Tuesday Morning ARGH!

Commodities are getting clocked this morning. The catalyst is that Hurricane Gustav didn't harm the energy infrastructure in the Gulf of Mexico, but really, you have to give credit to a strong, resurgent US dollar.

A HUGE pullback in oil today. It started in electronic trading in a week that is known for light trading volume, but you can't argue with this chart.

Gold is following oil lower today, even though India, the world's biggest buyer of bullion, increased its August gold imports by 56%. What's the driver, then? The rising dollar! You can’t argue against the bullish action in the dollar.

Here is other news you can use ...

ENERGY

Oil falls as global demand concerns re-emerge

SINGAPORE (AP) -- Oil prices fell below $106 a barrel Tuesday in Asia -- $10 below its close Friday before the Labor Day weekend -- as investors shifted their focus to slowing global demand after worries about Hurricane Gustav subsided.

Wind, solar energy built on temporary tax breaks
Congress is putting the short-term future of renewable energy companies in jeopardy even as the presidential candidates and most lawmakers hail windmills, solar panels and biofuels as long-term solutions to high gasoline prices and global warming.

Russian gas oil, gasoline exports fall in Aug

Russian exports of gas oil and gasoline fell in August. Russian oil companies exported 86,219 tonnes per day of gas oil in the first 27 days of August, down by 5.7% from 91,390 tonnes per day in the first 30 days of July. Exports of gasoline, which usually amount to just around 10% of total sales of the fuel, fell by 14.7% to 9,167 tonnes per day from 10,740 tonnes per day in July.

MISC Says It's Halting Ships Travel to Gulf of Aden After Vessels Hijacked MISC Bhd., the world's biggest owner of liquefied natural gas tankers, halted its vessels from entering the Gulf of Aden until more security measures are in place after pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia.

AGRICULTURE

Corn, Soybeans Tumble as Oil Declines on Reduced Hurricane Damage Concern Corn plunged by the trading limit and soybeans tumbled as oil fell after Hurricane Gustav passed the U.S. Gulf Coast without causing major damage, driving the dollar up and reducing demand for the crops as an alternative investment.

GOLD

Gold Declines for Third Day as Crude Oil Slips, Dollar Rallies

Gold fell for a third day in London as the dollar strengthened and crude oil slid, reducing demand for the metal as an alternative investment and inflation hedge. Platinum also dropped.

US DOLLAR

Dollar Bears' Mea Culpa Makes Ben Bernanke No Liability in Global Slowdown Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke has gone from a dollar liability to an asset, sparking a rally that even bears say shows few signs of ending

CANADA

Canada's Harper Seeks National Election, Opposition Leader Dion Says Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper will likely call national elections after failing to find common ground with rival parties for the agenda of the next session of Parliament, opposition Liberal Leader Stephane Dion said.

GLOBAL ECONOMY

China's Spending May Thwart Olympic Curse, Buoy Asia

After four straight quarters of decelerating gross domestic product growth, the government is considering a fiscal stimulus of as much as 400 billion yuan ($58 billion), according to economists and reports in domestic news media.

A plan awaiting approval from the State Council and the National People's Congress includes 220 billion yuan of spending and 150 billion yuan of tax cuts, the Beijing-based Economic Observer newspaper reported last week.

China has tripled railway spending this year to 300 billion yuan. The current five-year plan, which runs through 2010, calls for investing almost 4.8 trillion yuan on power stations, waterways, roads and other infrastructure projects -- more than the combined output of Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. Reconstruction after May's Sichuan earthquake could cost another 1 trillion yuan, the government says.

As global economy slows, visions of $80 oil grow

Economist Glen Langan told BloggingStocks a further decline in oil to below $100 is consistent with the recent slowdown in global economic growth, but he'll await further international GDP data before arguing for an oil dip to the $80 range.

"The key here, again, as with the uptrend in the previous four years, is China. If oil consumption growth slows in China, oil will experience a large sell-off, as institutional investors and traders sense that the great bull run in commodities is at least pausing," Langan said. "China is likely to register GDP growth of about 10% in Q3, and if it's below 9% or 8.5%, investors will take that as a sign that a slowdown is ahead, which is bearish for commodity prices." China's economy grew 10.2% in Q2 and 10.4% in 1H 2008.

Australia Cuts Key Interest Rate for First Time Since 2001 as Growth Slows Australia's central bank cut its benchmark interest rate for the first time in seven years amid signs the nation's $1 trillion economy is slowing.

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