The airline industry is facing a major crisis.

The price of fuel now makes up 35 percent of airline costs compared with 13 percent a decade ago. Capital and Crisis editor Chris Mayer says if oil prices stay where they are and nothing else changes, the airline industry will lose about $6 billion this year, compared with a profit of $5.6 billion last year.

This creates a great ‘hidden’ opportunity for investors. More fuel-efficient engines will require the use of exotic metals that can cope with higher-then-normal engine temperatures – metals like cobalt…

Commodity Trend Alert editor Eric Roseman says “the bull market in gold is still sitting pretty,” thanks to declining global gold production and continuing inflation fears.

Jeff Clark in The Growth Stock Wire says we’re getting close to the ‘mania’ stage phase in gold – fleeing or panic from customary investments that leads to an astounding run-up in price of what is seen as the asset of the day.

Here, Warren Bevan in Penny Sleuth says the technical analysis shows gold solidly in a bull market… 

Palladium is looking like it might break out of its horizontal trading pattern and follow gold and silver prices higher. If this heappens, says Jeff Clark, then the biggest gains will come in the shares of North American Palladium (PAL) and Stillwater Mining (SWC) – North America’s two largest palladium-mining companies…

Despite the drop in gold prices and silver prices today, these precious metals have been a great investment in 2008. Silver has gained a phenomenal 27 percent, while gold has climbed 17 percent. Matt Badiali says we’re on the brink of a global inflation crisis and that an investment in precious metals now is a great low-risk hedge…

Gold prices hit a four-month record yesterday, driven higher by the falling dollar and slumping equities.

Investors looked for a safe haven after the greenback hit a record low versus the euro. Gold prices reached $989.60 an ounce and fell back to $978.70 after a sharp drop crude oil prices.

Gold is not the only precious metal gaining ground, says Brian Hunt. Silver has gained 27 percent this year, against gold’s 17 percent.

Iran is rich in more than oil. It also has massive metals deposits. Persian Gold estimates there are 160,000 ounces of gold and 1,000,000 ounces of silver in one of its sites alone. If you can stand the political heat, get in now, says Tom Bulford…

Andrew Gordon has published a comprehensive downturn investment strategy guide. He picks seven sectors that he believes offer outstanding growth opportunities. Perhaps unsurprisingly, there is a clear commodity-based theme…

As the financial services giants get cut down to size, metals are now the biggest source of mergers and acquisitions on Wall Street, according to a report on Bloomberg.

The value of announced mining takeovers more than tripled to $199 billion in the first five months of 2008 from a year ago – the first time mining mergers have topped Bloomberg’s mergers and acquisitions table since it began 1998.

Meanwhile, gold prices are set to reach record levels, says Mike Caggeso in Money Morning.

Gold futures closed 2.9% down for the week, despite a rally on Friday, as the greenback rose against the euro and other major currencies.

“I see that Dennis Gartman is talking about gold again,” says Ed Steer in Casey Research.

Here are a few words from his early Thursday morning commentary….”If the governments of the world are now as concerned about inflation as we think they may be, and if they are even more concerned about the prospects for a generic, rising inflationary psychology amongst the public at large