Oil prices have fallen 70% since hitting a record $147.27 a barrel in July, which means in just five months, crude has given up all the price gains it made in the past four years.

Oil prices could fall as low as $20 a barrel in early 2009, says Jason Simpkins. But don’t expect these low prices to last long. Dwindling investment will prompt a longer-term supply crunch, which will send crude to new record highs. Jason gives seven ways to profit from this coming spike.

Commodity prices have plunged from the record highs they hit earlier this year, but in a recent interview with Bloomberg, investing guru Jim Rogers said he is still bullish on commodities, which he expects to take off as soon as the clouds of the global recession lift.

Somewhere along the road, America forgot how to make things. Finance became our national product. But things are about to change, says Chris Mayer. As the global banking system cracks, investors will return to the simple, tangible things that we need. And this will create some stunning profit opportunities for those who move quickly.

The Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index shows commodities jumped 29% in the first six months of this year – the best first half for more than 30 years.

But there is much talk now of a “commodities bear market” and the popping of the so-called “commodities bubble” as prices pull back from their highs.

Jim Rogers, however, remains a commodities bull. “This bull market is not magic,” says Jim, writing in Whiskey and Gunpowder. “It’s not some crazy ‘cycle theory’ I have. It does not fall out of the sky. It’s supply and demand. It’s simple stuff.”

Now, here’s something a little different. The high oil price is driving up the price of shares mineral sands companies.