Oil jumps 6 pct after fall to 4-year low last week… Saudi deepens some supply cuts ahead of OPEC meeting… Equity market bounce aids sentiment across commodities

Gold sat at its high for the day in Hong Kong on Tuesday, but started declining as London opened, and fell gently through the day, bottoming in the late morning before reclaiming a little lost ground late to finish at $731.40, down $13.70. Overnight, gold has been flat.

We all know the U.S. government is in debt up to its eyeballs. Moody’s is already threatening to downgrade the country’s debt rating due to unfunded liabilities for Medicare and Social Security.

It’s hard to believe that summer’s heat (and hurricane season) is almost here. As the calendar turns to another month it’s often quite interesting to take a look back at the past month to see which trends may be in for a switch. One phrase comes to mind that perfectly sums up April’s market action: A reversal of fortune!

Stocks have fallen to the most oversold levels since the end of the last bear-market in 2002! Last week we saw another sharp rally, but yesterday stocks gave up decent gains to close mixed…no real follow through to the upside. That’s been the pattern for several months now.