluted share in 2008.

The strong results in a bad year support my contention that today's stock market, even in these uncertain times, does have plenty of bargains.