When the U.S. Sneezes...

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Watch the action in oil, (and maybe in agriculturals) as the US and Japan have agreed late on Sunday (before the G-8 meeting) on the need to take "immediate action" against the stratospheric prices of oil and food. OPEC's president, meanwhile points the accusatory finger to ethanol as the culprit for the price of oil these days. The hunt for a prime oil market price explosion suspect continues. We'll stick with the hedgies, thank you. Details on how to address the oil price issue, were -of course- omitted from the US-Japanese resolve. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said today that deposits required to trade oil futures should be raised to discourage speculation, amid fears by ``some'' G-8 leaders that oil prices will reach $200 a barrel. An interesting footnote to all the recent energy cost stories: Israel plans to be combustion engine vehicle-free within 3 years' time. Talk about independence...

Tread with care, as gold might yet visit the $900-$910 value zone amid continued unsettled currency, oil and stock markets. The list of gain opportunities as well as dangers of losses (to the current gold price range) remains the same familiar one: oil, geopolitics, dollar policy, inflation, the global economy, and the (all too often) unpredictable one-off surprise event(s). Hopefully, not the kind Harry Schultz envisions in his latest TEOTWAWKI -flavored newsletter. But that's another story (you can find it on Marketwatch).

Happy Trading.