The International Energy Agency predicts China will surpass the United States as the world’s largest energy consumer shortly after 2010.

U.S. consumers are already starting to see the impact. In the midst of an anemic recovery, oil is above $80 a barrel, the national average gasoline price is $2.57 a gallon, and natural gas prices are still more than double what they were for decades.

There will be corrections, but energy prices are going higher and contrarian investors should be spotting a sizeable opportunity in the most beaten up, out of favor energy sector in the world.

If you’ve enjoyed the recent rally and, like we’ve urged, stopped arguing with the market and just rode it out for all its worth, you’ve been caught up a little in this correction.

The downturn was inevitable. We all knew it was going to come. And we wanted to prepare ourselves for the cost of riding out the rally.

But right now, the markets are acting like its 2008 all over again and investors and traders are running for the exits.

Fears of a Greece debt contagion are starting to wane. At this point it looks like the cash will be handed over to Greece and in return he Greek government will make some promises to slash spending over the next three years which, of course, will never materialize.

But hey, that’s long-term and this is Wall Street. But after the Greece solution is revealed the markets will likely face three headwinds which must pass before the markets make another big move upwards.

Given what has happened in the past two years and the way things are starting out this year, there’s no reason to expect this time around to be any different.

The biggest headlines of the week tell the complete story though. High-profile views on the emerging China Bubble and revealing stories on what most investors are doing with their money now reveal a lot about where the market’s next move is likely to be. As usual, it will likely surprise more folks than not.

He made hundreds of millions of dollars by foreseeing the surges in oil prices of the 1970s.

When the oil market was dominated by a handful of large oil companies (the Seven Sisters), he took them on…and won.

He’s an entrepreneur, a billionaire, and at one point in time was one of the most controversial fugitives of the 20th century.

Think what you will about Marc Rich, but no one can deny he has made a fortune by being right at the right time when it comes to geopolitics and commodity prices.

Now he’s making his view of the future available for everyone. And just like his trading ideas in the 60s and 70s, his expectations may go unnoticed by the majority, but they have a good chance at making a lot of money for those willing to listen now.

Would you be interested in what I thought the market was going to do next?

Or would you just think about how even the best traders and investors are right about 2/3rds of the time. And that kind of consistency, combined with proper discipline, is enough to make a fortune over time.

You could just call me a liar, a criminal, or a crook too.

Or you could just assume I work at Goldman Sachs.

That’s right, with earnings season just around the corner and another round of seven and eight figure bonuses for the top traders at everyone’s most hated investment bank, the headlines will focus on the size of the bonuses instead of how they were made.

But if you go beyond the headline-making bonuses, you can see how they made so much money and how you can use it to your advantage. Here's how.

That’s what a U.S. News & World Report headline declared last December.

At the time markets were down, everyone was scared, and many were calling the end of “buy and hold” investing.

As it turns out, it couldn’t have been more wrong. Odds are that anyone who bought and held anything since then came out ahead. Ironically, the longer they held, the greater the gains.

That's why savvy investors are starting to look here for a safe, high-reward investment opportunity in 2010.

In a recent Wall Street Journal feature - Fund Boss Made $7 Billion in the Panic - all of Tepper’s “secret” strategies was revealed for all to see.

Tepper’s strategies was so simple and lucrative, you’d expect everyone to be taking notes, right?

Well, the thing is most investors will never follow them.

In fact, some are already writing off his next idea as ludicrous. Yet, as you’ll see in a moment, it’s just “crazy” enough to pay off big in a few months. Learn how here...

There are a lot of well-publicized signs it may be.

Learn when the Fed will raise rates, why they will, and how you can use it to your own personal gain now.

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.

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...

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...

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...

It’s the most unique phenomenon of this rally. They are the large and successful group of investors – both individual and institutional – who see the economic reality around them and are naturally bearish. However, they’re still fully invested.

That’s where we’ve all been in the past few months. We know the reality. We haven’t forgotten history will likely look back on this rally as a bear market rally. But we still have recommended buying stocks and continuing to do so until, there’s really no other way to put it, they start to go down.

But despite it all, the stock market rally is about to face its biggest test soon.

If you've never heard of Bob, I can tell you with great confidence he is one of the most well-respected gold investors and analysts in the world.

In this exclusive interview, you’ll learn about the two most important reasons to own gold now (regardless of the price), why the U.S. is on track to become a third world nation, and more...