Renowned speculator Bernard Baruch once said, The main purpose of the stock market is to make fools of as many men as possible.

As 2009 comes to a close, this year’s most popular investment is likely to make a lot of investors look like fools.

But investors getting prepared now will be able to avoid the hazard and position themselves for maximum profit. Here’s how.

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More than 1,200 limos, 140 private jets, and an additional 40,000 tons of carbon dioxide have converged on the Danish capital of Copenhagen this week to "save the world" from climate change. But we don't expect much except for plenty of theatrics and non-binding resolutions. We expect the most interesting aspect to be the inevitable competition among the alarmists trying to devise a prophecy more radical than the next (think Congress sound bites on steroids).

There is, however, one very important sideshow to this circus. A sideshow investors should pay close attention to because it will prove to be exceptionally lucrative as one energy sub-sector (it's not what you think) becomes more profitable than it already is...

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Too late to buy, too early to sell.

It can be a frustrating time for investors.  Stocks have had a great run, but the rally is cooling. The run in real assets – gold, oil, and other commodities – is taking a much anticipated breather.

Corporate and government bonds are, at best, fully valued. At worst, they're significantly overvalued.

But a new trend is starting to form. One that’s  being created out of necessity. One which, at first glance, doesn't sound remotely exciting, but it should be well worth taking a look at now...

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Gold took a big hit today. As I write, gold is down $51 per ounce.

Wall Street's momentum-chasing traders, whose new found affinity for the yellow metal helped push gold up 20 of the last 25 trading sessions, are scrambling for the exits today as the monthly jobs report turned out much better than expected.

For Main Street, the news was good. The headline unemployment rate fell to 10% from 10.2% last month. The underemployment rate  fell from 17.5% to 17.2%. Despite the decline in the rates of unemployment, the U.S. economy lost 11,000 jobs last month. That’s relatively good news compared to recent past.

For Wall Street, the jobs numbers weren't so good. In today's markets good news means we may be getting one step closer to the Fed's free money party. In other words, good news is bad news.

But it's all short-term market noise. There are much bigger fundamental forces at work in the gold market. And for those investors who can put aside the short-term volatility and focus on the real catalysts for gold's next big move, they will be set up to make a fortune in the years ahead because gold's next move is likely to surprise a lot of folks. Here's why...

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For investors who are willing to look past the day-to-day drama and look at the bigger picture, the Dubai debt issue is just another step on the current path. Because once you take a step back and look at what's really going on, and the implications of a Dubai World meltdown, and how it's all likely play out, you can see where this scare ends up. And from there you can see the big opportunity resulting from it all...

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