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Oil Prices Skyrocket

admin — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 06:34:33 +0000

The price of oil is a major concern for people all over the world. Not just for financial analysts and wall-street traders, but for gas station owners and anyone who drives a car. The price effects virtually everyone, in fact. This article says the price of oil is buoying, near the highest level its been in a year and a half.

Oil was steady on Wednesday, trading near 18-month highs around $87 after a larger than expected drop in U.S. gasoline stockpiles signaled fuel demand was rebounding with an improving economic outlook.

U.S. crude for May gained 10 cents by 0503 GMT to $86.94 a barrel, 15 cents shy of Tuesday’s intraday peak of $87.09, the highest price since October 2008. London ICE Brent climbed 14 cents to $86.29.

Gasoline inventories in the U.S. fell a larger-than-expected 3 million barrels last week, the industry-funded American Petroleum Institute (API) said on Tuesday.

An 18 month high is nothing to scoff at–but it’s tough to discern whether this is a good or bad thing for the economy as a whole.

6 AM, Day After Christmas

admin — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 04:59:59 +0000

Although it certainly doesn’t compare to Black Friday (the big shopping day after Thanksgiving), the day after Christmas is a massive day in the retail industries. However, it was certainly less exciting than in past years. Lines were virtually non-existent even though the deals were of the same caliber as in past years. Why? The recession took some of the “umph” out of the event, of course.

Determined to beat the post-Christmas crowds, Lisa Webb got up at 4 Saturday morning. She left the house at 6 with her son and daughter, picked up her son’s friend, and, after stopping for breakfast, hit the mall.

As it turned out, they probably could have slept in.

“We wanted to beat the rush,” the Manchester woman said late Saturday morning as she took a breather on a bench at The Shoppes at Buckland Hills. “There was no rush.”

It seems this sales day was less-than-stellar. Let’s hope we can put bad sales days behind us at the end of this year.

Hitting New Highs

admin — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:24:27 +0000

The Federal Reserve has, under the past year or so, done everything in its power to undermine the value of the dollar. Investors have sought a refuge from the plummeting value of the greenback and have found that in various commodities or overseas investments–but the biggest winner has been gold. Three years ago if you suggested gold would hit $1000 per ounce, you would be laughed out of the building. Now, it seems as if every other day gold breaks a new record. The newest record, broken just today, is $1171 per ounce.

This isn’t because of a new found love for gold–gold has always been beloved by man and woman as a pretty and sparkly substance. Gold is being bought up because it has historically served as an alternative to the dollar whenever the dollar is in a weakened condition. This allows them to protect their assets from inflation because gold remains roughly equal with only a slight inflation. The pricey commodity is up 12% just this month, an increase that is matched only by the dollar’s precipitous decline.