In the energy market Friday, crude for July delivery pulled back, closing at $134.86/barrel, down $1.88. July reformulated gasoline fell 6.74 cents, to $3.4626/gallon.

Corn is in trouble because of the wet spring that has drenched the Midwest. Yesterday, the USDA said in a report that American corn output will be down significantly from last year’s estimate.

At least the traders in the futures market “know” what the Fed will do next. They’re betting on a rate hike – you can tell because the futures markets are starting to discount an interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve in October.

Good lord, haven’t we already had enough preening and posturing by clueless lawmakers over the alleged “manipulation” of the oil markets?

Both gold and silver did virtually nothing on Thursday until shortly after London opened. Then (just like Wednesday) a sell-off began in both metals which lasted until shortly after the Comex opened in New York.

Not a lot happened in both gold and silver yesterday. The tiny rally in the Far East got sold off starting at 3:00 a.m. New York time, then rallied slightly in London and into the Comex open…and that was that once again. Ditto for silver.

The internet is playing wrecker ball to the once robust walls of the publishing business. A subject we’ve commented on before as newspaper subscriptions slide relentlessly taking circulation and advertising revenues with them.

Gold started making an upwards move at precisely midnight on Thursday night. It, and silver, rose until shortly before 6:00 a.m. New York time, when both mysteriously started to sell off.

Check out a chart showing the Q1 2008 action in the CRB Index, a widely tracked basket of 19 leading commodities, versus the S&P 500 from the beginning of the first quarter through Tuesday. The CRB Index is up 11% during that time frame. Meanwhile, the S&P is down over 7%. OUCH! Which would you rather invest in?