Two of the best performing asset classes for the past couple of years have been commodities and the emerging markets. Both asset classes garner some coverage this weekend.

Jim Rogers, commodity market maven, gets some glowing coverage from Jonathan R. Laing in Barron's. We were frankly frustrated by a number of items in the piece, however we will focus on only one. Rogers has indeed been correct about the trend in commodity prices and has capitalized on this observation. He may very well be correct in his contention that we are in the midst of a decade-long commodity up-cycle. However he dismisses out of hand the effect that long-only, indexed commodity investments can have not only on the price of commodities, but on the underlying payoff for the structure of commodity futures.

Leslie P. Norton also at Barron's takes a whack at the emerging markets. Norton pulls together every economic, sentiment, technical and valuation argument in calling for a further correction. Our guess is that the fate of the emerging markets is in the hands of the "hot money."

Speaking of hot money, Mark Hulbert in the New York Times reviews some academic research that tries to get at the question of whether hedge fund success is anything more than luck.

One area the hot money once embraced was ethanol. Steve Gelsi at Marketwatch.com looks at the prospects for the forthcoming slew of ethanol producer IPOs.

Ethanol plays a central role in the story of a small town in Indiana that is seeking to become energy independent, Monica Davey in the New York Times reports.

Worthwhile Canadian Initiative presents some evidence that helps explain the changing relationship between the price of oil and the value of the Canadian dollar. (via Economist's View)

Speaking of Canada, the Simon Avery at the Globe & Mail passes on some speculation that involves an "AppleBerry" partnership between Apple (APPL) and Research in Motion (RIMM).

Also on the technology front, Scot Finnie at Computerworld comes up with "20 Things You Won't Like About Windows Vista."

Barry Ritholtz highlights an interesting piece by Whitney Tilson that explains the characteristics that unite value investors.

The business writers and sports writers are not all together different in that they often have very short memories. Jeff Pearlman at Slate.com wonders why sportswriters are now assuming the steroid era is over?

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