Traditional wisdom says vice stocks, such as MGM Mirage (NYSE:MGM), Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS), Wynn Resorts (NASDAQ:WYNN), are supposed to do well in tough economic times.

Today’s Financial News editor J. Christoph Amerger says if they are it’s news to MGM Mirage. On Tuesday, the company’s stock had plunged 10% since the casino complex opened.

The reality is the economically depressed may not have the money to fly to Las Vegas. J. Christoph says stay away from this sector…

The Labor Department reported that its Producer Price Index (PPI) increased by 1.2% in July and by 9.8% in the past year. A hefty increase… but given the press we’ve had on gasoline, energy, milk, grain and candy bar prices, it probably did not come quite unexpected.

After a short-lived breather, gold continues to sell off. So does crude oil, platinum, the euro. If goldbugs breathed a sigh of relief at gold’s close at $805 on Monday, they were premature. As the dollar rose despite news of increased wholesale inflation, gold, oil, and the euro continued their south-bound slide.

Speculative commodities like oil and gold are selling off at alarming speed as funds liquidate losing positions and buyers retreat to wait for a bottom, says J. Christoph Amberger, editor of Today’s Financial News. According to J. Christoph, these commodities are now caught in “an accelerated downward spiral”… 

Plunging gold and oil prices mean one thing: Welcome to the commodities bear market of 2008!

Monday’s alt energy results can be summed up in four words: Solar shines. Fuels flop.

Quarterly earnings tripled for Chinese solar maker LDK Solar (NYSE:LDK) on soaring demand for solar power, while ethanol producer Pacific Ethanol (NASDAQ:PEIX) reported a wider-than-expected loss on surging corn prices.

J. Christoph Amberger in Today’s Financial News says these results create a great opportunity for investors. Yesterday, shares in LDK Solar rose 15 percent. And J. Christoph reckons solar maker ReneSola (NYSE:SOL) may now do the same…

For Obama and others unfamiliar with the term “margins,” the numbers reported by Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) indeed look high. But wait… there’s more!

Refiners Valero (VLO), Sunoco (SUN), Holly (HCO) are up on falling crude oil prices. If predictions of OPEC’s president come to pass, we could see oil back at $70 — and U.S. refiners in the green!

As global “Caravan Capitalism” seeks out the countries offering the lowest production cost, multinational companies are leaving China for Vietnam.