Oil: all time high nears $140/barrel

Posted By on June 6, 2008

Crude oil is trading up more than $11/barrel to a record high on a weak dollar do to surprising U.S. unemployment numbers. The number had the strongest rise in 2 decades and analysis at Morgan Stanley suggests prices may reach $150 within a month. Oil is “being used as a hedge by speculative buyers for the weakened dollar,” said Gary Adams, vice chairman of oil and gas consulting at Deloitte & Touche LLP. “We are seeing that the price will continue to go up as investors look for alternatives.” The stock markets have sold off sharply on this news and have those who once believe we were in for a stock market recovery toward the end of the year questioning their thinking. Both the DOW and S&P are down over 2% today. An interesting quote from one market guru is that “he gets it” and points to the fact that demand for oil is high and supply is limited … paraphrased “The millions of Chinese are trading in their bikes for cars.”

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  • http://www.myarchive.us RichC

    Saturday WSJ points to recession after Friday’s economic issues:
    The likelihood that the U.S. is in a recession appeared to increase Friday, following weeks of hopes that the country might be skirting one.

    Unemployment rose sharply and payrolls shrank for the fifth consecutive month. The economy news came on a day that oil surged to record prices, the dollar weakened and the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged nearly 400 points. The deteriorating job numbers led markets to scale back the odds that the Federal Reserve will boost short-term interest rates this fall to ward off inflation.

    The jobless rate posted its largest one-month gain in two decades, rising to 5.5% in May from 5.0% in April, the Labor Department reported Friday. Payrolls, measured by a separate survey, fell by 49,000 jobs last month, bringing the tally of job losses so far this year to 324,000.

    The rise in unemployment has been accompanied by higher food and energy prices, pushing up the “misery index” — the sum of the unemployment and inflation rates — to around 9.4, the highest level since the recession of the early 1990s apart from a one-month blip in 2005.

    http://tinyurl.com/6cqnq7

  • http://www.myarchive.us RichC

    Saturday WSJ points to recession after Friday’s economic issues:
    The likelihood that the U.S. is in a recession appeared to increase Friday, following weeks of hopes that the country might be skirting one.

    Unemployment rose sharply and payrolls shrank for the fifth consecutive month. The economy news came on a day that oil surged to record prices, the dollar weakened and the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged nearly 400 points. The deteriorating job numbers led markets to scale back the odds that the Federal Reserve will boost short-term interest rates this fall to ward off inflation.

    The jobless rate posted its largest one-month gain in two decades, rising to 5.5% in May from 5.0% in April, the Labor Department reported Friday. Payrolls, measured by a separate survey, fell by 49,000 jobs last month, bringing the tally of job losses so far this year to 324,000.

    The rise in unemployment has been accompanied by higher food and energy prices, pushing up the “misery index” — the sum of the unemployment and inflation rates — to around 9.4, the highest level since the recession of the early 1990s apart from a one-month blip in 2005.

    http://tinyurl.com/6cqnq7

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Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee

  1. lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
  2. digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.