We’re deep into bear market territory right now… aren’t we? Frank Hemsley isn’t so sure. He says commodities are actually still in a long-term secular bull market. The current slump is just a temporary correction of prices that ran away in the last year. Frank says commodities will soon continue their bull run, breaking through new highs in the process.

There are great wealth-creating opportunities in today’s miserable markets, says Andrew Snyder. Take oil, for example. The black goo is on a slippery slope towards $50 a barrel, and no OPEC production cuts are going to stop this in the short term. Andrew says the UltraShort Oil and Gas ProShares ETF (AMEX:DUG) is the best way to profit from the oil industry’s downturn.

Energy guru Dave Gonigam says speculators were wrongly used as a scapegoat for soaring crude oil prices in the first half of the year. But he thinks they are playing a big role in the current slump, as hedge funds liquidate their commodity assets rapidly. Dave says the supply and demand fundamentals of oil are unchanged. That is why he is still bullish crude in the long term.

Even an agreement on the draft of the $700 billion bailout bill couldn’t raise US stocks today. The Dow (DJI) sank over 300 points in the first hour of trading today.

Money Map editor Horacio Marquez says the financial meltdown is dragging down shares of even the strongest companies; but short-term volatility aside, these firms will rebound sharply. This means plenty of contrarian bargains.

Horacio says oil-and-gas company Suncor Energy (NYSE:SU) is a good example. It’s expanding production in the Canadian tar sands. And a strong cash flow and low leverage ratios make for a healthy balance sheet.

The Mogambo Guru finds himself getting up and finding out that the US national debt is now a terrifying $9.608 trillion - up a whopping $637 billion from this time last year. He says you should buy gold, silver and oil now, because they will zoom in price thanks to the ruination of the US dollar…

Banks still aren’t lending, says Eric Roseman in The Sovereign Society.

The LIBOR lending rate between banks is 81 basis points above the Federal Fund’s target rate of 2%.

This means even prime borrowers are struggling to raise capital, and it signals that the credit crisis has a ways to run yet.

Further tightening of credit also spells trouble for stocks. Eric advises investors to stay parked in cash, alternative investments and reverse ETFs…

1-2-3 Trader editor Jim Stanton says commodity ETFs are riding the three-point waves of a downturn. After the first trough, the stock stages a small rally, before heading back down. This pattern provides good buy and sell signals for resource investors. Jim says ETFs United States Oil Fund (AMEX: USO) and United States Natural Gas Fund (AMEX: UNG) have further short-term corrections ahead, meaning an opportunity to go short.

Petroleo Brasileiro SA and the UK’s BG Group have made a second major oil find in Brazil’s Santos Basin.

The Guara exploration well struck oil in the BM-S-9 concession area – the same block as September’s Carioca discovery, which could contain as many as 33 billion barrels of oil.

“There are those who will tell you that oil is a cyclical business and a global fungible commodity,” says Christian DeHaemer in Taipan Daily.