There’s an old Wall Street adage that tells us that “the trend is your friend.” And there’s a witty bit of wisdom we’ve developed here at Money Morning to help guide our readers and us that says: “Go global or go home.”

On Tuesday, neither gold nor silver did much of anything. Volume again was extremely light, and it doesn’t take a lot of buying or selling to move the prices around. The price of both metals is still miles away from any moving average that would be of interest to the black box tech funds.

The U.S. economy shed 20,000 in April, the Department of Labor announced in its monthly employment summary, bringing total unemployment up to 5% from 5.1% last month.

If you ever wanted to know how a lame duck President runs out the clock, this week offered you a great example. Now 88 months into his 96-month term, President Bush decided it was time to assign blame for the US’s current economic woes.

It is time for another simulator update.  To say the last week of trading has been interesting is an understatement.  Even though three-quarters of the nation is screaming about a recession, the equities maket continues to rise.  The Dow has not been at this level in quite a while.

Back in December, my friend Steve Sjuggerud described a British spending spree taking place in America. At the time, the pound was worth about $1.95, and Brits were enjoying a 50% discount on their Christmas shopping across the pond.

In 2004, then Treasury Secretary John Snow was traipsing about the globe trying to “talk the dollar down.” Why? In a word: debt.

It’s enough to set off one’s contrarian radar. I mean, predictions of $200-a-barrel oil have been everywhere over the last week. CIBC analyst Jeff Rubin, with an eerily accurate track record of previous predictions, kicked it off last week with a forecast of $225 by 2012 with $7 gasoline to match.

Just one day after arch-rival Airbus SAS was forced to raise prices because of a weak dollar, The Boeing Co. (BA) said yesterday (Wednesday) that its first-quarter profits soared 38%, easily eclipsing Wall Street expectations.

It was not so long ago that oil touched $110 for the first time. Through the roof, people said. And what were people saying when oil hit $100? “Wow, it’s going through the roof!”