That phrase usually pertains to stocks as before all stocks were correlated at 1, they used to actually trade in somewhat uncorrelated fashion, with some going up, some going down and some going up or down faster than the market…

We’ve gotten used to commodities all rising and falling together in recent years as aggressive use of novel forms of monetary easing has captured the imagination of those who prefer physical goods as an inflation hedge over paper securities.

The only commodity playing the inflation game today is gold (and it’s little brother silver). Pretty much everything else is getting belted on the back of clear evidence of a sharp deceleration in global growth.

Inflation looks to be light years away is slack in the global economy and scant demand for money keep all that extra liquidity holed up in the world’s central banks.

Oil and copper eventually get consumed. They are falling like rocks. Gold moves from one portfolio to another. I think oil and copper are telling us more about the world than gold.