Soaring oil prices have forced Indian authorities to raise subsidized fuel prices and risk propelling inflation that is already running at a three-year high.

Power shortages, strikes and soaring input costs have killed the production of platinum.

Sterlite Buys Asarco’s U.S. Copper Mines; Petrobras Award Tupi Rig Contracts; Russian Inflation to Hit 14% in 2008; South Korean Economy Outpaces Estimates; Toyota Sees U.S. Consumers Braking; Manufacturing Inches Up; NetSuite Snaps Up OpenAir

Apparently, he mistook the look of sheer, paralyzing horror on my face at this revelation of such a massive expansion of the money supply (because it will lead directly to inflation in consumer prices), to be mere confusion on my part.

Global investors seeking undervalued markets might want to look at Russia, China, India, Malaysia, South Korea or Brazil. And if they want to avoid overvalued markets, they’d be best to eschew Italy, the United States, Japan, Canada, Switzerland, or Germany.

Although the private sector has thrown off its initial fears of being swamped if exposed to foreign competition, the Government and the bureaucracy continue to harbour a fear of a repeat of the East India company.

Has oil hit its peak price or not? The answer to that question leads us to ask whether or not commodities are a bubble about to burst. Barron’s recent cover story on commodities came down on the side that the party was over.

Interesting how certain threads come together… I read recently that copper producers are complaining about the skyrocketing costs of sulfuric acid.

Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs made the term “BRICs” famous in a 2003 research report.

Earlier this month, I questioned whether the recent spike in oil prices was a potential bubble. The price of crude has more than doubled in a year and there are some reasonable doubts whether oil can maintain these levels.