So, where do you put your money now?

With the United States now stumbling into recession, and the world's stock markets belatedly recognising the fact, the rush to safety is on. And for those with stronger stomachs, and plenty of cash, rare buying opportunities are starting to emerge.

For the past year, the biggest profits have been made in betting against bloated markets. John Paulson, a New York hedge fund manager, has already entered the investors' pantheon for his bet that the US mortgage business would fall to pieces.

He earned more than $2bn in 2007 just for himself, and a lunch invitation from George Soros who wanted to know how he did it. Soros doubtless benefited his own short positions on Monday by saying the world was entering its worst financial crisis since the Second World War.

While stock markets plunged this week, certain classes of 'safe haven' investment continued to soar. Gold is now trading

at a record price of more than $900 per ounce and new means of trading the metal are being introduced on markets throughout the world.

On January 9, China introduced its first gold futures contract, while in India, Hong Kong and throughout the Middle East, investors are drooling over new tradable gold funds. Die-hard gold investors believe the price could top $1,600 per ounce as uncertainty grows about the global economy and security. Demand for inflation-protected US government bonds, or TIPS, has also sky-rocketed as fears of inflation grow.

Oil too continues to trade near the $100-a barrel-mark, with little sign of retreat despite recently dropping back under $90/barrel. As well as driving up the market valuations of oil companies, this has also spurred demand for companies in newly oil-rich countries - Russian and Venezuelan mobile phone companies, for example, or any company set to profit from a new consumer class.

Until Monday, at least, investors were also diverting money away from European and American stocks into emerging market funds as a means of avoiding