American consumers are feeling the pain both at the pump and in the grocery store. Meanwhile with real full-time unemployment rates climbing towards 10%, penny-pinching consumers are wondering just who is to blame.

A strengthening dollar and a drop in oil prices caused spot gold prices to fall more than 2% today – its lowest level in a week, according to Thomson Reuters.

Dan Denning in The Daily Reckoning Australia doesn’t think this is a cause for concern: “After regrouping, shaking out the weak hands, and giving the dollar its due, gold is on the march again.

Although it’s tempting to describe sky-high commodities prices as being the latest ‘bubble’ to hit the markets, for commodities such as crude oil and corn, basic supply and demand may be pushing up prices. This from The Wall Street Journal:

Prices, to be sure, are soaring — crude oil fetched $132.19 a barrel in New York on Friday, up 103% from $64.97 a year earlier. Yet crude has posted similarly massive increases a number of times in the past three decades. Most notably, in the spring of 1980, as gasoline lines lengthened, the price of crude oil was 150% above the year-before level.

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Emerging markets investments are soaring on the back of the ongoing global commodities boom. This morning in New York, MSCI’s benchmark Emerging Markets Index (MSCI EM) reached a fresh 2008 record of 1246.85, close to 8% below its all-time high last November.

Speaking to Thomson Reuters, Matthias Siller, an emerging markets investment strategist at Baring Asset Management said, “You can make a strong case that emerging markets are well-placed in any scenario going forward – many of them are enjoying a commodities boom and many of their companies are ridiculously cheap at current valuations.”

“As long as we’re seeing strong commodity prices, the implication is that the emerging markets are still growing. The supply constraints in commodities are here for at least several more years, so these stocks should continue to do well,” said Walter Hellwig, who helps oversee $30 billion at Morgan Asset Management in Birmingham, Alabama, speaking to Bloomberg.

“The combined gross domestic product of the four BRIC [Brazil, Russia, India and China] nations made up 12% of global GDP last year”, says Profit Watch editor Manraaj Singh.

“That’s up from just 8% in 2000. That’s impressive enough, but these countries still have a long way to go. Goldman Sachs predicts that the BRIC economies, as a whole, could overtake the G7 countries by 2035. Most of us will be around to see that happen. The rapid rise of the BRICs has been fantastic news for early investors in those markets. In the past two years, shares in the BRIC nations have risen by 70% – and that’s after the recent declines. The average increase in emerging markets overall was 42%.”

Investors need to be aware of the risk posed by emerging markets investments, says Money Week editor Merryn Somerset Webb.

“In April, the Brazilian central bank hiked rates by 0.5% to 11.75%, and with growth strong, inflation back to 4.7% and inflation expectations rising steadily, rates may have to go higher than the 13% economists are penciling in.

“As the past year has shown, Brazil will not be immune to a likely relapse in global markets amid fears over the American and global economies – note that the Bovespa index is highly cyclical, with the energy and materials sectors comprising 60% of the index. There will probably be better long-term buying opportunities in the months ahead.”

As times change, so do trends. In the old days, the louder and more powerful your car, the better. Now, green is the name of the game and everyone wants to drive super quiet, efficient hybrids.