When surveying the financial and economic landscape of November 2009, it isn't that hard to get "the big picture". It seems to me that the manipulations and the activities of the "Smart Money", a.k.a the Exchange Insiders, the Specialists and their array of big banking clientele makes it abundantly clear that they want the stock market and precious metals market to remain in "bubble mode" for awhile longer. There are many opinion and myths about it all floating around. This concerns me.

Alfred Goldman, the wise old sage of the former brokerage firm called A.G. Edwards and Sons had a saying that I always liked: "It's not the snake you see that bites you, it's the snake you don't see." He wanted to warn customers that we can easily become distracted by all the noise, all the "talking heads" and myriad opinions and miss what is really going on.

Many of us wonder if inflation is going to take off anytime soon. That, as well as the devaluation of the dollar has moved billions of dollars into precious metals ETFs like GLD and SLV.

Even the Central Fund of Canada (AMEX:CEF), which is selling for about a 10% premium above its net asset value (NAV), has a market cap of over $2.5 billion. It's a closed-end fund that actually buys, stores and insures the gold and silver it uses to establish the NAV for the shareholders.

"JPM’s profit soars 583% year over year" wrote my colleague Keith Fitz-Gerald.

"The market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent." – John Maynard Keynes

On Friday, October 16th, while the stock markets in the US were in a mini-decline, I decided to buy more of two of my favorite "takeover target technolgy stocks": NetApp Inc. (NTAP), and Brocade Communications (BRCD).

This might be called the "$3 Billion Dollar Question". Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) lost more than $2.2 billion in the third quarter of this year and Citigroup (NYSE:C) lost a staggering $3.2 billion in the same quarter.

But as the chart below shows us all, JP MorganChase (NYSE:JPM) and Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) appears to have flourished while their cousins languished.

The Royal Bank of Scotland (NYSE:RBS) has released its latest Commodity Companion, covering base and precious metals, iron and the energy complex. Among the major conclusions are the belief that copper will make new record highs by 2013, but that from current prices aluminium may well have the greatest longer term upside.

RBS is looking for world GDP to rebound by 3.6% in 2010, but is looking for commodity prices to pause for an overdue breather after their recent strong rallies. After that the picture brightens considerably.

On Oct. 27th, 2008 Goldcorp (NYSE:GG) closed at $15.06. Agnico-Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM) closed the same day at $21.70.

Fast forward less than eleven months later to Sept. 16th, 2009. GG closed at $42.93 and AEM closed at $71.27. Over a 200% gain for GG and over a 300% for AEM. That would amaze even the most enthusiastic gold bug.

Wal-Mart (WMT) is the company that Americans have such a remarkable love-hate relationship with. Here's a company that the small, local merchants can't compete with and which leaves a gigantic "asphalt and concrete footprint" wherever it goes. Yet Americans love bargains and they love to stretch their dollars, so WMT is usually on their "to-go" list.

The economy has seen quite a ride in the past 12 months here in the USA. We've come a long way, maybe.

After the epic crash last year, the price of oil is stabilizing and it could rise exponentially over the following years. Over the past year, global consumption has stayed weak and may stay that way for awhile.

However once the economy recovers, crude oil should resume its secular bull-market trend and many pundits think it might shock some folks as to how high prices may go.

So natural gas is falling and falling hard. It was below $2.81 as I wrote this and no one seems to know where it will fall to. My guess is around $2.50 per BTU. I hope I'm wrong though because I'm beginning to put my money where my convictions are.

I recently bought some Chesapeake Energy (NYSE:CHK), which was up Friday more than 3%, partly because we were told that many of their contracts are hedged at a much higher price than the current price of natural gas.

When I say "The Fall" I'm not speaking about Autumn, but there might be a seasonal paradox tied into this question that should make us all sit up and take notice.

Take Citigroup (C), please. Since it hit an intra-day low of $2.99 on July 31st it has shot up almost 40%, and the usual "cheerleaders" like Jim Cramer are touting it every chance they can.

