While prices of gold don’t necessarily affect silver prices or vice versa, history has demonstrated that when gold rises or falls, silver usually follows suit.

European shares were down in afternoon trade today, Wednesday, with banks leading the decline after quarterly results from U.S. banks Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo disappointed investors.

“It’s not technically a new decade yet,” writes small-cap expert Dan Denning at WhiskeyandGunpowder.com. “But if the trade of the last decade was to sell stocks and buy gold, then maybe the best trade for the next ten years is to sell bonds and buy energy. Gas, coal, oil, conventional, unconventional, renewable, alternative. You have a whole portfolio of choices.”

It’s not technically a new decade yet. But if the trade of the last decade was to sell stocks and buy gold, then maybe the best trade for the next ten years is to sell bonds and buy energy. Gas, coal, oil, conventional, unconventional, renewable, alternative. You have a whole portfolio of choices.

Underground investor David Fessler, writing at Investment U, says the four best hedges against inflation are gold, inflation-adjusted Treasuries, energy stocks and commodities such as wheat, metals, cattle and fertilizer.

Is it the prospect of global recovery or the prospect of inflation that’s driving oil prices higher? Adam Lass says you don’t have to choose – the opportunity for profit is there either way.

With Exxon Mobil Corp.’s (XOM) new oil discovery off the coast of Brazil – the latest in a series of such offshore finds and potentially the largest Western Hemisphere discovery in three – the South American nation has taken another giant step in its quest to become a global energy superpower.

Alternative-energy investors have pointed to China as the fastest way on the planet to make money in the green revolution. I guess they never went beyond the executive summary of a recent report titled “The Green Evolution – Environmental Policies and Practice in China’s Banking Sector.”

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.

Some of the valuations in today’s market are absurd, says Chris Mayer. Though market volatility means high risks in the short-term, now is the time to “plant the seeds of monster future returns.” Chris picks four deep value stocks with big upside potential.