Largest job fall, Commodity Shortage or Pillage?

But what's really going on here?

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Gold closed at 899.00 dollars an ounce Friday, up 0.8% from $891.50 for the week. The dollar closed at 0.6340 euros Friday, down 1.4% from 0.6430 at the close of the previous Friday. That put the euro at 1.5774 dollars compared to 1.5552 the week before. Gold in euros would be 569.93 euros an ounce, down 1.0% from 573.24 at the close of the previous week. Oil closed at 137.84 dollars a barrel Friday, up 8.0% from $127.59 for the week. Oil in euros would be 87.38 euros a barrel, up 6.5% from 82.04 at the close of the Friday before. The gold/oil ratio closed at 6.52 Friday, down 7.2% from 6.99 for the week. In U.S. stocks, the Dow closed at 12,209.81 Friday, down 3.5% from 12,638.32 at the close of the previous Friday. The NASDAQ closed at 2,474.56 Friday, down 1.9% from 2,522.66 at the close of the week before. In U.S. interest rates, the yield on the ten-year U.S. Treasury note closed at 3.91%, down 14 basis points from 4.05 for the week.

The ten-dollar rise in the price of oil on Friday combined with the almost 400 point drop in the Dow has everybody spooked. The U.S. jobs report for May came out showing an alarming drop in jobs. Rising energy and food prices have people frightened and the mainstream media is doing nothing to stop the panic.

Job Losses and Oil Surge Spread Economic Gloom

Peter S. Goodman
NY Times
June 7, 2008

The unemployment rate surged to 5.5 percent in May from 5 percent - the sharpest monthly spike in 22 years - as the economy lost 49,000 jobs, registering a fifth consecutive month of decline, the Labor Department reported Friday.

The weak jobs report, coupled with a staggering rise in the price of oil - up a record $10.75 a barrel to more than $138 - unleashed a feverish sell-off on Wall Street, sending the Dow Jones industrial average down nearly 400 points. The dollar plunged against several major currencies.