Last year's Markets

Note: Since we do the numbers weekly, we will be taking Friday, January 2nd as the end of 2008, and, since there was a lot of change in the markets last Friday, our year-end numbers will differ from those using December 31 as the last day of the year.

Gold closed the year at $876.80 and ounce, up 4.0% from $842.70 for the year and 4.3% from $840.80 for the quarter. Oil closed at $46.35 a barrel Friday, down 51.8% from $96.16 for the year and 50.2% from $93.10 for the quarter. The gold/oil ratio closed at 18.92 Friday, up 116.0% from 8.76 for the year and 109.5% from 9.03 for the quarter. The dollar closed at 0.7183 euros Friday, up 5.7% from 0.6795 euros for the year and down 1.0% from 0.7255 for the quarter. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed Friday at 9,034.69 down 32.4% from 13,365.87 for the year and 12.5% from 10,325.38 for the quarter. The yield on the ten-year U.S. Treasury note closed at 2.37 Friday, down 41.8% from for the year 4.07 and 34.2% from 3.60 for the quarter.

Much has already been written about the eight-day-long running massacre of Palestinians that is taking place in Gaza. Indeed, what more can be said when it is clear that the Israeli government is intent on blithely ignoring all petitions, both the ambivalent and the unequivocal, to stop the indiscriminate murder.

At least 450 dead so far (other reports put the figure closer to 500), many of them civilians, women, children, old and young, the rest policemen or Hamas officials. At least 2000 injured, many too seriously to survive or be treated in Gaza's severely blockaded hospitals. In short, in the last eight days the state of Israel has murdered approximately 500 innocent Palestinians and seriously injured 2000, and the representatives of the world's leading democracies sit virtually silent. Make no mistake and do not be fooled by the mainstream media reporting, every single Palestinian that has died or been injured as a result of the Israeli bombardment of Gaza is innocent. When a people that have been dispossessed of their land, livelihoods and homes, occupied, periodically murdered and regularly starved take action to resist and defend themselves, they are guilty of nothing but standing up for their human rights and their rights under international law.