copper

Many small investors have recently piled into commodities, especially copper, on the assumption that ever-growing demand from developing countries would keep sending prices skyward. Now they are learning a drop in demand is also possible, and prices have been plummeting.

It's no surprise that consumer prices are rising -- the prices of commodities from corn to cotton to copper are near record levels, thanks to shrinking supplies and rising demand worldwide. The question is whether the Fed will raise rates to combat this price inflation -- and whether it should.

According to two Paul supporters, the Texas Republican isn't ready to go directly back to the gold standard. Instead, he wants to keep the dollar and add three more currencies. Those would be based on gold, silver and copper.

Prices for copper, gold, wheat, corn and oil are soaring. But how can small investors can take advantage of this growth without taking on way too much risk? That's a good question, indeed. And here are some good answers.

In Asia Thursday Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 1.3% and China's Shanghai Composite shed 0.5%, as copper slid for a third day and banks retreated on reports that China has clamped down on loans. In Japan the Nikkei 225 Index inched up 0.1%.

In Asia Tuesday Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index advanced 0.8% to 23,428 and China's Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.7% to 2,876. In Japan the Nikkei 225 Index slid 0.3% to 10,141.

Newly located deposits in Afghanistan could be a source of wealth for an impoverished nation crippled by decades of war. But getting those minerals out of the ground will require years of development and billions of dollars in investment.

As the conflict in Afghanistan drags on, the U.S. has announced that the troubled Asian nation is sitting on upwards of $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits. However, the resources are likely to end up getting mined not by American but by Russian and Chinese firms.

The whipsaw action in commodities during the last month makes gyrations in the stock market look tame. The autumn meltdown created such a risk-averse environment that traders dumped positions across asset classes, including energy and metals. Crude oil prices, for example, declined 75 percent from...

In their earnings release yesterday,Caterpillar (CAT) offered insight into the demand mining companies had for their heavy equipment. After reporting that results beat estimates, the company said that gold miners were "cautiously optimistic," but that copper miners are showing "significant caution"...