Equities “are now barely through an 18-year secular bear market,” says our favorite underground analyst David Rosenberg. As illustrated by the nearby chart, US stocks have a historical tendency to move in 18-year cycles.

Gold eases in quiet trade, traders eye next week’s data… Gold set for biggest gain since 1999 on safe haven buying

“Speculators like you and I are bad. Really, really bad. You should hold your head in shame.” says Garry White of Smart Commodities UK. He states, contrary to many politicians, that it’s the fundamentals, not the speculators that are to blame for the surge and subsequent decline of oil prices.  He remains a long-term bull on price of oil…

Is it U.S. dollar strength or oil weakness? The greenback is strutting its stuff over the last few weeks, up nearly six percent against the euro. And the Aussie dollar, which had been within an eyelash of reaching parity, has since declined to eighty cents against Team America’s currency.

The folks over at the Oil Drum have done an interesting analysis of oil prices and where they might be headed.

American consumers are feeling the pain both at the pump and in the grocery store. Meanwhile with real full-time unemployment rates climbing towards 10%, penny-pinching consumers are wondering just who is to blame.

Gas stations in Britain have began to run out of fuel as a four-day fuel strike by Shell tanker drivers sparked a wave of panic buying. Six hundred drivers working for two companies that distribute fuel to Shell filling stations around Britain are on strike over low pay.

“Is Britain going back to the 1970s?” asks Ben Traynor in Fleet Street Daily.

I was 14 when I first learned about the 1970s oil price shocks, and how they had caused stagflation (unemployment and inflation rising at the same time) in Britain.

In the energy market Thursday, crude for July delivery headed for the moon, rocketing heavenward to close at a record $138.54/barrel, up $10.75. July reformulated gasoline shot 21.8 cents higher, to $3.548/gallon, marking a two-day gain of nearly 11%.

Wow… Here is an act of entirely commendable proportions.

For most South African miners it was a time of darkness. But on the day that Statistics SA released truly dismal 2008 first quarter figures, a stunning debutant proved the mining sector is not all gloom.