It's looking like a shaky start for Monday, and I always intend my puns - there's more unease to Monday than just Chile's earthquake. News from the copper pit, China and Greece, and US economic data all threaten the very ground securities' valuations stand on.

Copper Shake Up

The 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Chile Saturday morning has left 700 dead so far, but it is also having a dramatic impact on financial markets. The price of the May-delivery copper contract gained as much as 20.3 cents in trading overseas Monday, or 6.2 percent, to $3.4870 a pound, marking the largest intraday advance since April. You see, Chile is the world's largest copper producer, and power disruption caused by the tremor forced Chilean copper miners Codelco and Anglo American Plc (OTC: AAUKF.PK]) to halt operations at some mines. Codelco, the world's largest producer, responded to market action by stating it will meet its supply contracts.

Unexpectedly, China raised its deposit reserve ratio, catching all of us by surprise. The People’s Bank of China marked its second attempt to slow bank lending before it creates a bubble of its own, especially in real estate. While the move adds volatility to markets around the world, it is one of many things going against risk taking.

In Europe, euro zone growth slowed to a crawl (0.1% in Q4 2009) as Greece, Italy and Spain contracted while Germany (the largest economy in the zone) stagnated. The prospects are not better for this quarter and the rest of the year, given the unavoidable fiscal tightening triggered by Greece’s troubles. In addition weak Greek banks will force a round of tightening in the periphery, which will feed into the rest of Europe.

Tyler Vernon is a Principal and Portfolio Manager at Princeton, NJ based Biltmore Capital Advisors.

We had the opportunity to ask Tyler how he's allocating among different asset classes in this environment, and what his overall strategy is for outperformance in 2010.