That was interesting

Well, that really started the year off with a bang. Of course it probably wasn't the kind of a bang that most people were expecting but it was a bang nonetheless.
Oil hit $100 for the first time (briefly, so they say) and finished at over $99. This Bloomberg report said, "Three-figure prices may bring energy costs near the tipping point that will cause global economic growth to falter."

Didn't they say that about $50 and $60 and $70 and $80 and $90?

Gold made a new all-time high at over $860 closing in New York at $856.70. This Bloomberg report noted, "Investors are pouring money into the precious metal as part of a commodity surge with the dollar under pressure from the prospect of more cuts in U.S. borrowing costs."

There's not much to argue with there.

Broad equity markets had just an awful day as 29 of the 30 Dow stocks lost ground. Is that any way to ring in the New Year?

Apparently the ISM number caused more than a few investors to think that there might be a problem with economic growth and earnings. The 47.4 reading fell far short of the 50 level that delineates expansion and contraction in the nation's largest survey of manufacturing activity.
That's a pretty unmistakable trend since early last summer when long-term interest rates were rising and some analysts actually thought that happy days were here again.

Then came August.

The winner of the "Guess the Year-End Price of Oil and Gold" contest, known as "VP" to those of you who were watching over the last week, wrote in to collect her grand prize of a free one-year subscription to Iacono Research where it was a very good day. (A farmer also wrote in a short time ago asking where I thought soybean and corn prices were heading this year.) She said she didn't really have any money to invest but was happy to have won (that's VP, not the farmer).
That was too bad for Eric (he's the blue diamond closest to the green diamond above). He came in third two days ago but, if the contest had run for one more day of trading, he would have won with guesses of $98 for crude oil and $850 for gold.

Even I thought $98 and $850 were on the high side back in September, but he came closer than I did. Oh well, the next contest starts in March.

I can't wait to see what happens tomorrow.

To learn more about investing in natural resources using commonly traded ETFs, stocks, and mutual funds, see this description at Iacono Research. Or, sign up for a free trial.