Uncertainty ... Uncertainty ... Uncertainty

VANCOUVER - Mar 18/11 - SNS -- Japan has dominated the conversation in commodity markets for much of the past week, partly because of the impact damage to its nuclear reactors in Fukushima may have on the world energy sector.

The safety of nuclear energy is being doubted by ordinary citizens, resulting in the expected reaction from politicians. Germany closed seven aging plants and pledged to speed up the shift to renewable sources of energy to generate electricity. The attitudes of several other European nations have cooled toward nuclear.

Since progress creating alternative ways to generate electricity is not moving as quickly as needed, markets assume more natural gas, oil and coal will be burned for this purpose. That allowed energy markets to return their stoney gaze to the middle east, where uncertainty prevails. Between the civil war in Libya, Saudi Arabia's entry into Bahrain, and threats from Iran about the killing of Shia protestors in Bahrain, markets worry about interruptions to the world's oil supply pipeline. The net result was that energy markets were stronger the last half of the week.