Mr. Market is on bailout watch. The Dow has been whipsawing wildly since news of the bailout first broke. The index is currently 3,454 points off its 52-week high.

Hard assets aren’t doing much better. Crude oil is selling for about $97 a barrel. Analysts at Merrill Lynch say prices may fall as low as $50 a barrel next year.

Gold prices have also been volatile. Nevertheless, Ed Bugos says, “Gold is the safest asset class to be in right now.” He also says it’s a great time to cherry pick gold assets and pick up “alpha” gold stocks at bargain prices.

It’s a quick task to keep an eye on large-cap gold mining. Just a handful of companies sport market values above $10 billion. Near the top is Goldcorp.

More than 700% in less than three years… our readers have made quite a return… Shares of Seabridge Gold (SA) have soared 700% since I recommended it to subscribers of my Sjuggerud Confidential newsletter. That sounds pretty darn good… until you learn that we were up over 1,300% at their peak.

It was an up and down session on the Canadian markets during Thursday trading, as gains on the coal front were offset by losses in the gold stocks.

Today, I’d like you to imagine a hot-dog business. After buying your cart, permits, insurance, hot dogs, buns, and condiments, you hit the street. You sell hot dogs people will happily pay $2 for. Let’s say it costs you about $1.50 to produce a hot dog, so you’re making a gross profit of $0.50 per unit.

It used to be that gold stocks outperformed the rise in the gold price by roughly a factor of three. But then energy prices went up, and the lights went out in South Africa.

‘Check out the new Harmony uranium venture. It’s looking interesting…’ My ears pricked up. It is the most positive thing I have heard from any of my contacts in South Africa for a good few months. As I told Erin, it could not be more up-to-the minute, having both uranium and gold!

Gold prices climbed higher in early London trade as the dollar remained under pressure following weak U.S. payrolls data on Friday, reports Thomson Financial.

Friday’s grim jobs news has put further downward pressure on the already weak dollar, by reinforcing the widely-held view that the US economy is in a downturn.

At 9:27 am., spot gold was trading at $914.78 an ounce against $909.80 in late New York trades on Friday, according to Thomson.

As Wall Street continues to put their faith in the “goldilocks” hypothesis, it may come as a surprise to those familiar with my more negative view that I too fully expect this scenario to unfold.