The US dollar gained on the euro after Fed chairman Ben Bernanke said the risk of a substantial downturn in the US economy had diminished and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said that he would never rule out currency intervention. As a consequence of stronger dollar, gold prices have been getting lower, mainly as gold has been seen as a hedge against inflation and weaker dollar.

After climbing nearly $11 on Friday, light crude oil fell to $135 after recovering some of the loss and climbing to $137. No single reason seems to be for the surge in price on Friday, but speculation about Morgan Stanley's comment that oil could reach $150 as early as July 4th, may have had some thing to do with it.

Even though the drop in commodity prices has been considerable some analysts claim that there might be some more to come. Some analysts expect commodity prices to drop 10 to 20 percent, but that the overall bullish trend in commodities will be intact and higher prices to follow. Any such drop would draw in new investors and fresh funds.

Most analysts point to the emerging middle classes of countries like India and China. These people are getting more and more demanding and the desire for luxury and better lifestyle has prompted the increased use of commodities, like oil and metals.

The euro strengthened against the dollar when Jean-Claude Trichet, the president of the European Central Bank indicated a rise in the interest rate later this year. With weaker dollar, commodity prices began to rise, with the price of oil passing $124.

The day after Ben Bernanke came out with a statement that confirmed rumors of end to lower interest rates, commodity prices continued to fall. With oil trading below $124 and other commodities trading lower, the rally in commodities could be in for a pause or even a pullback. Weak dollar having been given as a major reason for high commodity prices, the increased strength in the dollar might be about to change the bullish trend in commodities.

High commodity prices have spurred some talks within western governments to limit the effect of speculation on prices. The Austrian finance minister Wilhelm Molterer has said that he's going to propose a Europe wide tax on speculative commodity trading. The US senate has also started to look at speculation in commodity trading and is thought to be looking at ways to set limits on speculative trading.

In a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) the price of agricultural commodities are expected to stay higher the coming 10 years, than they've been the previous 10 years. The present cost of agricultural products are expected to go down from present levels, but not far.

While beef and pork prices are expected to be around 20% higher than the last 10 years, wheat and corn are expected to be around 60% higher.

Asian markets have seen the oil prices continuing the fall from yesterday of more than $3 as worries that Asian countries are starting to feel the increased pressure of oil prices. The smaller Asian countries have begun to cut subsidies and India is believed to be thinking about increasing prices. The effect of higher oil prises could start to affect the Asian booming economies, increasing the worries of lower production. China is still heavily subsidizing oil and is not expected to cut on subsidizes until after the summer Olympics.

Militant attacks on oil instillations by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta the last few days, has increased worries about the status of the world oil supplies. These attacks have helped support the high price of oil as the situation in Africa's largest oil producing country has no visible solution.

Worries about oil shortage due to StatoilHydro closing down oilfields with a capacity of 138,000 barrels pr. day, has pushed oil above $133 in the early trading on Monday. Oil spill being the cause of the shutdown, StatoilHydro now has reopened two of their oilfields but the Statfjord A field with a capacity of 19,000 bpd is still shut down.