In a reversal of fortunes, the commodity heavy Canadian Markets made back a good chunk of Wednesday’s sell-off during Thursday trading. For the tale of the tape, the TSX Exchange rallied 1.82%, while the TSX Gold Index climbed 2.4% and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada’s largest junior exploration bourse, added 2.27% with the advancers beating out the decliners by a 495 to 359 margin on a robust 220 million shares traded.

After another strong bout of buying, investors elected to book some profits during Tuesday trading on the Canadian markets. For the tale of the tape, the TSX Exchange fell 0.58%, while the TSX Gold Index dropped 1.1% and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada’s largest junior exploration bourse, gave back 0.40% with the advancers edging out the decliners by a 355 to 353 margin on volume of 148 million shares traded.

Leaving your money under your mattress isn’t exactly the safest bet. It doesn’t take a mathematician to figure out that government stimulus plans, bank bailouts, and lower interest rates all add up to inflation. If more money is circulating due to new spending measures, the value of each dollar –including the money under your mattress– goes down.

The gold market was obviously open in the U.S. on Martin Luther King Day. But not much happened except a continuation of the decline that began at 11:00 a.m. in London on Monday…which lasted until 3:00 a.m. New York time yesterday…shortly before London opened on Tuesday morning. This decline managed to shave about $18 off the gold price during that period of time.