Gold's popularity as a "safe haven" investment accelerated all week.

Investors tried to dump stocks, bonds, mutual funds, industrial commodities, real estate and other investments as emergency efforts by the world's central banks to slow the economic crises seemed to have little or no positive results. Fear and uncertainty continued to dominate decisions as hopes of averting a crippling economic disaster vanished midweek.

Gold, perceived as a bedrock throughout the world and throughout the ages, captured attention not only as a vehicle for protecting wealth but as an extremely profitable asset to hold if stocks, paper money or other investments continue to decline. By Friday morning, the active December gold futures contract hit a high of $936 per ounce compared to a low of $820 made just one week ago.

Speculators continued to join long-term conservative investors, who have sought to protect their wealth by buying gold because of its historic safety against economic and financial uncertainties. Although other "hard" assets have sporadically performed well, metals such as silver or platinum are more sensitive to industrial and commercial demand and, thus, encountered significant sell-offs during the week.

Copper, used heavily in the housing and auto industry, was hit especially hard, falling from a high of $4 per pound made on July 2 to a low Friday morning of $2.05. Crude oil, which generally moves in tandem with gold, divorced itself from the yellow metal and broke below $90 per barrel on Monday and continued down to $80 by week's end.

Traders blamed oil's demise on falling economic growth and the subsequent rise in stockpiles of crude and its products, such as gasoline and diesel fuel.

Jewelry demand is not expected to be high this Christmas, and the relative high cost of gold could, of course, cause some investors to look elsewhere for less expensive alternatives, such as silver.

It also should be noted that, even though gold typically explodes during times of investment panics and governmental creation of fiat money, there is no guarantee that its price will continue upward during an economic "meltdown." There have been some instances throughout history, including our Great Depression that began with the crash of 1929, during which the value of all assets, including gold, declined sharply as over-leveraged speculators liquidated virtually everything in a frantic attempt to pay debts.

Opinions expressed solely are those of the writer. Walt Breitinger is vice president of commodities at Wachovia Securities. He can be reached at (219) 738-6460.