By Jon Nadler
A weekend of wall-to-wall TV economic punditry failed to convince investors in various markets to adopt any particular course of action regarding their immediate or future investment strategies. The ramifications of the massive US government's financial system meltdown containment and cleanup plan have not yet been fully fathomed and may take some time to crystallize. This is as it ought to be, as the supply of surprises and developments keeps growing and is contributing to general confusion and investment paralysis.

The latest twist in the saga is the news that Goldman and Morgan will undergo transgender surgery and become bank holding companies. Any future Wall Street-mogul- in-the-making at various colleges might now wish to consider a career in financial supervision or maybe plain-vanilla accounting, as opposed to an investment banking dream-position complete with the million-dollar bonus, and the Aston-Martin in the driveway of the Hamptons' mansion.

The camps that are now declaring either hyper-inflation or severe contraction (depression) on the basis of what they understand this crisis to mean, ought to be reminded that we are but 72 hours into a brand-new game and that calling the final score is about as wise as placing one's entire wealth on a roulette basket bet on 00.

To wit, "The Plan" is just that; a blueprint subject to revision. To wit, "The Plan" has already been modified as of late last night, to include "troubled assets" of a non mortgage-related nature. To wit, "The Plan" involves buying and reselling the assets in question rather than sticking the taxpayer with the original retail costs.

Gold prices once again headed into directions that remain tentative. Following a drop to $865 overnight, bullion prices also saw highs of near $890. The US markets will now take center-stage and developments therein will define gold's immediate course a lot more than previous scene-sharing patterns with London and other trading centres. India will remain an important component in the short-term equation for prices as it prepares for the festival season.

Early reports are that the half-truths being propagated by Gold extremists are once again only wishful thinking out loud. Reuters reports that: "Indian gold demand has almost vanished ahead of the peak festival season after a sharp spike in international prices late last week, prompting dealers and retailers to offer discounts." As last year, buyers might hold out for either price dips or the calendar running out before they go out shopping for the yellow metal.

New York spot dealings opened with a $6 gain this morning, quoted at $877 per ounce, but to be fair, one must also look at the active December contract which was showing a near 3% gain from last Friday's settlement. A hefty rally in Crude Oil (motivated more by optimism about future US demand in the wake of "The Plan" than by its possible inflationary impacts) to over $107 also supported gold. The US dollar was down, quoted at 77.33 on the index and at $1.457 against the euro.

Participants will likely hold out for official developments and the trading direction in the Dow before making large commitments in this market. News that "The Plan" now involves everyone in the G-7 taking measures similar to those of the US should have investors showing a more rational behavior in the near-future.

However, one cannot bet everything against a human psyche that still operates mainly on gut feelings and appears to find a lot of energy in mass behavior patterns. Silver gained 22 cents to $12.84 while Platinum was up $35 to $1174 and Palladium rose $11 to $243 per ounce.

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