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 us response to peak oil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label us response to peak oil. Show all posts
Saturday, June 07, 2008
Thursday, May 15, 2008
The US President's response to $126 Oil (here's a hint - it doesn't inspire confidence)
Q Mr. President, thank you very much for having us into the Roosevelt Room for the first online interview. In the spirit of the Internet, I wonder if we could ask a question from one of our users, Steve Bailey, of New York, who says: With oil at $126 a barrel, pushing up the price of everything -- even food -- what can your administration do to help people right now?
THE PRESIDENT: I appreciate Steven's concerns. With the price of gasoline going up, it's like a tax. I wish I could give Steven a quick answer. In other words, it took us a while to get to where we are -- very dependent on oil, and in a world in which demand is greater than oil. So my answer to Steven is that the best thing we can do is to increase supply, and to drill for oil and gas in environmentally friendly ways at home, and build more refineries. Steven probably doesn't know this, but we haven't built a new refinery since 1976, and if we're truly interested in relieving the pressure on our consumers, then we ought to have a very active domestic policy now.
NVDL: We live in a world 'in which demand is greater than oil'. Okayyy. And the advice is to 'increase supply'. I guess we just turn open the taps right. To the nougat centre of the Earth that is filled with oil. Just find somewhere else to drilland there'll like, be oil there? Is that the plan? The first thing we need to establish is if the President can speak English. Because most people, I don't know about you, most people who can't even spell or make grammatically correct statements might struggle with more complex things like economics, and the impact of fundamentals like energy on our living apparatus. So we might not even want to go to those sorts of people - who can't make statements that make sense grammatically - for advice on solving problem that is troubling people around the world.
But hey, everyone knows by now that the Prez was a loser on these issues to begin with.
By the way, the Prez is also wrong on refineries. Why aren't more refineries being built? Because no one is clearer on this than the oil companies themselves. They know NEW oil discovery peaked a long time ago, and as discovery declined so did the demand or need for new refineries. What do they say, for every 4 barrels of oil consumed one new barrel is discovered. It's an absurd investment - refineries - when you know you're not going to be needing them for very long. It's like buying summer clothes at a summer sale on the last day of autumn. Only stupid people - and stupid Presidents - do that.
THE PRESIDENT: I appreciate Steven's concerns. With the price of gasoline going up, it's like a tax. I wish I could give Steven a quick answer. In other words, it took us a while to get to where we are -- very dependent on oil, and in a world in which demand is greater than oil. So my answer to Steven is that the best thing we can do is to increase supply, and to drill for oil and gas in environmentally friendly ways at home, and build more refineries. Steven probably doesn't know this, but we haven't built a new refinery since 1976, and if we're truly interested in relieving the pressure on our consumers, then we ought to have a very active domestic policy now.
NVDL: We live in a world 'in which demand is greater than oil'. Okayyy. And the advice is to 'increase supply'. I guess we just turn open the taps right. To the nougat centre of the Earth that is filled with oil. Just find somewhere else to drilland there'll like, be oil there? Is that the plan? The first thing we need to establish is if the President can speak English. Because most people, I don't know about you, most people who can't even spell or make grammatically correct statements might struggle with more complex things like economics, and the impact of fundamentals like energy on our living apparatus. So we might not even want to go to those sorts of people - who can't make statements that make sense grammatically - for advice on solving problem that is troubling people around the world.
But hey, everyone knows by now that the Prez was a loser on these issues to begin with.
By the way, the Prez is also wrong on refineries. Why aren't more refineries being built? Because no one is clearer on this than the oil companies themselves. They know NEW oil discovery peaked a long time ago, and as discovery declined so did the demand or need for new refineries. What do they say, for every 4 barrels of oil consumed one new barrel is discovered. It's an absurd investment - refineries - when you know you're not going to be needing them for very long. It's like buying summer clothes at a summer sale on the last day of autumn. Only stupid people - and stupid Presidents - do that.
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