The dollar's recent weaknesshas some investors at the brink of panic. Increasingly, investors are looking for ways to protect themselves against further declines in the dollar, and interest in investments designed to provide that protectionhas risen dramatically. But which investments do that job the best?

Crisis of confidence
The extraordinary events that the U.S. has faced since the financial crisis began last year have thrown the investing world into disarray. After rising strongly from record-low levels against the euro last summer, as investors sought the dollar's safe-haven statusduring the worst of the market meltdown, the dollar has given up nearly all of those gains.

The dollar's steep losses have investors fearing the worst. In light of huge budget deficits, there is speculation that China and other foreign investors will stop buying Treasuries, forcing rates to skyrocket and pushing the government toward a possible insolvency. Oil prices have more than doubled from the year's lows, as investors seek hard assets and commodities to hedge inflation risk. Gold has sustained its rise through the $1,000-per-ounce level, and bullish investors see the potential for gold prices to double or more in the coming years.

Investors have also piled into stocks that are poised to benefit from those trends. Just take a look at the performance of some energy- and gold-sensitive stocks in the past year:

Stock

1-Year Return

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (NYSE: FCX)

196.1%

Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX)

91.3%

Goldcorp (NYSE: GG)

148.5%

National Oilwell Varco (NYSE: NOV)

96.9%

Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE: APC)

127.4%

Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY)

85.8% Continued...