"The market saw gold going lower, and everyone panicked, " said Pradeep Unni, head of research at Richcomm Global Services, a Dubai-based commodity broker.

WSJ: Gold Plummets to Two-Year Low

If you agree, put 10% of your money in a hard-assets stock fund (see table below) or in some commodity positions you place yourself at a broker.

FORBES: Hot commodities

"Whenever we start on a commodity, we spend as much time on the phone as any broker, " Braziel says.

FORBES: Web Powerhouse

Patrick Lambert of Salomon Smith Barney, an American broker, reckons that big firms can no longer think like commodity businesses or local utilities.

ECONOMIST: Industrial gases