i doubt i'll get listened to down here but i'll have a shot.
equities (stocks) are doomed. the market as a whole are getting out of them. equity funds are making no money and no one is investing in them any more. equity traders are seen as bitches by the rest of the market...and investors are seeing this and those who are left in equities are going towards index focused funds.
all the major hedge funds are looking to bonds these days. PIMCo are doing very well for themselves and hedge funds are having some , all this quantitative easing has lead to large price inefficiencies in the bond market which means big money for hedge funds through convergence trades (see LTCMs trading strategy for clarification of how much money it can make).
junk bonds, however much they behave like equities, are also doing very well due to the large issuance of dollar denominated bonds from Europe - a reversal in previous trends of europe being funded through bank debt- however margins are tight.
either way i don't know how much money you have to play with and honestly if you don't know much about the markets don't bother. have a play on a spread betting site for a bit see how you do they start with real money.
but you have to realise going long is risky. look at BP silly amounts of pensions are tied up in it thinking that it was safe. but in general commodities are safe and going on an up at the moment (think Russian food shortage) take a bet on a potatoes (wheat prices increase demands for substitutes rises), tech is going to do well in the short run, too volatile for you though.
my advise give you money to someone who knows. you don't and NS definitely doesn't
