That’s right: the long-awaited Mania stage in gold may be nigh. How can I make such a claim? After all, some have been screaming “It’s here! It’s here!” for months or even years. So I propose that instead of simply declaring that Mania time is near, I lay out the facts and see if you come to the same conclusion.

Stocks are in a bear market, and many investors are having a tough time figuring out how to trade it. Fortunately for us, we have a map, says Brian Hunt in DailyWealth. If this bear market follows the pattern of the 2000-2002 bear, we should be looking at an August rally in stocks…

Now here’s a true contrarian play from Brian Hunt at Stansberry Research: Buy into financial stocks ahead of their earnings results. Successful contrarian investing hinges on exploiting errors in consensus opinion. The consensus now is that financials are going to report catastrophic earnings and their stocks are going to dive… big time. What if, instead of Armaggedon, we get the plague, says Brian. His bet is stocks will rally…

Crude oil prices fell on Friday by $1 in electronic trade after Iran responded to an international offer of economic incentives if it suspends a central part of its nuclear program.

Crude futures fell from Thrusday’s record high of $145.85 in New York to close at $145.29 a barrel.

Jeff Clark in The Growth Stock Wire advised readers on Thursday to watch out for when oil “finally puts in a short-term top and starts to head lower.” Jeff says the bottom will be in place for the stock market when this happens. He says oil is the only indicator now for stocks.

Editor’s Note: Stock selling is contagious, says Jeff Clark in The Growth Stock Wire. Portfolio managers are updating their stock holdings as the quarter comes to an end, and Jeff thinks there could be some real bargains on offer…