The price of oil surged more than $6 a barrel Friday morning, the biggest gain in more than three months, sending the stock market into a nose-dive and reversing Thursday’s gains.
By ABHA BHATTARAI
Investors are worried that the rising price of oil, coupled with bleak unemployment data that was released Friday morning, will continue to hurt businesses and suppress consumer spending in an already-weak economy.
In addition, a report by Morgan Stanley on Friday said that oil prices could reach $150 a barrel by July 4 because of higher demand in Asia.
The Dow Jones industrials were down 234 points, or 1.85 percent in mid-morning trading, with financial stocks taking the biggest hit. The Dow was also dragged down by shares of American International Group, which stumbled after accusations that the company may have overstated the value of contracts tied to subprime mortgages. Shares of A.I.G. fell $2.43, or more than 6 percent, to $43.98.
The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index fell 22.79 points, or 1.6 percent, while the Nasdaq composite index fell 37.76 points, or 1.5 percent.
Oil was up more than $6.10 a barrel, or about 5 percent, to $133.89 within the first hour and half of trading, hitting a new record high. The spike came despite no specific disruption in the oil market, suggesting that the move was based on speculation.
NVDL: Banks are taking a big hit. I hope, if you're reading this, you don't have money in bank stocks.
Showing posts with label stock markets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stock markets. Show all posts
Saturday, June 07, 2008
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Bank writedowns hit Europe, metals soar
LONDON - Hefty bank writedowns from losses in credit markets rattled European
investors today while Asian stock markets were relatively bullish and oil and metal prices rose unabated.
Platinum reached a new all-time high and gold climbed. Oil gained more than $1 a barrel. The dollar was weaker against a basket of major currencies.
Rest of this Business Day article, here.
NVDL: There's a big shift going down. Just watch what is happening around the clock to resources.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Stock Markets Breaking Records Globally
Australia has reached levels last seen in 25 years; own own bourse sank by the largest margin in 9 years. It's been called a bloodbath, linked to the USA sneezing. This is an understatement. The US is not sneezing, it has pneumonia. And Old Uncle Sam is not what he used to be.
Writers like Jim Kunstler rightly point out that the subprime crisis doesn't represent a temporary skid in housing construction in America; it represents the end of suburbia as a whole. It is a permanent shift. Suburbia always was the greatest misallocation of resources ever made, an investment with no future. We made the mistake of building homes and cities for ourselves that had to be plugged into an endless nougat shell of oil (under the Earth's crust). But as we're beginning to realise, oil is quite special, and only occurs in special places because of special geological circumstances.
Meanwhile, people will probably not figure this out as systems begin to break down. Instead, people will do what they do best: turn to the God of blame, and vent their anger. Words like 'convenience' and 'growth', 'expansion' are unlikely to be nandied about as they have been.
Writers like Jim Kunstler rightly point out that the subprime crisis doesn't represent a temporary skid in housing construction in America; it represents the end of suburbia as a whole. It is a permanent shift. Suburbia always was the greatest misallocation of resources ever made, an investment with no future. We made the mistake of building homes and cities for ourselves that had to be plugged into an endless nougat shell of oil (under the Earth's crust). But as we're beginning to realise, oil is quite special, and only occurs in special places because of special geological circumstances.
Meanwhile, people will probably not figure this out as systems begin to break down. Instead, people will do what they do best: turn to the God of blame, and vent their anger. Words like 'convenience' and 'growth', 'expansion' are unlikely to be nandied about as they have been.
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
The Walls Move In
Gold is at a 28 year high. Oil prices are in constant flux; nudging all time records. The JSE has blasted through the 30 000 level, food prices are on the march - some of them doubling since last year. Car sales in South Africa have shrunk year on year for the sixth consecutive month. Banks are issuing alerts. Did you ever stop to think: could something be awry*?
Remember the clamour of voices a long time ago about oil prices? Now we're seeing oil remain comfortably in the $70 range. It's a matter of time before that mad dog goes yelping beyond $100. Some of us thought it would be last year or this year. Every month this doesn't happen, means an even sharper crash. People who say this sort of thing are typically called 'doomsayers'.
Unfortunately, the message has been lost in noise and hysteria. The message (once again) is this: We are at a Peak, a global peak, the likes of which we will never see again. Never before and never again will so many people - so many individuals - enjoy so much lavish and luxurious wealth and power as they are now. This exceptional period of surplus and abundance has been unleashed courtesy of the legacy of fossil fuels. These fuels take millions of years of sunlight bathed forests to shore up. We've pissed half of it into the atmosphere in less than 100 years.
Until now, this fantastic We should say cheap and abundant, because from here on out, with the human population of this planet having absorbed all the capacity that such artificial energy abundance created - we are now moving towards scarcity.
The implications of this are scary. Try not to panic. I spoke recently to a wealthy private game farm owner, an intelligent doctor. He was saying that ecosystems that are out of balance don't correct themselves neatly and seamlessly. They do so in chronic and destabilising crashes. So if a certain species breaches capacity, it doesn't just slowly reduce itself until it fits into a newer and better and more balanced efficiency. Instead, it crashes.
