Wall Street is constantly hung up on finding the next giant economy. Is China going to continue to grow as a superpower? What about India?

Six times a year, the Agora Financial editors converge from all over the world on Baltimore to exchange ideas about the state of the world and what it means for your investments. Much of the discussion yesterday was frankly grim.

At times, you can tell a country by the company it keeps.  Indonesia just announced it plans to leave the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the infamous cartel that tries to push our oil prices through the roof.

If you missed out on Indonesia before… don’t fret, because if I’m right, a second bite of the cherry is about to come your way.

The number of OPEC countries has dropped to 12 from 13 after Indonesia an OPEC member since 1962, has announced it will leave the oil producers’ consortium due falling oil production. This from Bloomberg:

Indonesia, the only OPEC member in Southeast Asia, will pull out of the group as aging fields and declining production force the region’s biggest economy to boost imports.

Indonesia, the sole Asian member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), will withdraw from the oil cartel at the end of this year.

What you’re looking at below is a chart of the gold-to-oil ratio. The gold-to-oil ratio is exactly what it sounds like. You simply take the spot price for an ounce of gold — around $900 per ounce as of this writing — and divide it by the price of a barrel of oil.

Our favorite gold stock, Avocet Mining, is looking battered!   But things look like they’re about to turn. A recent trading statement delivered positive news.

The price of rice finally started to moderate this week, with rice futures sinking for a fifth straight day. Rice has retreated 11.6% on the Chicago Board of Trade since hitting an all-time high last Thursday.