We open the week with a peek into the world of crude oil, which, as everyone knows by now has been falling precipitously. Right now, both benchmark prices – West Texas Intermediate and Brent North Sea – find themselves at the center of a tussle between ferocious long-term bears and a kind of cult that keeps repeating the mantra that the price of crude will “re-balance” itself.

After rising today following the U.S. Department of Labor’s employment report for July, the U.S. dollar weakened as afternoon trading wore on. It was a kind of Goldilocks report, not too hot, not too cold, just about right. Therefore, markets are finding it difficult to find meaning in it.

Everyone is hoping that tomorrow’s July employment report from the U.S. Department of Labor clarifies the mixed bag of data we’ve seen much of this week and last. Projections are for 223,000 new jobs to have been added, although today Goldman Sachs upped its own estimates from 215,000 to 225,000.

The heavyweight champ – the dollar – was up, it was down, it was back up, no, it’s back down.

Gold struggled into positive territory on and off throughout the day, but as the afternoon waned and the dollar slipped back to just about even, the yellow precious metal suffered.

Dear Beijing:

You’re an adolescent in a grown-up economic world. Ending short selling is an awful idea. It’s like wearing a raincoat while taking a shower.

We quote the book that started the Internet revolution in the United States, which has since spread to the whole world. It’s called The Whole Earth Catalog (1968):

In a broad indication of how low in esteem gold is held right now, even after a nearly 20% sell-off in Greek equities as their bourse re-opened, the yellow precious metal fell significantly today.

If the Fed sneezes, investors catch a cold. That’s a variation on the old adage about the U.S. sneezing and the world catching a cold.

As markets continue tor respond to yesterday’s Federal Reserve press release and comments, they also are digesting data that said the U.S. economy grew at a 2.3% rate in the second quarter. The anemic growth in the first quarter was revised slightly upward. But, at the same time, growth in the three previous years was revised down.

Gold held its breath as it awaited the Federal Reserve presentation as well as after the FOMC meeting that ended today. It declined a bit, and then rose slightly despite a stronger greenback. The Fed offered no new wishbones to pick over, restating what most of us know already.

Led by energy stocks, the Dow and S&P 500 rose around 1.00% today, reversing the struggles and narrow-range volatility they’ve experienced recently. The NASDAQ was also up. In Europe, the DAX and CAC were both up a touch more than 1.00%.