Investors are running for the hills today, but are they running in the right direction? In this very informative webcast, Marc Faber and Frank Holmes discuss global investment opportunities and threats.

Enjoy the discussion.

Renewed fears of inflation and slower growth caused by record energy costs played havoc with global stock markets last week, resulting in the Dow Jones Industrial Average being on track to record its worst June since the Great Depression. As stocks suffered, gold bullion surged and government bond yields dropped due to safe-haven buying.

As the financial services giants get cut down to size, metals are now the biggest source of mergers and acquisitions on Wall Street, according to a report on Bloomberg.

Central bankers’ inflation-fighting rhetoric moved to centre stage over the past week. A succession of hawkish comments from US policymakers persuaded pundits that the US rate-cutting cycle was over, resulting in a stronger US dollar, plummeting government bonds, predominantly lower global stock markets (with Asia seeing the most red), and non-agricultural commodities coming off the boil.

As the big dominos of $125 oil, $4 copper, $6 corn, and $1,000 gold fall onto the market, raw-material producers enjoy record cash flows. The next domino is all the cash finding its way to companies that supply equipment, services, and infrastructure to those producers.

Marc Faber video, complements of Barry Ritholtz and Bloomberg. I always like to hear what he has to say, but I'm surprised he like the "long $USD" trade.

Oil prices have resumed their northward climb. And inflation has returned to the American lexicon for the first time in decades. For U.S. consumers, there’s no way to dodge the financial fallout of that economic one-two punch.

While fear may from time to time play a role in creating price spikes in gold, the underlying bull market has been driven by solid fundamentals. Those who have been too afraid to buy simply do not understand the underlying dynamics and have instead decided that the market is irrational.

After stock markets have held up bravely in the face of the credit crises and mounting economic woes, a combination of renewed concerns about the financial sector, a record-breaking spurt in the oil price, and a rotten unemployment number claimed their toll on Friday, triggering a sharp sell-off in most parts of the world.

Soaring oil prices were mostly to blame for the past week’s stock market sell-off, but renewed concerns about US economic growth, corporate earnings and mounting angst about inflation pressures also featured prominently in determining the market's fate.

Equity bulls experienced another good week based on the viewpoint that the worst of the credit crisis might be behind us. A further improvement in investor sentiment and increased risk appetite caused market participants to cast aside a mixed bag of economic and corporate data and look across the “economic valley”.

It was yet another very low volume market session that really proved nothing today that we did not already know about this market. The one bright spot that occurred today that was noticeable to me by the action in the stocks that were showing up on my price/volume scans. The IBD 100 gained a very impressive 1.5% compared to the overall market which was slightly lower across the board.

“The world's favorite season is the spring. All things seem possible in May,” said Edwin Way Teal. And so it seemed during the past week as we witnessed a further improvement in investor sentiment and risk appetite, supported by the viewpoint that the worst of the credit crisis might be behind us.

Gold expert Ed Bugos is back today to share his view of the recent market, including some of the latest numbers for Washington. He also gives you an opportunity to buy his five favorite penny stock plays that are set to shoot up as everything else falls apart.

The last week was characterized by investors increasingly taking the view that the worst of the credit crisis was over. They seemed to be shrugging off further substantiation of the dreadful state of the US housing situation, as they digested the latest round of quarterly earnings reports.