Gold futures are on a tear. According to the Wall Street Journal (subscription required), December gold futures rose $10.90 to close at $967.50 per ounce. Yesterday's high was $972.70, its highest mark since June 5.

The market moved up when buy stops were hit at $960 and $961.965 in the spot market and $963 on the Comex. A "buy stop" is an order to buy above the current price. Traders often place "buy stops" to test the upward momentum of the market or they use specific chart points that signal a turning point in the market. If the stops are hit it usually means that a trend is in place, in this case an uptrend.

Why would you sell platinum and buy palladium? There are two main reasons. The first is that the spread (the price difference) between platinum and palladium has widened to over $1,000, making platinum extremely expensive.

Let's see if there is a reason for the widening of this spread. According to the Johnson Mathey's survey for 2009, there was deficit of platinum supplies amounting to 375,000 ounces, while there was a surplus of palladium supplies of 460,000 ounces. For 2009, Johnson Mathey is predicting the price of platinum in the $950 to $1,350 per ounce range and palladium to trade between $180 and $280 per ounce. We should mention that Johnson Mathey, the London-based metals firm, is one of the largest and most respected metals dealers in the world.

What are the best speculations and investments among metals, miners, and other resource plays? To find out, I turned to 20 of the nation's leading newsletter editors, as well as speakers from the recent New Orleans Conference, a leading forum for resource advisors.

Their current top ideas cover a wide diversity of ideas, from gold and silver, from alumina and copper, to platinum and palladium. These picks cover markets from Chile to China and from Canada to Russia. These ideas also range from large cap, well-established, and diversified companies to small cap, development-stage junior speculations.

Readers should only consider these ideas as a starting place for their own research and should keep in mind the caveat that any stock you buy should only be considered within the framework of your own time horizon and risk parameters. Meanwhile, here are 20 different advisors assessing various aspects of the metals, mining, and resources sectors: