Once again, crude is leading bullion around by the nose, causing the price of gold to track a presumably doomed energy rally that has been wrongly attributed to 'tensions' between the U.S. and Russia. Of course, nothing of the sort is driving oil quotes higher; it is short-covering, is all, and it is unlikely to last. (When was the last time we heard the likes of Katie Couric or Tom Brokaw explain that a stock or commodity went bonkers because it had been deeply oversold?) We expect this latest wilding spree in the energy patch to carry oil into the mid- to upper $120s before prices fall anew. In the meantime, we'll be waving a yellow flag in the chat room, lest subscribers grow cocksure about the price of gold and silver going to the moon on this run-up. With respect to the stock market, it is not the yellow flag we are waving but a red one -- to warn against shorting too aggressively right now. Although we can think of no good reason for stocks to explode from these levels, in a bear market such as this one any of a half-dozen bad reasons will always suffice. Under the circumstances, those looking to get short yesterday evidently weren't paying heed to the stubborn reluctance of stocks to go down when the price of crude was soaring. If crude had instead fallen, it's likely the Dow would have been up 300 points rather than a mere 13. Specialist Rip-Off In the Rick's Picks chat room, we noted our 'EXTREME' bullishness about midway into the session. Oil was up $6.20 a barrel at the time, and the Dow Industrials, off 65 points after opening down 100, were showing determined resistance to further selling. The gap-down opening was such an obvious
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