Crude Oil has turned out to be the hottest commodity these days. Along with gold, crude oil is driving up commodity prices these days. Legendary commodities investor Jim Rogers feels that crude oil price will surpass $150 per barrel thanks to the depleting reserves of oil around the world.

US stock prices continued their upward march in January and have now jumped almost 25 per cent since the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, first hinted last autumn that the central bank intended to introduce a further round of quantitative easing.

Tense and terrible times inevitably summon an odd coupling of two very different and difficult human conditions; honesty, and brutality. Certain painful truths are revealed, and often, a palpable fury erupts. Being that times today are particularly tense, and on the verge of being spectacularly terrible, perhaps we should embrace both conditions in a constructive manner, and become brutally honest with ourselves. This begins by admitting to that which most ails us. It begins by admitting how far we have fallen…

In this issue

Canadian jobs report – decent start to the year:

• full-time employment rose 31.1k after a nice 40.5k pickup to round out 2010

• while the majority of the job gain was in the civil service, the private sector did post a decent 22.7k payroll expansion in January

• if there was a blemish it was that there was no growth in the workweek but what helped compensate for that was a 0.9% pickup in average hourly earnings

U.S. employment – snow job?

• bullish or bearish, there was something for everyone

• the headline nonfarm payroll report came in light at +36k

• the Household survey also showed a more modest 117k jobs being created last month

• there is no doubt that the weather exerted a major impact

A lot of people ride motorcycles, but there’s a reason most don’t try to be Evel Knievel. Sure, there’s a big reward if you can land a jump over 14 school buses – but what if you don’t?