standard poors 500

Last week saw a potential top in commodities prices, as both oil and gold prices seem to have stalled out from their upward march in 2008.

That should have spelled relief for the stock market, which has been down by 13% in 2008, as measured by the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Yet, it didn’t. The week saw the Down finish lower by 0.63%, while the Standard & Poors 500 index rose by a meager 0.15%.

The market may be waiting until after Labor Day, where it can have another two weeks to be certain that commodity prices have topped out.

In the meantime, Americans will be back from their summer...