I admit to having a bias to commodities, partly because I grew up watching the sun set over vast dumps of mine waste (you had to be there). But also because I think it's so cool that dirt from the ground can be turned into Hummers, Coca Cola cans and nylons.

Japanese officials said a couple of days ago that the country would spend US$80 billion supporting its economy. This is good for commodity demand, from oil to metals. A tax break for home appliances is also planned.

My favourite resources companies are BHPBilliton, AngloAmerican and Impala Platinum. BHP is the most diversified, with exposure to coal, oil and aluminium. Anglo is focused on base and industrial metals, although it also has exposure to precious metals and diamonds.

Implats is the world's second-largest platinum producer; last week it broke significant resistance, and is now testing the breakout, trading red the past two sessions.

Gavin du Venage holds a long position on Impala Platinum

Just because it's cheap, it don't mean it won't get cheaper, my granny, who knew how to keep her pennies in her wallet, used to say. She would also give us kids a bar of Lifebouy soap each for Christmas, and tell us not to use it up too quickly.

Lately, equity bargain hunters have begun to circle. Emerging markets investor Mark Mobius is said to be eying Dubai assets. Warren Buffet got himself a train set and other trinkets besides.

So it's tempting for a humble retail investor like myself to go looking for cheap deals. The trouble is, bottom-feeding can be the most expensive entry into the market there is.

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority must have thought it was getting a great deal when it pounced on US banking outfit Citigroup a couple of years ago, agreeing to pay $31.83 a share in exchange for $7.5 billion. Basically, the ADIC provided Citi with the cash in exchange for a dividend payable over two years, and eventually, equity in the bank.

Citigroup is now trading at around $4.03: ouch.

Which goes to show that even in a rapidly evolving market it's best to stick to fundamentals when making investment decisions. Cash flow, the price-to-equity ratio and earnings still count. Even if a share is in free-fall.

As I predicted last week, gold's pullback has been sharp. (I've always  wanted to say "as I predicted". Any good market commentator knows you should have a clutch of vague forecasts in your back pocket to pull out at the right moment. If they are wrong, keep them in the pocket).

Anyway, it looks as if the news that more Americans have their noses to the grindstone than analysts were expecting (and cough, cough: let's see how many them can say "as I've predicted, US jobless claims were spectacularly low").

Jobless claims are only one of a batch of statistics regularly issued to give the market some idea of the underlying health of the world's biggest economy. These numbers take on different weight, depending on  the broader picture. Awhile back, when oil was at an all-time high, it was the weekly US fuel inventory stats, which show the gap between soccer moms walking or taking the SUV out of the drive, that everyone was watching.

Now we are all very, very happy to see an increase in McJobs. It suggests the recovery is under way, if not quite signed, sealed and delivered. More jobs means more consumers. And the more Americans buy, the happier the global financial picture is.

Bad news for gold, though. The yellow metal lost 4 per cent last week. Its safe haven status will come under pressure if the global economic climate improves.

It's the time of year when fund managers pack their speedos, sun cream and take time off. They sure do need it, poor things.

But as investors take it easy, traders will be scootching closer to their screens. That's  because now is the time market volatility ticks up. Fewer big players in the market means less cash chasing shares.


(Photo credit: Andrew Henderson / The National)

Which means it takes less money than usual to make them move.
Trading, unlike investing, is concerned not with a share's potential for capital growth. It's all about profit from price movement. These short-term speculators will have their technical levels worked out and try buy and sell based on where a counter is relative to the magic
numbers.

Yes, I know, the word "speculator" has become synonymous with something you might find on the bottom of your shoe. They will, however, keep the market alive: in one of the weird ironies that make the markets, speculative activity makes it difficult for any one speculator to do anything too damaging.

All of this means that we are unlikely to see much drama on the Dow, FTSE and the majority of emerging markets until at least January.

A bloke turns his back on the market for a week, taking a well-earned Eid break, and look what happens.

But in spite of financial journals of every colour tracing a path from Dubai to the next financial Armageddon, the markets have been remarkably cheerful. Don't they read the newspapers?
Clearly not, because the US closed comfortably green yesterday, and judging by the winking blue numbers that indicate the Dow future on my screen, it aims to do the same again tonight.
Asian markets, too, showed their economic illiteracy by closing in positive territory; India's Sensex, which took a pounding on Monday, finished up 1.7 per cent. London, Paris and Frankfurt are also looking pretty darned perky.

Our markets are having another grim day, which is hardly a surprise, although DP World has gained 6.5 per cent on the Nasdaq Dubai. Its free pass on parent Dubai World's restructuring is providing a spot of cheer on a gloomy bourse.

Gold is continuing its run, but market geeks - the guys who base their trades on charts instead of fundamentals - warn that it is moving awfully far from from support. It has traded above $1.000 twice before. In March 2008 and then last February. On both occasions it  
lasted only a day or two.

What they are watching now is not for further gains, but what gold does when it pulls back, as sooner or later it must. Provided support of just under $1.000 holds, the next technical target is $1.275.