heeltap
03-28-2005, 01:45 PM
The fear is that the US economy is about to crash because of subprime lending problems and abusive lending practices. Crude oil Prices are at an all time high trading in the 75-78 US dollar per barrel range (I barrel =42 US gallons).NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Crude oil futures rose to a record Tuesday, shrugging off a planned boost in oil production from OPEC as traders focused on depleting U.S. oil inventories and signs demand may increase. The front-month October light, sweet crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 74 cents, or 1%, to $78.21 a barrel, the highest-ever settlement for a front- month contract. It was the contract's seventh straight gain. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange rose 96 cents to $76.43 a barrel.The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed to boost daily oil output by 500,000 barrels from Nov. 1 in a move that raises the cartel's breached quotas by 1.4 million barrels a day. Despite the boost being above expectations, traders believe that global crude markets will remain tight. "The market is basically saying that the OPEC hike is just not going to be enough, with demand continuing to grow," said Tom Bentz, an analyst and broker with BNP Paribas Futures in New York. Bentz said an expected cut in U.S. interest rates next week is being translated as good for crude oil demand. OPEC's move created some confusion among traders, who were expecting the cartel to announce an increase in quotas of between 500,000 and 1 million barrels.09102007