Many pundits are saying that the dollar is ready to crash and burn, signaling a time of mounting inflation. But some reputable sources disagree. Robert Prechter, president of Elliott Wave International, is calling for a long-term rally in the U.S. dollar. He's entitled to his opinion, but his track record gets my attention.

Prechter, famous for such important calls as the 1987 crash, the 2007 top in stocks, and the 2008 peak in oil prices, says he sees significant evidence the dollar has put in a major bottom and should rally for the next year or two, bringing down most other asset classes in the process. He thinks that the biggest risk to the economy is deflation, not inflation.

Is it wind energy, or is it solar energy? Is it bio-diesel or hydroelectric energy? The debate on what is the best form of clean energy to invest in has been growing like green shoots for years. Let me give you a hint of one possible winner: The Geysers.

The Geysers in California supply power for several plants. These power plants emit only excess steam and very minor amounts of gases. In the Mayacamas Mountains, located 72 miles north of San Francisco, naturally occurring steam field reservoirs below the earth's surface are being harnessed by Calpine to make clean, green, renewable energy for homes and businesses across Northern California.

Let's "stir the pot" and challenge both our imaginations and our willingness to look at the stock market in ways that might even make us feel a bit uncomfortable.

What an awesome "Bull Run" we've had since March 9th, 2009. And despite Monday's slight pullback, the stock market of the U.S. is acting like it not only wants to go higher, but is ABSOLUTELY DETERMINED TO GO HIGHER.

The last year has been a tough one for the solar energy sector. Anyone who owns companies like First Solar (Nasdaq:FSLR) SunPower Corporation (Nasdaq:SPWRA) and Suntech Power Holdings (NYSE:STP) has surely "felt the heat" if you'll excuse the pun.

Tuesday was a momentous August day for Gold. After failing to close above $960 Monday, it blew through the ceiling Tuesday and closed above the $965 level. Its little sister Silver also shone brightly closing above $14.60.

What's going on here? Is this a fundamental move or a technical, short-term rally? My guess is that the shakers and movers in the precious metals markets want to manipulate gold up to $1,000 or slightly higher before pulling the rug out from under those who chase this mini-bubble.

Remember the "Pickens Plan"? T. Boone Pickens, the 81-year-old Chairman of BP Capital came up with the idea to reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil with a combination of wind-generated power and natural gas powered vehicles. In the process, the need for foreign oil could be drastically reduced or eliminated in as little as 10 years.

His timing - with oil prices hovering around $150 a barrel, is part of the reasons his "Pickens Plan" received a lot of attention.The publicly-traded company he launched with his plan in mind, Clean Energy Fuels (Nasdaq:CLNE) became a quick winner with many investors, as the chart below shows (then it dropped from $19.95 to $3.23 last year):

Now it’s one year later: Obama is President, oil prices are less than half of what they were a year ago, CLNE is above $8 a share again, and the country is using less oil and natural gas. Is energy dependence on foreign oill still a concern? Does natural gas still have a role to play in the plans for a cleaner, more sustainable source of energy and fuel?

The S&P 500 is above the "shaky" 950 level, and Mr. Nasdaq cut through the 1900 level like a hot drill-bit through a butter ceiling of resistance.

Gold defied the $940 resistance level and almost closed as high as $950 on Monday. With Crude Oil easily clearing the $64-a-barrel level, silver took its cue as both an industrial and precious metal and bounced up 2% in one day closing at $13.62 an ounce.

Oil is still above $61 a barrel, and as I write this (July 16, 2009), Natural Gas has rallied over 10% in one day to $3.62 per mmBTU. I'm more than a bit suspicious about energy prices because I believe there is still a glut of supply and that "real life demand" (RLD) is dropping with each passing month.

That having been said, I'm very excited about the longer-term prospect for Natural Gas. Recently I watched an important interview on Bloomberg TV with Jason Gammel, an energy analyst with Maquarie Securities USA, which confirms other sources I have concerning both the shorter-term and longer-term probabilities with Natural Gas.