Logic indicates that the same fate awaits us. By us I mean you and all the human beings around you, and every human being you have ever met. I know it sounds dramatic. In fact, it's impossible to overdrammatize. In our lifetimes we are going to see Big Shit. We'll see the human population crash from over 6 billion, and if we're lucky, we'll have 1 billion left over. The doctor I spoke to reckoned on less - a few hundred million perhaps.
I'm sorry if that sounds pessimistic. It's really just a logical and realistic assessment. Meanwhile, the newspapers are starting to notice that something - they're not sure what - is awry. Meanwhile, while the stock exchanges celebrate and crash through new records, so too does worldwide weather, reducing crops to debris and dust. The walls move in on a world that thinks it can continue moving on towards happily ever after. I wish it was a happy ending folks, but unfortunately, it isn't.
The major challenge in the future will be agriculture. Translation: the jobs of the future will be farming, as we attempt to feed ourselves. It's a grim and austere future that right now seems impossible. That is the extent of our common delusion.
Awry: Adj. 1. awry - turned or twisted toward one side; "a...youth with a gorgeous red necktie all awry"- G.K.Chesterton; "his wig was, as the British say, skew-whiff"
askew, cockeyed, skew-whiff, wonky, lopsided
crooked - having or marked by bends or angles; not straight or aligned; "crooked country roads"; "crooked teeth"
2. awry - not functioning properly; "something is amiss"; "has gone completely haywire"; "something is wrong with the engine"
amiss, haywire, wrong
malfunctioning, nonfunctional - not performing or able to perform its regular function; "a malfunctioning valve"
Adv. 1. awry - away from the correct or expected course; "something has gone awry in our plans"; "something went badly amiss in the preparations"
amiss
2. awry - turned or twisted to one side; "rugs lying askew"; "with his necktie twisted awry"
askew, skew-whiff
Remember the clamour of voices a long time ago about oil prices? Now we're seeing oil remain comfortably in the $70 range. It's a matter of time before that mad dog goes yelping beyond $100. Some of us thought it would be last year or this year. Every month this doesn't happen, means an even sharper crash. People who say this sort of thing are typically called 'doomsayers'.
Unfortunately, the message has been lost in noise and hysteria. The message (once again) is this: We are at a Peak, a global peak, the likes of which we will never see again. Never before and never again will so many people - so many individuals - enjoy so much lavish and luxurious wealth and power as they are now. This exceptional period of surplus and abundance has been unleashed courtesy of the legacy of fossil fuels. These fuels take millions of years of sunlight bathed forests to shore up. We've pissed half of it into the atmosphere in less than 100 years.
Until now, this fantastic We should say cheap and abundant, because from here on out, with the human population of this planet having absorbed all the capacity that such artificial energy abundance created - we are now moving towards scarcity.
The implications of this are scary. Try not to panic. I spoke recently to a wealthy private game farm owner, an intelligent doctor. He was saying that ecosystems that are out of balance don't correct themselves neatly and seamlessly. They do so in chronic and destabilising crashes. So if a certain species breaches capacity, it doesn't just slowly reduce itself until it fits into a newer and better and more balanced efficiency. Instead, it crashes.
Logic indicates that the same fate awaits us. By us I mean you and all the human beings around you, and every human being you have ever met. I know it sounds dramatic. In fact, it's impossible to overdrammatize. In our lifetimes we are going to see Big Shit. We'll see the human population crash from over 6 billion, and if we're lucky, we'll have 1 billion left over. The doctor I spoke to reckoned on less - a few hundred million perhaps.
I'm sorry if that sounds pessimistic. It's really just a logical and realistic assessment. Meanwhile, the newspapers are starting to notice that something - they're not sure what - is awry. Meanwhile, while the stock exchanges celebrate and crash through new records, so too does worldwide weather, reducing crops to debris and dust. The walls move in on a world that thinks it can continue moving on towards happily ever after. I wish it was a happy ending folks, but unfortunately, it isn't.
The major challenge in the future will be agriculture. Translation: the jobs of the future will be farming, as we attempt to feed ourselves. It's a grim and austere future that right now seems impossible. That is the extent of our common delusion.
Awry: Adj. 1. awry - turned or twisted toward one side; "a...youth with a gorgeous red necktie all awry"- G.K.Chesterton; "his wig was, as the British say, skew-whiff"
askew, cockeyed, skew-whiff, wonky, lopsided
crooked - having or marked by bends or angles; not straight or aligned; "crooked country roads"; "crooked teeth"
2. awry - not functioning properly; "something is amiss"; "has gone completely haywire"; "something is wrong with the engine"
amiss, haywire, wrong
malfunctioning, nonfunctional - not performing or able to perform its regular function; "a malfunctioning valve"
Adv. 1. awry - away from the correct or expected course; "something has gone awry in our plans"; "something went badly amiss in the preparations"
amiss
2. awry - turned or twisted to one side; "rugs lying askew"; "with his necktie twisted awry"
askew, skew-whiff
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