The end of the world has been postponed. Massive government intervention -- through a combination of creative central banking and financial bailouts to the tune of trillions -- is slowly having its effect. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) just announced that the recessions in the United Kingdom, France and Italy were nearly over. And there are signs that rapid economic contraction is coming to an end in Germany. Meanwhile, a Chinese think tank has just upped China's projected growth rate for Q2 to 7%.

After two solid months of gains, "animal spirits" are improving and confidence is seeping back into global financial markets. Here in London, two of the United Kingdom's leading fund managers, Crispin Odey and Anthony Bolton, have called a bottom to the stock market. Even well-known bears like George Soros are close to throwing in the towel, conceding over the weekend that "the worst may be behind us." In the discretionary accounts at my investment firm, I have gone from 75% cash to 75% invested within the span of a month. That's the biggest shift I've ever made, well, since the start of the last big leg up in the market in March 2003.

Top Five Investment Themes

Smart investors can make money under all market conditions. Last year, you could have made money buying bonds, selling stocks, and buying certain currencies. Here are my current top five investment themes.

1. Buy Commodities

The "commodities supercycle" did more than simply grind to halt last year. It fell off a cliff. Part of it was due to a collapse in the demand for oil, steel and other commodities that have been drivers of economic growth. Part of it was due to soaring risk aversion. My subscribers made 20%+ profits last year by shorting the commodity market in the second half of 2008. But it's now time to go the other way. "Dr. Copper," the metal with the Ph.D. in economics, presciently called a bottom to the global economy and has begun to rise since late January. Oil has jumped over 70% from its bottom. Commodities will also benefit from the threat of inflation as governments turn on the "printing presses" to pay for all the stimulus packages.

2. Buy Emerging Markets

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index is up 22.41% for the year, and has soared 49.1% since bottoming on March 9. Last week alone, investors plowed $4 billion into emerging-market investment funds, making it the biggest week for emerging market funds since late 2007, and their eighth-largest week ever. The heroes of the last bull markets -- the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China) have done exceptionally well, with every one of them among the top 10 performing stock markets year to date. Although most investors are focused on recovery in Asia, I expect that Russia -- a market that everyone loves to hate -- will be the top performer of the year. Investors made 60x their money buying in Russia at the market bottom in October 1998. And with the market trading at a P/E of 2.33 today, there is plenty of upside left.

3. Buy "Alternative" Assets

October's collapse of global financial markets was all about an unprecedented spike in risk aversion. Whether it was lumber or private equity or high yield debt, the price of every asset plummeted as the benefits of diversification went out the window. At my firm, I run an investment program that mimics the performance of the Harvard endowment. From that, I see that it has been the prices of alternative asset classes that have bounced the most. After being down by as much as 26% in early March, the Harvard portfolio is up 3.25% -- an astonishing turnaround over the span of eight weeks. The lesson? After throwing out the baby with the bath water, investors are bringing the baby back in.

4. Sell U.S. Treasuries

Top investors from Warren Buffett to "bond king" Bill Gross have called U.S. government Treasuries the last, great financial bubble. And betting against financial bubbles is never a money-losing proposition. The numbers are sobering. The federal budget deficit will widen to a record $1.841 trillion this fiscal year -- 12.9% of GDP. Over the next decade, the White House expects to accumulate deficits of $7.1 trillion. Flooding the market with Treasuries puts pressure on prices, driving the interest rates demanded by investors up. Even the "good news" about global economic recovery is "bad news" for U.S. Treasuries. Investors will demand higher interest rates as they show a renewed willingness to tolerate volatility in riskier assets. In short, there is no scenario where the current, historically low interest rates on U.S. Treasuries are sustainable.

5. Buy High Yield Corporate Debt

High yield bonds were sold off with abandon when fear gripped global financial markets in October. But as with the sell-off in other alternative assets, this was overdone. Yes, high yield-default rates, which ran at just 3.4% in 2008, have spiked in 2009. And both Moody's and Barclay's expect the U.S. high yield-default rate to top 14%. But as with any investment, it comes down to a matter of price. At the worst of the Great Depression -- a 30% drop in GDP with 25% unemployment -- only about 15% of issuers defaulted. And with a close to 12% average yield, even these extremely bearish scenarios are more than reflected in the price of corporate debt.

Is the Recovery Too Good to Be True?

Skeptics will point out that economic fundamentals are still weak and that the U.S. consumer, the driver of the global economy, will be re-trenching for years. And once the U.S Treasury bond bubble bursts, and yields soar to 6% or more, stock markets will plummet again. Russell Napier, author of "Anatomy of the Bear", expects the S&P 500 to drop back down to 400 in "a cataclysmic bear market." The current policy responses are just another "put option" that delays the Day of Reckoning. So, yes, this may be another bear market rally. But by Napier's definition, so was the bull market run from March 2003 through October 2007, during which time you probably doubled your money. So you can make money even in bear market rallies.

The tough part is keeping it.

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