Market Watch with Tom Waitt

November_17th_2010.mp3 What Goes Up, Comes Down    So far in 2010, cotton prices have risen 90.5%, Silver 62.9%, Coffee 52%, Corn 36.1%, Wheat 30.0% and Gold 28.1%. Do we have inflation?   Gold 100 Troy oz. (click for larger picture) Crude Oil Light Sweet (click for larger picture) In the last week, Gold fell $95.30 an ounce, 7.2%; Oil is off $7.45 a barrel, 8.4%. What has changed? The U.S. dollar has reversed direction and is getting stronger while European markets are re-visiting sovereign debt problems. Inflation is described as too many dollars chasing too few goods; inversely Deflation is too many goods for too few dollars. Which environment would you like to be in? Textbooks suggest a well diversified investment portfolio often linked to a stock index or a mutual fund. The trouble is, most equity indexes and mutual funds are at the same level as 10 years ago, the lost decade for investment returns. In today's investment environment it is time to define ones investment goa